LAFC's 1-1 draw at Philadelphia Union puts CCL semifinal tie on knife's edge

John McCarthy didn’t see where the shot struck Kellyn Acosta’s body.

And as the home team bayed for a whistle, his LAFC teammate refused to fess up as McCarthy questioned him.

But the goalkeeper noticed a key detail. And he anticipated referee Cesar Aturo Ramos' eventual decision as if it were one of the evening's many unsuccessful shots from Philadelphia Union attackers, 

“He wasn’t really holding his face,” McCarthy said of Acosta. “And it was a pretty decent shot. So I think we all know what it was.”

After a lengthy review, Ramos ruled a handball and awarded a penalty that began the manic conclusion of a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the teams' Concacaf Champions League semifinal Wednesday at Subaru Park. 

It was a pivotal moment. Just not quite in the manner it appeared.

Daniel Gazdag stepped up and converted the 86th-minute spot kick past McCarthy, the one-time Union backup goalkeeper and penalty kick specialist. 

That forced LAFC forward in search of an equalizer. Without the spot-kick goal, the team might've gladly accepted a 0-0 draw without much reservation. The Black and Gold found it through Acosta's redemptive, whirling finish in second-half stoppage time, a moment that ultimately left the visitors with a postgame glow they would have never felt had this ended scoreless.

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“Look, the way the competition is structured, the away goals are massive, a massive help,” LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo said. “I think in the fashion it happened, too, it could fill a little bit of our sails.

"We’re ecstatic about this result. Obviously not the performance. But one thing about this team, we find ways. They never give up, and they have the quality to put these goals in these very small chances.”

Halfway home?

Conventional wisdom now suggests the Black and Gold have the clear advantage at the midway point of the total-goals series. If only such rationale was regularly applied when these teams meet.

Philadelphia and LAFC have now drawn their last five matches in all competitions — three in the regular season, the 2022 MLS Cup final and now their first CCL tangle.

The two games in Philly have finished 1-1. The three in Southern California have all finished with two more goals scored by both teams, all scores that would send the Union through to the final if any of them recurred next Tuesday.

And as Union manager Jim Curtin noted, while conceding the late equalizer stung, it might not have changed his team’s second-leg objectives all that much.

“The reality is we still have to go there and score,” Curtin said. “I think we would have had to go there and score anyway, because the way LA plays, they’re going to come at you in waves, at home especially. So I’m all for a high-scoring game in the next one. I usually don’t like that. But this will be a unique opportunity for us to go end to end with LAFC.”

The Union looked the more polished attacking side for most of the evening and might have had a second goal without McCarthy's excellent work in his second game as a Subaru Park visitor.

His best moments came just before the interval, with a one-on-one denial of Mikael Uhre in the 40th minute and a slightly more routine stop of Julian Carranza in first-half stoppage time.

RELATED: Kellyn Acosta's redemptive goal lifts LAFC to dramatic 1-1 draw at Philadelphia Union in Leg 1

A tactical tweak at the break helped LAFC avoid being quite so open in defense. Still, they never really got close to controlling the game in the manner they wanted.

Yet the ability to weather those days — much like an unlucky penalty concession — may also be a promising sign.

“You have to take every opponent with the challenge that they present,” LAFC midfielder Ilie Sanchez said. “And go for them and try to be at the same time the main team on the field with your game model. Sometimes you can do that, sometimes it’s just about suffering as you say and getting the result.

“We’ve seen so many teams, when they play Champions League games and at the same time MLS league games, they struggle either here or in MLS. And we are trying (not) to do that. We haven’t lost a game in MLS so far, and that’s good. And also we are in the semifinals of an international competition. And that tells, more than how good the team is on the field, also the character we have in the locker room.”