TFC puts unbeaten streak on the line against Union

The club is already on its second head coach of the season, but interim boss
John Hackworth has seen a reversal in fortunes since he took over, with the
Union going 2-2 since his appointment.

But Wednesday’s 2-1 win at Los Angeles is what Hackworth is hoping will be the
turning point in the season, as the Union got a goal in stoppage time from
Michael Farfan to snatch all three points.

“I think any team that talks about being successful and talks about how
they’re going to compete, and battles hard, and all of those things — they
need this kind of result,” said Hackworth. “We didn’t play our best. But for
the guys in that locker room to fight as hard as we fought, to dig down deep
when clearly we didn’t have the best legs — it was our fourth game in 12 days
— they said ‘we’ve got to make a play.’ That was fantastic. I can’t say
enough about the guys in the locker room. I’m so proud of them. But those
kinds of games can define a team. And certainly I think this game was a big
one for us.”

The Union will try build on that result on Sunday at home against Toronto FC,
the team that occupies the bottom place in the East and one that is also on
its second coach this season.

TFC has won just twice in 16 games so far this season, but the club brings a
five-game unbeaten streak into the contest, and like Philadelphia, has
seemingly responded well to a new man in charge.

Paul Mariner has helped Toronto claim a win and four draws from its last five
matches, and despite the fact that the results have been better, TFC must
still work on how it starts games.

The team has conceded a goal in the first five minutes of its last two
matches, including a 1-1 draw against FC Dallas on Wednesday.

“I don’t really know what happened, we need to do a better job of coming out
for games,” defender Logan Emory told MLSsoccer. “We didn’t come out with a
lot of energy for whatever reason. We can’t give them a head start like that.”

Despite its trouble at the beginning of games, TFC has been able to overcome
those slow starts because of the play of striker Danny Koevermans, who has
netted six goals in his last five games.