Union’s draw with Columbus is progress, though only by the faintest measure

CHESTER — Saturday night had the makings of disaster for a Philadelphia Union team already listing heavily and ready to sink for good.

A goal conceded in the 10th minute to visiting Columbus and a pair of early yellow cards meant a chance for bad to accelerate quickly to worse. The Union instead managed to avoid rock bottom, though only maintaining the barest separation from it.

Milan Iloski’s goal in the 70th minute was enough for a 1-1 draw with the Crew Saturday night at Subaru Park. That coach Bradley Carnell had to catch himself being excessively happy with a home draw against the 13th-place team in the Eastern Conference is an indictment of how far toward oblivion the Union have fallen this year.

“When you concede as early as that and find ourselves in the moment we are, I think it’s a potential possibility that the game can get away from you,” Carnell said. “But credit to the guys that we dug deep, and on the night, don’t give away anything at all.”

“Not disaster” passes for success for the Union (1-9-4, 7 points), who with Sporting Kansas City’s win over Austin on Saturday night has guaranteed it will finish bottom of the table when MLS breaks for the World Cup hiatus after next week.

The Union’s embarrassment means they’re 10 points shy of the playoff line in the East. The Union have reached a point in the season where they can only broach last year’s total for points (66) if they win each of the last 20 games on their schedule.

They are 0-3-3 at home, having taken three points of a possible 18 at Subaru Park. Saturday’s goal was just the third in six home matches.

And, for a subjective measure, the Crew fired coach Henrik Rydstrom on Sunday, the second coach this year to lose his job after his team dropped points to the Union, the other being Montreal’s Marco Donadel after the Union’s only win of the season.

Yet Carnell’s job seems oddly secure, and the reigning MLS Coach of the Year was delicate in answering a question about it.

“I think the club has a vision. They know it’s not going optimal at the moment, and I’m the first one to raise my hand,” he said. “But I can control the things that I can control, and that’s a team environment, and that’s a team performance that tries week in and week out, on the training field, gives their everything every single day, and so be it. Other than that, it’s out of my control.”

On the field, the goal conceded to Hugo Picard came on the second phase of a corner kick and was an outstanding finish by the wide midfielder, though he was afford entirely too much time and space. It was the only shot on target by the Crew among five attempts, the Union holding edges of 12-5 in attempts and 5-1 in shots on target.

The goal was well-worked, a midfield turnover morphing quickly into offense via Ben Bender, suddenly solid at left back and Agustin Anello down the left wing to square to Iloski for the tap in.

But it stood alone among too many attacking moments that were, as they’ve been all year, not good enough. Saturday brought another feckless performance from Bruno Damiani, who remains without a goal contribution in MLS this year. He had two touches in the opponent’s box and no shot attempts in 65 minutes. Ezekiel Alladoh’s 25-minute appearance yielded one shot attempt.

Alladoh has two shots on target and an assist in 525 minutes. Damiani has zero goals, zero assists and four shots on target in 1,031 minutes.

Cavan Sullivan started again and remained dangerous. He had four shots on target, including a free kick on the final action of the game from 20 yards out that he curled directly into the palms of Patrick Schulte. It was a milestone in his first 90-minute MLS performance.

All of that is progress, if you can willfully ignore the monstrous season-to-season regression from last year’s trophy in which the Union are still trying and failing to bridge.

“I think with spirited performances like we did in the second half, you will yourself to the win,” Carnell said. “And this is sometimes a windy, bumpy road, and we find ourselves in that windy, bumpy road. But what you see is the boys digging deep, committing, fighting, giving everything to the very last minute, and digging deep. We have moments and momentum to win the game, so you know we have to look at that.”