The Philadelphia Union hosted rival New York Red Bulls last night. It was the Union’s first and only “Soccer Sunday” game and last prime time game of the season. Coming into the game, the Union were riding off of a decisive 3-0 win against D.C United and 0-0 draw against English Premier League side Crystal Palace. The Union this year have only lost once at home and that was 3-2 against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Having a 7-1-3 home record ranks them third in the MLS, with only the Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas having better records. Talen Energy Stadium has become some sort of a fortress for the Union. Something the team has never really experienced in their seven year existence.
The Union and Red Bulls have only met competitively one other time this season. The Union had hosted the Red Bulls in Lamar Hunt U.S Open Cup action on June 27th in Chester, PA. The Red Bulls went up early thanks to MF/F Mike Grella. The first half was mostly Red Bulls who had dominated possession and spent most of their time in the attacking third. In the second half, the game flipped on it head. Union MF Chris Pontius netted two goals thanks to Ilsinho who assisted on both goals. The game would end 2-1 but not without controversy. In the 90th minute, Union assistant coach B.J. Callaghan put a rogue ball into play which delayed the game. He was ejected immediately from the game and was cheered by the Sons Of Ben as he headed for the tunnel. A minute after that, a foul call went in favor of the Union. Red Bull coach Jesse Marsch was furious and exited the coaches box and was also ejected. As he was leaving, he picked up two balls and threw them towards the Union bench out of anger. Red Bulls were knocked out of the tournament for the second year in a row by the Union.
The rivalry ignited once again Sunday and the Red Bulls came out swinging and were effective. The defensive scheme for the Red Bulls was to offside trap. It worked as it seemed that every counter attack the Union had was called offsides. After 27 minutes, Union DF Ken Tribbett made a mistake at the back which Sacha Kljestan pounced on and put the Red Bulls up 1-0. In the 44th minute, a free kick was called outside the box for the Red Bulls. After a couple of dummy runs, Sacha Kljestan took the kick and put into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
The game, like their previous match up, followed the same pattern. The second half belonged to the Union and it was there turn to turn up the pressure. In the 67th minute, Union DF Keegan Rosenberry put a pinpoint accurate cross into the box which created a Union penalty. C.J Sapong stepped up and buried the penalty to make it 2-1. Not a minute later came another opportunity for the Union. A through ball to Fabian Herbers beat the offside trap. Herbers crossed the ball across the face of the goal to Chris Pontius who buried it to complete the comeback 2-2.
Ilsinho picked up a red card which left the Union a man down. Despite being a man down, Union kept up the pressure which cause Jesse Marsch to put five defenders at the back. A move that was widely questioned. The game ended 2-2 and it was two points lost for the Red Bulls and one point gained for the Union. After the game, Union coach Jim Curtin spoke about the mentality of the team:
“Belief is the word, I was going to say it, you beat me to it, but belief is it, it’s everything. When they walk out on this field, they know they can play with anybody. You’ve seen it now, whether you want to call it the Galaxy, New York Red Bulls, New York City FC; we can go toe-to-toe with anybody, we are a confident team, but there is belief.“
The eastern conference table remains the same for the top three with NYCFC first with 33 points, Union second with 30 points and Red Bulls third with 28 points. The Union this week travel to Boston to face the New England Revolution in U.S Open Cup action Wednesday before heading up to fourth place Montreal Impact on Saturday.
Main Photo: Jamie Sabau, Getty Images
