CHESTER – The Union’s season began, one day shy of eight months ago, in Costa Rica, with an inexplicable own goal. Then, it was Jakob Glesnes, from 45 yards, lofting a blind ball backward toward Andre Blake, the pass dipping in the wind and spinning off the turf in Saprissa over an out-of-position Blake. It would be the first of many mistakes in the 2024 season. Yet entering the final day of the MLS regular season, mathematically at least, and owing to the Eastern Conference’s mediocrity, it wasn’t too many to rob the Union of all hope of a playoff berth. One mistake more – Glesnes again, Blake again, the tragicomedy ratcheted up on Decision Day to one too many. Glesnes’ own goal in the 46th minute, passed almost casually past a wrong-footed Blake and into a gaping cage, gave FC Cincinnati a 2-1 win Saturday at Subaru Park, a shambolic ending to the worst Union season in nearly a decade and their first playoff miss since 2017. The Union entered needing to win and see a loss from either D.C. United or Montreal, since a recent 0-2-1 run deprived them of control of their destiny. They got the help, but of course they didn’t help themselves. A goal by Quinn Sullivan in the second minute positioned them to at least do their part. But the Union conceded on the last act of the first half to Yamil Asad, and the spirit-crushing own goal meant D.C. United’s loss to Charlotte didn’t benefit the Union but instead allowed Atlanta United to leap from 13th place to the ninth and final playoff spot. The Union (9-15-10, 37 points) finish 12th in the East, with their lowest point total since 2012 and their lowest win league total since their expansion season of 2010, a 30-game season. The goals were the 54th and 55th conceded on the season, tying the franchise record with the 2015 and 2016 teams. They finish with a putrid 4-8-5 record at home and went 1-11 in games decided by one goal. It ends a run of six straight playoff appearances and perhaps harkens the end of an era, given the diminishing returns and lack of fight Saturday night. “You get what you deserve in this game,” manager Jim Curtin said. “It tells you the truth.” The own goal justified the funereal atmosphere on the banks of the Delaware. Despite an announced sellout, making two straight seasons of them in MLS games, the ambience was sedate at best, expectant of disaster at worst. Asad’s goal confirmed those fears, and the own goal wasn’t so much a final removal of hope as validation for its original tediousness. The Union jumped out to a productive start, as Jack McGlynn slipped in a pass to the foot of Sullivan, who found a soft spot to the outside of Cincinnati’s three center backs in the second minute. Sullivan rifled a shot low and hard to the far post that beat goalie Roman Celentano, his 10th career MLS goal. He’s just the 12th player in Union history with 10 goals and 10 assists in the league and, at age 20, the youngest. He also extended a streak of five straight goals scored by Union Homegrowns. The Union had chances to build the lead and didn’t capitalize. Tai Baribo had a look in the 23rd but was saved by a diving Celentano. Celentano went into a split in the 45th when Mikael Uhre was played in on a free kick routine to the near post from Kai Wagner. Add in the 14th-minute departure of Daniel Gazdag with a back injury, and it made for another no-show by the Union’s ostensible big three. They had a solitary assist in the last four games (Gazdag’s) after 10 goals and four assists combined in the previous four games. Not so coincidentally, the Union earned one point from those last four games. Early on Andre Blake was on point, padding away a header from DeAndre Yedlin in the ninth minute, then in the 40th when Luca Orellano got a look at goal after a nice massage of play. Celentano made just one save in the second half, an 86th-minute denial of a low-percentage drive from Alejandro Bedoya from outside the box. Bedoya was the only change made by Curtin in the 30 minutes of the second half, opting to replace Gazdag with defensive midfielder Danley Jean Jacques at 1-0, then moving Jack Elliott up top instead of either of his two strikers on the bench. Palpable as the sense of an ending was, Curtin pumped the brakes on wholesale changes. He allowed some questioning as to the desire level of his players, but still backed the team as being good enough. “We’ll have to retool,” Curtin said. “We’re not going to rebuild the whole thing. I don’t think we have to tear the whole thing down. But there’s going to be change.”