The Philadelphia Union ended their inaugural season on Sunday the way they started it — with an unimpressive loss on the road.
Pushed around by the Columbus Crew at Crew Stadium, the Union fell in their season finale, 3-1, in a similar fashion to how they played their first-ever game, a 2-0 defeat to the Seattle Sounders on March 25.
WATCH: Full match highlights
Getting the start for the Union in goal was Chris Seitz, who opened the season as the team’s number one. Unfortunately for Seitz he wasn’t able to do much in a match that was one-sided from the start, especially thanks to an early penalty call.
“We tried to push the game, but the (penalty) decision in the 15th minute basically changed the game,” Union head coach Peter Nowak said.
Eddie Gaven was fouled on the edge of the box by Eduardo Coudet, and then a calm Guillermo Barros Schelotto converted to give the Crew a 1-0 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
The PK call was not without controversy, though. At the moment Coudet made contact with Gaven, it appeared as though the Crew midfielder was outside the area.
“Obviously Columbus came out in the first half and really pressed us,” Seitz said. “That set the tempo for the first half. They ended up getting a PK call that I would like to look at again. I think we came out and we fought. That is what we set out to do. We wanted to create chances and we did tonight.”
The match comes on the heels of one of the Union’s most impressive performances of the season. Last week they beat the New York Red Bulls, 2-1, in the final home match of their inaugural campaign.
If nothing else, the performance against New York will be one the team can focus on in the offseason as little can be gained from the unfortunate result against the Crew to close out the year.
“We want to get some momentum going in the next year,” Seitz said. “Winning at home in our last game (on Oct. 16) for our fans was big for us.”
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