In the beautiful game of soccer(or football), a proven striker is hard to come by. The matter of fact is a good one is hard to find sometimes. In the short seven year history for the Philadelphia Union, they have yet to find one. It’s something that has always made the pundits’ lists of positional needs. It’s something that’s been blatantly obvious for years. In this article, you will read the history of notable Philadelphia Union strikers. I am excluding Sebastien Le Toux because I am only focusing on pure strikers; ones who are being paid to score.
Now, the argument for several former Union strikers could be made. You can say that Jack McInerney. In Jack Mac’s FOUR YEARS with the team, he scored 25 goals in 95 appearances. This means he scored a goal about four games. If you add the very poor statistic of four assists into the equation, he has still put a point on the board once every three to four games. 25 goals would be a good number if the stat were spread over two, or even a single, seasons, but four years?
Let’s put this into perspective. Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC) and Kei Kamara (Columbus SC) scored 22 goals each in 2015. In 2014, Bradley Wright-Phillips of the New York Red Bulls scored 27 goals in a single season. Honestly, it would be unfair to compare McInerney to these three players. Those are three of the best strikers in the MLS, not counting Robbie Keane and Giovani Dos Santos of the LA Galaxy. McInerney did have a lot of potential and promise, but that was squandered. Currently, he’s with the Portland Timbers where he will likely play second fiddle to Fanendo Adi and Darlington Nagbe. He wasn’t the first striker to suffer the same fate under the Unions guidance
Danny Mwanga was the Unions first ever draft pick in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft. The Democratic Republic of the Congo striker was drafted number one overall out of Oregon State. Due to that, he was cherished early on by fans. Unfortunately, his time with the Union proved to be lackluster. He scored only 12 goals in 61 appearances over three seasons with the club. Under Piotr Nowak, he couldn’t really break through. After his three disappointing seasons, he was traded to the Portland Timbers and then to theColorado Rapids. He was subsequently put into the MLS Expansion Draft in 2014 by Orlando City. Mwanga was released and currently plays in the NASL with the Tampa Bay Rowdies alongside former teammate and outcast Freddy Adu.
Fernando Aristeguieta was only with the team for the 2015 season. He was on loan from FC Nantes of Ligue 1 in France. Aristeguieta was a powerful striker who had a goal scoring record with Nantes as well as the Venezuelan National Team. He started off the season well, impressing the fans when he scored against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto. After that, his name was constantly on injury reports or listed as a substitute on the gameday teamsheet. The fans had high hopes when the loan was announced, but the young 23-year-old didn’t live up to his promise or leave a mark with the club. Since the end of the season, he returned to Nantes where he was subsequently loaned to Red Star F.C in Ligue 2.
The jury’s still out on C.J Sapong. In his first season with the Union, he posted career high numbers with 13 total points. He tied his record nine goals a season, which he also did with Sporting KC, even though he missed a few games due to a broken bone in his face that he suffered in the opening game against the Rapids. He was also charged with a DUI in May. His numbers likely would have been higher had he been healthy and not driven under the influence. He will face a bigger role this year teaching new draftee Fabian Herbers the ropes, as well as stepping up his game.
The need for a striker is real. The Union have never had a high caliber proven goal scorer on the squad. With that in mind, the need to look overseas for a striker has become the mindset for the club under Earnie Stewart’s guidance. With him aboard, we’ve seen the names of players like James McFadden of Motherwell in Scotland and Colin Kazim-Richards of PSV in the Netherlands come up. The Richards rumor has since been eliminated as he signed a contract with Celtic, but the fact that this type of player is being discussed is good news. A striker I would like for the Union to look at is either Aron Johansson or Anthony Ujah of Werder Bremen. Bringing Johannson back stateside would make sense for both sides. Nigerian Anthony Ujah is a quick, powerful striker who has done well in the Bundesliga in the past.
So as we can see, the Union do not have a good history with strikers. But it’s not obvious why it’s a problem. Union fans have heard time and time again that the club is not money spenders. They are not the Galaxy or Toronto in any way, shape or form. You have to think though, isn’t striker the perfect oppurtunity to actually spend some of the money you have? Only time will answer that question.
Main Photo: Victor Decolongon, Getty Images
