Philadelphia Union: Anthony Fontana shines in a dramatic victory

Anthony Fontana’s second-half stoppage-time goal lifted the Philadelphia Union

Anthony Fontana‘s two goals gave the Philadelphia Union all three points against the New England Revolution on Saturday night. The second half substitute turned into a super-sub as he scored the game-winner in the last minutes of the contest.

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The Union had initially taken the lead in the 73rd minute but the Revolution came back to score an equalizer eight minutes later. Tajon Buchanan registered his first goal for the Revolution to tie the match at 1-1. This set the stage for Fontana’s dramatic late goal to give the Union a crucial three points in the race for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

It was a struggle for the Revolution to keep the Union at bay in this match. They went down to 10 men after Matt Polster was red-carded in the 56th minute for a second yellow card. The Revolution have won just two of their five matches since returning to regular season play in August.

First multi-goal match for the Philadelphia Revolution

Fontana’s brace against the Revolution was the first of his career in Major League Soccer. After failing to score in the 2019 season, the 20-year-old Homegrown player was able to produce his best performance to date for the Union. He provided the much-needed spark the Union needed late in this match to get all three points.

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The goals did not come easy for the Union this week. After cruising to a 3-0 win over the New York Red Bulls last weekend, it appeared a victory was not meant to be. However, Fontana stepped up and was absolutely clinical in the final minutes of the match.

This performance could lead to more opportunities in Jim Curtain’s squad for Fontana. He has been primarily utilized as a substitute this season. An appearance in the starting XI has not happened yet but that could change if he can continue to score off the bench for the Union.

Another strong performance from Aaronson

Brenden Aaronson had another impressive performance for the Union. He played a role in setting up Fontana’s first goal of the match when he sent in a pass to Kacper Przybylko who laid it off for Fontana to strike.

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Although it did not lead to a goal, Aaronson produced a moment of magic when he spun away from two defenders to move the ball up the field in the first half. This moment is one to add to his growing highlight reel of exceptional play in MLS.

Every week Aaronson is showing he is one of the top under-20 talents in MLS. With the growing number of transfer rumors, it appears only a matter of time until he begins to feature in a European league.