A second half goal from Bruno Damiani secured a 1-0 victory for the Philadelphia Union over New England Revolution in their final regular season home match at Subaru Park on Saturday. Damiani, a 23-year-old striker from Uruguay, scored in the 70th minute after a sequence involving six teammates, marking his sixth goal of the season.
With this win, Philadelphia Union increased their lead at the top of the Supporters’ Shield standings to two points ahead of San Diego, following San Diego’s draw with Atlanta United later that day. The team now has 60 points through 31 matches.
The result follows back-to-back away losses against Vancouver in league play and Nashville in the U.S. Open Cup Semifinal. The home victory was seen as an important rebound as the team heads into its last three matches of the season.
“I’m very happy to get the goal and the three points today,” Damiani said. “I think after the two big losses we had, it was a very important game. Maybe we didn’t play the way we can, but we get the three points. That is the most important thing right now.”
Describing his decisive goal, Damiani said: “I saw Milan doing the running behind, and I screamed as much as I could to. I’m happy that he listened. If I didn’t score that goal, Tai was also there. So, it’s a team goal, I just did the tap-in, but it was a really good play.” He added: “It was very important to come back for the victory, so I’m happy for that.”
Indiana Vassilev also commented on playing again at Subaru Park after nearly a month away: “Just to be at home in front of the fans…it does mean a lot. The fans do push us on. Playing at home gives us, I think, the biggest advantage in MLS,” Vassilev said.
“At home we are so good, and it’s for a reason. It’s because we have such a good fan base, and we have so much more confidence because of them.”
Damiani agreed about playing at Subaru Park: “We missed the fans. We missed playing here. We feel very comfortable playing here. Maybe it was not the best game performance, but we won after a very tough week, and we are very happy for that.”
Philadelphia Union will host New York City FC on October 4th in their last regular season home match.
