• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Mwanga's late goal lifts Union past Chivas

Jun 26, 2011 - 3:35 AM Chester, PA (Sports Network) - The Philadelphia Union got three second-half goals, including the winner in the 82nd minute from Danny Mwanga, at PPL Park on Saturday against Chivas USA to claim a 3-2 victory and bring an end to a four-game winless streak.

The lone tally of the opening half came from a corner kick as Ben Zemanski nodded the ball into the path of Michael Umana, who turned a header past goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon from close range.

Brian Carroll nearly equalized one minute later for the Union, but his header was cleared off the goal line by Chivas midfielder Paulo Nagamura.

The second half started quickly with the Union (7-4-5) grabbing an equalizer after three minutes when Justin Mapp pulled the ball back from the end line for Veljko Paunovic, who took it down off his chest and fired home his first goal.

Marcos Mondaini came within inches of putting Chivas back in front when his free kick rattled the crossbar, but just four minutes later, Carlos Ruiz put the hosts ahead after being set up by Paunovic.

Justin Braun helped the Goats pull level again 13 minutes from time with a right-footed effort from outside the area that found the bottom right corner, but the Union, which had drawn three of its last four matches, wasn't content to settle for a point as Mwanga tallied the winner eight minutes from time, handing Chivas its third successive defeat.

"I thought the game was pretty similar both halves," said Chivas coach Robin Fraser. "After we scored the first goal, we played too tight. As a result, we put ourselves under a tremendous amount of pressure. In the second half, we played a little bit better, but we made too many mistakes."