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Shorthanded Philadelphia Union aim to regroup after road loss

Missed opportunities again haunted the team.

The Montreal Impact’s Michael Salazar (19) is hugged by teammates after scoring against the Union on Wednesday.
The Montreal Impact’s Michael Salazar (19) is hugged by teammates after scoring against the Union on Wednesday.Read morePETER McCABE / Canadian Press

In their first game back from the Major League Soccer break, the Union fell short in Montreal on Wednesday night, suffering a 2-1 loss in a game marked by missed chances. Short several stars, the Union went through the same old struggles: flashes of offensive promise and plenty of opportunities without the finishing execution to leave town with three points.

"I thought we were in the game, pushing the tempo in the second half,"  coach Jim Curtin said. "But overall, we weren't sharp enough on the ball in terms of keeping possession, and Montreal punished us."

It's not that the Union's offense is lacking in chances — the team took 10 shots to Montreal's nine. Montreal controlled possession, handling the ball for 55 percent of the game, but the Union still saw the same number of chances to even the score and even take the lead. The loss reflects a finishing problem that has plagued Curtin's squad since the start of the season.  And despite a positive swing in energy in the second half, the Union dropped back to ninth in the Eastern Conference.

"It's more the result that was the most frustrating," the Union's Fafa Picault said. "We had good momentum and I thought we would have got a second and third goal, but unfortunately, it went the other way."

Picault was one of the standouts for the Union, pressuring the Impact's back line from the opening minutes. He scored the team's lone goal in the 42nd minute, sliding behind a defender to take a pass and slotting a shot past the goalkeeper to level the score at 1.

Another standout was Marcus Epps, who came off the bench in the second half  again for the Union and immediately gave the Montreal defense a problem. In the 86th minute, he lofted a pass to Roland Alberg, who buried a one-touch shot that could have leveled the score again, but the goal was pulled back on an offside call. That added another frustration for the Union, and it was the last missed opportunity of the night for them.

Curtin was well aware that the game would present a challenge. The Union were  short a handful of starters — Chris Pontius played with the U.S. team against El Salvador in the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals; Alejandro Bedoya stayed home with his newborn daughter; and Fabian Herbers and Derrick Jones sat out with injuries. But Montreal was also missing several of its own stars, which didn't keep the team from handing the Union a tough loss. Curtin must recover to form a plan of attack that can secure points even without a full roster of starters.

"We've been off for a while, and everyone has been off," Curtin said. "We're thin, with the guys being away and some injuries, but they are missing guys, too. We have to regroup."