A Missed Opportunity: RBNY Draw With Philly, 1-1
Pre-Match Thoughts
As a tropical storm passed over the tri-state area, the Philadelphia Union would head across the river to Red Bull Arena in an interesting midweek Eastern Conference battle. Whenever these two teams face each other, you know it will be aggressive and there will be fireworks, so I was hoping this game would be no different. Despite a slight delay due to the weather, there will still be soccer tonight and that is what is most important to me. I went into this game with a few things on my mind. First, with all the injuries Red Bull have picked up, what type of lineup would they be able to put together against an aggressive side like the Union? Second, with the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament starting and the Union missing several key players to international duty, how would they line up against RBNY? We all know these teams aren't big fans of each other and play very similar styles, so I was on edge for this game. I had a lot more nerves than expected, even though you always need to be a little worried when it comes to RBNY.
Starting XI
Gerhard Struber’s lineup is out and, honestly, I was expecting it to be worse. Most of the usual suspects are on the team sheet, which was a massive weight off the shoulders of myself and other Red Bull fans. As usual, Red Bull have Carlos Coronel in net looking to continue his amazing form. The back four consisted of Kyle Duncan, Tom Edwards, and John Tolkin with Amro Tarek getting the start with Sean Nealis out of the eighteen-man roster today with an injury. In the midfield, there was Sean Davis, Christian Casseres, Jr., Dru Yearwood and Wikelman Carmona, who has been doing an excellent job in the #10 spot with Clark still out from surgery. Up top, there were the usual forwards in Patryk Klimala and Fabio Gomes Netto, who were hoping to continue their amazing run of form and partnership. I was overall satisfied with this lineup and hoped it could really spark a result against this forceful Union team.
First Half
The first few minutes were exactly as you would expect. Both teams were feeling each other out, though the Union had an early opportunity to test Coronel. Union newcomer Daniel Gazdag was one-on-one with Coronel, but the ‘keeper closed the window and stopped the first major opportunity in this game. Red Bull looked a little shaky, but Coronel came up big early on. Not long after, RBNY would get their opportunity to open the scoring, but a massive save by backup goalkeeper Matthew Freese kept Klimala from continuing his form in front of net. Around the twenty-minute mark, both teams started to really stretch each other – even for the neutral or casual fan, you couldn't take your eyes off of this game. There weren’t any big chances throughout the middle part of the first half, and as rain started to slowly fall, the play seemed to slow with it. However, as expected, the fireworks came: Dru Yearwood put in a heavy body check on Philly’s Jamiro Monteiro, which led to players coming together and needing to be separated, as tensions rose between both sides. Yearwood would be shown a yellow card and would have to tread lightly for the remainder of this match. The Red Bulls would see out the first half with a massive block off the line from multiple defenders to keep this game level and scoreless going into the half.
Half Time Thoughts
The first half had literally everything but goals, leaving the entire stadium standing and wanting more. The Union looked very threatening team, even with some of their stars away on international duty. RBNY would need to be much more clinical with the ball, as the Union would once again use their experience to their advantage against this young New York side. I was very nervous at this point but, at home, anything can happened.
“[Kilmala] would not waste his opportunity, slotting it home and giving RBNY a goal advantage (to go with their one-man advantage) with only a third of the game left to play.”
Second Half
The Union would come out of the gates firing on all cylinders, once again testing Coronel early on. Coronel already came up big a few times in this game, but he stopped what was sure to be a beautiful goal for the Philly side at the beginning of the half. Both teams would go back and forth throughout the beginning of this second half, but it would not take long for someone to finally break through. A miss-played ball in the box by Freese (who, in fairness, is the backup keeper for the Union) led him to instinctively grab Carmona with both hands in an obvious goal scoring opportunity, giving RBNY a penalty. To make matters worse for the Union, Freese would be shown a straight red card for it, forcing the Union to sub on third string goalkeeper and MLS veteran Joe Bendik to face Patryk Klimala for the penalty try. The polish striker would not waste his opportunity, slotting it home and giving RBNY a goal advantage (to go with their one-man advantage) with only a third of the game left to play. With only twenty minutes remaining, it looked like New York would sit back and attempt to hold off the Union to protect their 1-0 lead. I was very upset with this tactic - I was hoping to see New York send men forward to try and seal the game with another goal. At the time, the Union were building up momentum and I had feared that this game could slip out of Red Bull’s hands. Sure enough, in the eighty fifth minute, the Union would capitalize on New York sitting back, catching the defense sleeping on a ball at the edge of the box. Sergio Santos, who was fresh off the bench, would pop in a header past a flat-footed Coronel, launching the Union back in the game. This was an absolute disappointment to me - the Red Bull players were not putting in the effort since going up a man up. With time still left in this game, I was worried that things could go from bad to worse. The Union would have a few more chances - if you didn't know better, you would have thought that they were at full strength. This game would end in a 1-1 draw and a massive missed opportunity for New York, especially since three points would have pushed them `further up the table in the Eastern conference playoff race.
“Sergio Santos, who was fresh off the bench, would pop in a header past a flat-footed Coronel, launching the Union back in the game.”
Final Thoughts
As I was leaving the stadium, I couldn't hide my emotions; I was mad. This may be one of those games that we look back on at the end of the season and wonder what could have been. For the first time all year, I can’t write about how aggressive and hungry this team looked. Not to take anything away from the Union, who played well and earned this win, but the Red Bull coaches and players dropped the ball in this one, whether due to poor play down the stretch or poor substitutions and timing. I have written about RBNY losses and draws several times this year, but not with this level of disgust. This was flat out a huge letdown at home, where we’re supposed to win. Leaving a match wondering, “what if?” is the worst feeling of all for any sports fan, in my opinion. RBNY have their next game ten days from now, so I am really hoping they will learn from this disappointment and really put in the work to get themselves at the level they should have been. Inter Miami will be an interesting opponent, so I pray some of the guys on our injury list find their way to the starting XI again. Who knows what will happen between now and then?
As always, I am here for it all.
