Philadelphia grab advantage vs. Atlas on late Gazdag goal

Chester Pennsylvania– Daniel Gazdag converted a late penalty to earn the Philadelphia Union a 1-0 victory versus Liga MX side Atlas in the first leg of the 2023 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday night at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.

The best chance of the first half came for Atlas in the 25’ when Julian Quinones got loose on a counterattack and only had Union GK Andre Blake to beat, but the Jamaican shot-stopper made the initial block and then the Philadelphia defense was able to clear away the follow-up attempt to keep it scoreless.

The Mexican visitors also nearly scored right before halftime on a long ball played into Jonathan Herrera, who was unable to control in front of Blake and the chance fell by the wayside.

The momentum would swing in favor of the home side though in first half stoppage time when a straight red card was issued to Anderson Santamaria, leaving Atlas with 10 men for the entire second half.

The resulting free kick from the Santamaria foul right outside the box saw Julian Carranza fire an effort just wide of the post.

Philadelphia kept poking and prodding in search of the game’s first goal and Mikael Uhre came inches away from breaking the deadlock in the 65’ with a shot that banged off the post.

Atlas GK Camilo Vargas was called into duty in a big way in the 75’ to deny a sizzling left-footed shot from Jack McGlynn that he parried over the crossbar.

Toward the end of the match, though, a collision between Camilo Vargas and Julian Carranza in the area resulted in a penalty and Daniel Gazdag calmly converted the spot kick to earn the Union the 1-0 win.