The Philadelphia Union had struggled all year to put the ball in the net and with striker Carlos Ruiz heading off to international duty, this road game to Toronto looked like it could get ugly.... and it did. Just not in the way we expected. The Union offense had its best performance in the club's short history with a 6-2 destruction of Toronto at BMO field.
Youngster Gabriel Farfan opened the scoring while Justin Mapp and Danny Mwanga each netted twice with Kyle Nakazawa added another. Farfan says the performance today speaks to the teams' depth.
"That shows we have depth within our team," Farfan said. "Anyone can come on and score goals and do the job."
It was Farfan's first career MLS goal and comes just a game after his brother Michael scored his first. Kyle Nakazawa also scored his first career goal in what was an historic afternoon for this young Union club. MLS.net put the offensive outburst of the union in a pretty great perspective.
- The Union doubled the franchise record for goals in a game. Last year, they scored three times in four different contests.
- The Union came into Saturday's game tied for last in the league with eight total goals. With 14 goals, they are now tied for fourth.
- The Union scored as many goals vs. Toronto as they scored in their first nine games of the season.
- In their first four road games, the Union scored only one time, and they had been shut out in their last three trips.
The game underscored what a great job Peter Nowak has done with this team in less than two years of existence. They now sit alone at the top of the Eastern conference with 20 points from 11 games. Contrast that with Toronto, who came into the league in 2006 and have never even made the MLS playoffs. After the game, TFC manager Aron Winter even spoke of the team "rebuilding."
"When you are rebuilding, there are ups and downs," Winter said. "And also after a defeat like today you have to stay calm. I could be upset with the guys, but you have to still have faith and train on those things."
A team that's only existed for five years is "rebuilding?" A bizarre excuse from Winter there especially considering the team he was facing.