Tai Baribo’s brace was part of a three-goal first half for the top-seeded Philadelphia Union, who cruised past the eighth-seeded Chicago Fire 3-0 on Saturday in Bridgeview, Ill., to sweep the team’s best-of-three first-round MLS Cup Playoff series.
Bruno Damiani added a goal while Milan Iloski, Jovan Lukic, and Kai Wagner each had an assist for the Union, who will now face either Charlotte FC or New York City FC in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Charlotte and NYCFC will play a third and deciding game on Friday.
The Union took the lead in the eighth minute on a critical goalkeeping error by the Fire’s Jeff Gal. As he went to play a ball passed back to him by Rominigue Koumane, Gal had it taken off his feet by Baribo. With nothing but an open goal in front of him, Baribo made no mistake as he gave the Union a 1-0 lead.
In the 16th minute, Baribo added a second goal. Kai Wagner curled in a pinpoint cross from the left side of the scoring area, which Baribo met with a perfect header past Gal to make it 2-0.
Chicago looked to have received a lifeline as it was awarded a penalty just before the half-hour mark, but Brian Gutierrez’s kick from the spot was easily stopped by Union goalkeeper Andre Blake.
Moments later, in the 35th minute, the Union extended their lead even further. As Gal looked to clear a ball from his area, it was deflected by the Union’s Milan Iloski into the path of Damiani, who blasted it into a wide-open goal.
Gutierrez appeared to make it 3-1 early in the second half, but it was called back on a handball violation.
But the night belonged to the Union, as Andre Blake only needed to make two saves en route to a clean sheet.
Gal finished with zero saves for Chicago. The 32-year-old was starting in place of Chris Brady, who was injured in training on Friday.
–Field Level Media
