Omir Fernandez and Sergio Santos traded first half goals as the New York Red Bulls and Philadelphia Union shared points in a hotly contested 1-1 draw. A point apiece for each team does very little in terms playoff positioning.
Team News
The Red Bulls make only one change to the team that shutout NYCFC last Saturday. Andres Reyes starts in defense, Tom Edwards is on the bench. The rest of the team is unchanged from the past weekend. Fabio remains out with a calf injury.
Philadelphia also makes one change to the side that beat Atlanta United 1-0. Captain Alejandro Bedoya is back in the side, he gets the nod over Daniel Gazdag. The rest of the team remains the same.
Red Bulls lineup: Carlos Coronel; Andrew Gutman, Sean Nealis, Kyle Duncan; John Tolkin, (C) Sean Davis, Dru Yearwood, Andres Reyes; Cristian Casseres Jr, Patryk Klimala, Omir Fernandez
Philadelphia lineup: Andre Blake; Kai Wagner, Jack Elliot, Jakob Glesnes, Olivier Mbaizo; Leon Flach, Jose Martinez, Jairo Monteiro; (C) Alejandro Bedoya; Kacper Przybylko, Sergio Santos
First Half: Red Bulls, Philadelphia score in an even first half
New York started on the front foot with a few shots on target. The early start wouldn’t last long as both teams were feeling each other out.
The Union would take the lead through Sergio Santos. From a corner kick, the service would trickle past multiple bodies onto the foot of Santos who tapped home the opener.
Philadelphia stepped up the pressure from that point on. The Red Bulls were struggling to find a flow as the Union cranked up their pressing. But in the 37-minute, Omir Fernandez leveled the scores. The “Bronx Messi” got on the receiving end of a pass from Casseres and blasted a half volley past Blake. He’s now scored in back to back games.
Philadelphia nearly scored off another corner kick, but Bedoya’s header went over the bar. The first half ended, with an even contest being played out onto the pitch. Each team has only one shot on target, neither keeper has had much work to do and New York held a slight edge in possession.
Second Half:
Wikelman Carmona entered the match for Cristian Casseres Jr to start the second half.
Kyle Duncan found himself in the book with a yellow card for a foul. More fouls proceeded as the physicality picked up. Tom Barlow came on for goalscorer Omir Fernandez, who received a lovely ovation coming off.
Andres Reyes also picked up a yellow card for bringing down Santos. Both teams prepared a double sub. Daniel Royer and Frankie Amaya came on for Klimala and Yearwood. The Union brought on Daniel Gazdag and Paxten Aaronson for Santos and Bedoya.
Kai Wagner earned a yellow card following a bad challenge on Royer. Andre Blake also got a yellow for dissent. Tom Edwards entered the match as the last New York sub, for Tolkin.
Takeaways from New York Red Bulls vs Philadelphia Union
A draw simply wasn’t good enough for the Red Bulls. New York needed to win this game, plain and simple. They now find themselves at least seven points out of the final playoff spot. Games and time are running out.
Philadelphia hold onto their playoff spot, for now. The draw doesn’t move the Union up or down the table, but they’re now two points above Montreal who are out of the playoff line for the time being. It’s quite a tightrope spot to be in, they must be careful heading into October.
A draw is ultimately a fair result. These teams are similar in play style and pretty much cancel each other out. Throw in the physicality and there’s very little to separate the sides.
