Zero Points, Zero Goals, Zero Answers

Through three games, the Philadelphia Union have scored once. From a penalty. With ten men. That's it. That's the whole offensive résumé of the defending Supporters' Shield champions, and Saturday's 1-0 loss to San Jose didn't just continue the trend — it cemented it.

Timo Werner came on at halftime, and within nine minutes he had already made the entire game irrelevant. One diagonal ball from Werner to a streaking Ousseni Bouda, Giovanny Sequera beaten on the run, and Bouda sliding it past André Blake at the near post. 1-0. San Jose's third win, third clean sheet, first 3-0-0 start in club history. Bruce Arena extending his all-time MLS wins record to 276 and probably feeling very good about his life choices right now.

The Union had their moments. Harriel's diving header right after halftime should have been a goal — the San Jose keeper got a fingertip on it and somehow pushed it wide. Vassilev had a decent chance before the break. Sequera, in his MLS debut, actually looked like one of the better players on the field in spurts, which says something about the state of things. Alladoh came on and drew what should have been a penalty in the 66th minute — no call, no review, the referee just kept walking. Westfield's cross late in the half had a few people briefly excited. But San Jose sat in, held their shape, and let Philadelphia have the ball in spaces that didn't matter.

The Cavan Sullivan situation has taken on a life of its own. He didn't play. He sat on the bench, unused, for the entire match while the Union stumbled through another goalless night. Carnell keeps pointing to Manchester City's involvement in managing his minutes, which may be entirely true, but there's a point where that explanation stops landing with a fanbase watching their team go 0-3-0. The discussion online after the game wasn't really about Bouda's goal or Werner's assist — it was almost entirely about why the most exciting player in the club's roster didn't see a single minute while the attack sputtered for 90.

Lukic and Iloski, supposedly the leaders of this midfield, were both anonymous. Damiani was replaced in the 74th minute having done very little. The whole thing moved in slow motion, which is a strange thing to say about a team that's supposed to press and counter. There was no press. There was very little counter.

Here's the number that should bother everyone: San Jose's expected goals for the game were 0.8. They barely created anything. They didn't need to. One moment of quality from Werner and that was enough, because the Union aren't going to score two goals right now. They're barely sniffing one.

Club América is coming to Subaru Park on Tuesday in the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16. Liga MX. Defending regional champion. And this Union squad just spent 90 minutes being shut out by a team that wasn't even trying to attack in the second half.

Maybe the Champions Cup gives this team something to reset around. Maybe the higher stakes unlocks something that three MLS games haven't. Or maybe it's just a bigger stage for the same problems. Either way, it's coming fast, and the Union don't have time to figure it out slowly.

[Photography by Trey Madara]