Union drop points in Toronto after taking early lead

Mistakes came back to haunt the Philadelphia Union again on the road Wednesday night in a disappointing 2-2 draw with 13th place Toronto FC at a practically empty BMO Field.

The Union appeared to be well on their way to another lopsided win over the Reds, which they outscored 8-0 in the first two matches this season, when Daniel Gazdag set up captain Alejandro Bedoya for a goal just 32 seconds into the match.

Up 1-0 on the early goal, the Union struggled to find the game and played into the hosts’ game plan but were able to escape several careless turnovers and get to the locker room still up 1-0.

The second half was unfortunately more of the same and in the span of four minutes the Union went from leading 1-0 to trailing 2-1 on a bad giveaway from Kacper Przybylko off an attempted flick that led to a Jozy Altidore goal in the 66th minute and an own goal from Jack Elliott in the 70th. Elliott was trying to play a well hit cross across the face of goal from Jacob Shaffleburger with Altidore waiting behind for an easy finish.

Fortunately for the Union, Reds killer Sergio Santos was in the match — his first game action after missing two games and not playing against Nashville — and Wagner was able to find him wide open in front of goal for a headed finish to tie the game at 2-2 in the 77th minute. The goal was Sergio’s second against Toronto this year and sixth of his career against Toronto FC.

Przybylko had a chance to put the visitors back in front when substitute Jack McGlynn dropped a dime to him in the box but his shot missed high. The Union’s leading goal scorer had another bid for a winner when Jamiro Monteiro did well to get into the box and set him up in the 89th minute, but his shot was deflected by Michael Bradley and the ball hit his arm on the way to going wide of goal.

While the Union players and Jim Curtin on the sideline were shouting pretty loudly for a penalty, one wasn’t awarded, most likely because the ball hit Bradley before hitting off his arm. After a check with the VAR, a corner kick was awarded to the Union and the final minute and four minutes of stoppage time played out without much incident.

Coupled with the Nashville win over FC Cincinnati, the Union draw put them back in third place on 50 points with a home match against Cincinnati on Sunday and a visit to Yankee Stadium to end the regular season on November 7 left.

The draw is the 8th of the season on the road for the Union and ensures they will finish the year under .500 on the road with a 3-5-8 W-L-D record after tonight.