The Union prove they can compete with elite teams, but they still can’t beat Columbus

The chance was there for the Union to deliver what would have been undoubtedly their biggest win of the season so far.

They had taken a 2-1 lead over the Columbus Crew into second-half stoppage time, giving as good as they got with the team that arrived Saturday at Subaru Park in first place in the Eastern Conference.

When stoppage time started, the Union were primed to seize first for themselves — and send a message to the many doubters of their potential.

With 2 minutes, 43 seconds of the allotted four minutes of stoppage time elapsed, the Union still had a hand on that mantle. But with one slip, it fell out of their hands when Sean Zawadzki scored a late equalizer off a corner kick.

It was the kind of goal that teams always despise conceding. It was the kind of goal that can lead to another round of cynical Union fans complaining that nothing has changed.

And it was the kind of goal that overshadowed everything else on a night when the Union did a whole lot well. They ran with the Crew’s dynamic attack in the first half, took the lead just before halftime through Tai Baribo, and took it again in the second half when Frankie Westfield scored a thunderbolt soon after Max Arfsten’s equalizer.

Though the Crew unsurprisingly held 70% of the possession, the Union had a 16-10 advantage in total shots, including a 6-3 edge in shots on target. The Union’s expected-goals total of 1.42 was a healthy distance higher than the Crew’s 0.95.

» READ MORE: Union let a potentially big win slip late in 2-2 tie with Columbus Crew

With Dániel Gazdag in the spotlight for his return to Chester, just about everyone assumed he’d score against his old team. But he was held without a shot, and at one point, comedically slipped on the grass in the Union’s 18-yard box when primed for an open look.

Andrew Rick played well in the Union’s net, too, with Andre Blake sidelined by a knee problem that Union manager Bradley Carnell very much did not want to talk about after the game.

So much went right, until it didn’t at the moment that counted most.

“That we go ahead and unfortunately can’t bring it over the line is gut-wrenching, disappointing,” Carnell said. “It was a great advert for the league, and it feels like we lost two points.”

It did not sting him any worse that the equalizer came off a set piece instead of from open play.

“No,” he said. “You have to try and solve the situations and the puzzles, and we solved so many puzzles [Saturday night], and we just couldn’t crack that one.”

» READ MORE: Jakob Glesnes knew it would be an emotional reunion with Dániel Gazdag

It did sting Kai Wagner, whom Zawadzki beat to Diego Rossi’s flicked header across the crowd that jumped at Dylan Chambost’s service.

“I mean, I lose the guy, I couldn’t see the ball, there were too many people right in front of me,” Wagner said. “It [stinks] to concede in the last second, especially with the chance we had right before to just finish the game off. But I mean, yeah, I have to do better there.”

That was a reference to a breakaway Chris Donovan led in the first minute of stoppage time, when he set up Mikael Uhre only for him to scuff a shot wide left.

The miss promptly brought both players’ critics out of the woodwork in this reporter’s social media mentions, between Uhre’s miss and Donovan being open to shoot before the pass. A different attacker might have gone for the far post instead of a pass that went backward, and would have been easily picked off by Lassi Lappalainen had he not slipped for a second.

» READ MORE: Union sign former academy player Ben Bender to boost attacking midfield depth

Wagner defended Uhre’s overall outing, by the way.

“It’s clear that Mikael, when he sprints, like, 15 times in a row, that he can’t finish every chance, or can’t run deep anymore,” he said. “But on the other side, how the strikers press, I mean, this helps our game today. … We are unlucky at the end that Mikael doesn’t get the goal, but it’s not easy for them [the striker corps] either, because they don’t get a lot of games in a row to get the connection perfect.”

The forwards know that, since Carnell has been clear about his desire to rotate starters based on opponents. There will be plenty of opportunities to keep building that chemistry, with six games to come this month before a brief break in early June. (That break includes a friendly against Mexico’s Atlas, but it still counts as less work.)

For now, the Union (7-3-2, 23 points) stand alone in third place in the East, two points below Columbus (7-1-4) and Cincinnati (8-3-1) — and two points ahead of Inter Miami, two weeks before Lionel Messi likely comes to Subaru Park. The Herons were shockingly blown out at Minnesota United on Saturday, 4-1, the worst loss of Messi’s tenure.

» READ MORE: Cavan Sullivan showed his talent in his first Union start, but also how far he has to go

Scoreboard-watchers also were drawn to the Union’s next opponent, the Los Angeles Galaxy. The reigning champions lost, 7-0, at the New York Red Bulls, and are now 0-9-3.

The Union have beaten the Galaxy just once in 12 all-time meetings, and have never done so in Chester. There might never be a better time to end that streak than this Wednesday (7:30 p.m., Apple TV).

Alas, with Cincinnati visiting lowly Toronto FC and Columbus visiting even-lower CF Montréal on Wednesday, the odds of the Union moving up are slim. But Wagner gave an emphatic answer when asked if it matters to be in first place in May, even if just psychologically.

“No, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s May, it’s just 12 games into the season. … We can be happy that we started the season this way, but on the other side there’s still a lot of games to go. We know that we have to be better in some phases, but we just work and keep going, and then we’ll be good.”

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Are the Union good right now? The best witness to ask was in the visitors’ locker room for the first time. After years of chasing Columbus and Cincinnati from across the field, now Gazdag is on the other side.

“I still think that it’s a good team — they showed that today as well,” he said. “The way they’re playing, they can do it at a really high level. They’re fighting for every ball, they’re pressing every ball, and I think they will be there at the end of the season.”