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Worst Whiff In MLS History Results In Goal Anyway

By Travis Yoesting April 20, 2019
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No one is happier about Alejandro Bedoya’s goal against Montreal than Philadelphia teammate Cory Burke.
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There have been many notable whiffs in the pantheon of U.S. soccer. This Cory Burke miss might be the worst.

Burke, a Philadelphia Union forward and Jamaica international, will never be as infamous as Major League Soccer’s most notorious whiffer, Chris Wondolowski. The San Jose striker may never live down his miss against Belgium at the 2014 World Cup and also has one of the most hilarious whiffs in MLS history from a few years ago.

But this Cory Burke miss from the Union’s 3-0 win over Montreal on Saturday was truly something special.

Fortunately for Burke, it resulted in a goal and a win.

Philadelphia already led 2-0 early in the second half when Kai Wagner got in behind the Impact defense and played a ball across the six-yard box toward Burke. With Montreal keeper Evan Bush having come out to stop Wagner, Burke was five yards from goal only needing to redirect the ball anywhere in the direction of the goal to score.

He whiffed completely.

Alas, Philadelphia scored anyway as club captain Alejandro Bedoya was there to mop up Burke’s mistake.

You know it was bad because Burke didn’t even celebrate when he saw Bedoya’s shot go in; he was too despondent. 

It’s 4/20, so we can’t rule out the possibility Burke got high at halftime, which might explain his miss. But at least he didn’t clear the ball off the line to deny his team a goal like Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting did on April 7 to prevent PSG from wrapping up the Ligue 1 title. (PSG still hasn’t clinched the title.)

Maybe Burke just wanted to share the love and let Bedoya get on the score sheet. Or maybe the goal was just too close for his liking, Burke having already scored with this long-range strike.

It wasn’t all good news for Philadelphia on Saturday. 

Wagner was shown a red card in the 90th minute and more worringly goalkeeper Andre Blake had to be taken out with an apparent groin injury in the 54th minute.

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