No one yells “shoot” when Leon Flach has the ball around the box. I have a feeling some may yell “shoot” next time he does. Okay, maybe no one will yell “shoot,” but the thought will cross our minds now that he’s scored a banger for a playoff winner.
The Philadelphia Union midfielder became the improbable hero Thursday night when his crossbody volley found the back of the net in the 59th minute. Flach’s goal held up as the Union fought past a late FC Cincinnati surge to win 1-0 and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
In a game that featured two of the league’s best attacking trios, with a combined 106 goals this season, including playoffs (Gazdag-22, Carranza-14, Uhre-13/Acosta-20, Vazquez-19, Brenner-18), the player who stole the spotlight had one goal in two seasons entering the match and 11 shots in 2022, 4 of them on target.