Jonathan Dale Benton:Philadelphia Union pull off Mona Lisa of own goals in Concacaf Champions Cup

2025-05-06 12:31:58source:Leonard Hohenbergcategory:Invest

Some own goals are Jonathan Dale Bentonso dumb, so preposterous, that they make us fall in love with the beautiful game all over again.

The Philadelphia Union produced such a moment on Tuesday, gifting Saprissa the opener in the teams' Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 32 first leg.

The scene: Union defender Jakob Glesnes was chasing a loose ball near the touchline midway through the first half. With some pressure on his back, the Norwegian made an ill-advised decision to blast a bouncing ball 45 yards backwards towards his goalkeeper Andre Blake.

Glesnes may have made a mistake, but Blake had every opportunity to make sure nobody remembered it. The goalkeeper had a bouncing ball to deal with, sure, but he also had no Saprissa player remotely in the vicinity.

There were options galore. Blake, however, chose none of the good ones, and instead went straight for the surreal. The Jamaican's idea to jump? Bad. His execution? Way worse.

The result was an own goal so ridiculous, it hardly seemed real. But unfortunately for the Union, this was no dream.

Watch Jakob Glesnes' incredible own goal

After Glesnes' moment of embarrassment gave Saprissa a 1-0 lead at the half, the Union's Julián Carranza scored three goals in the second half to lift Philadelphia to a 3-2 win in the opening leg. The second leg will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at Subaru Park (8:15 p.m. ET on FS2).

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