The New York Red Bulls faced off against arch-rival, Philadelphia Union, at Red Bull Arena on Thursday night. Going into this crucial Major League Soccer Eastern Conference game, the Red Bull would be without U.S. Men's National Team defender, Aaron Long and playmaking midfielder, Caden Clark, who missed his second straight game due to an appendectomy.
Thankfully, Gerhard Struber had other options to call into his attack and that included Fabio who is top-ten in MLS in assists this season and recently signed striker Patryk Klimala. MSG Networks broadcaster Shep Messing described what he's liked from 'P K' so far.
He passes the eye test," Messing said. "From the first time I saw him, he looked like a smart, crafty striker. He's got the physical ability, his runs are good and his attitude is good." - MSG Announcer Shep Messing
What is interesting about these two teams is, even though Philadelphia sat four places (3rd place) ahead of New York Red Bulls, they each had five wins coming in. Here is the Red Bulls lineup for a critical home game against a Division Rival.
- Goalkeeper- Coronel
- DEF: Duncan RB, Edwards-Tarek, LB Tolkin
- MID: Davis-Yearwood
- Casseres Jr., Carmona
- FWDs: Fabio- Klimala
First Half
Carlos Colonel was tested in the seventh minute, when the Union's striker, Daniel Gazdag was played in one-on-one with the Red Bull netminder. Coronel decisively sprang off his line and rushed the Hungarian who had his shot blocked by a sliding Red Bull goalkeeper to keep Philadelphia off the scoreboard.
Then, New York had a scoring opportunity about ten minutes later. Fabio has been overwhelming to deal with by defenders physically all year and he protected the ball nicely on this play. Red Bulls left back Tolkin made a great pass into Fabio, at the edge of the Union box. Fabio protected the ball from a defender and passed to Klimala who took a left-footed shot that was saved by Union goalkeeper Matt Freese.
Philadelphia earned a corner kick soon after. After the kick came in, the ball was loose inside the Red Bulls box and fell to Union's midfielder, Monteiro, who rocketed a shot that was bravely blocked by the Red Bull Captain Sean Davis who was standing near the left post.
In the first half, things were dead-even between two of the most bitter rivals in American soccer. The game was scoreless with the only event a Yellow card issued to Yearwood right before the half.
Second Half
- SUB | RB: Amaya IN, Yearwood OUT
On the visiting team, one player who was absolutely brilliant was midfielder Jamiro Monteiro and when the game resumed, he had a golden opportunity. Monteiro faked out a Red Bulls defender at the right edge of the box. He cut on to his left foot and took a great shot that was going upper right corner. It was stopped by a diving Red Bull keeper to keep the game scoreless.
After ten minutes of offense from Philly, the home team got their chance. Midfielder (18 years old) Carmona pursued a pass from a Union defender to his goalkeeper. With Carmona right in front of him, Freese tried to make a move around him and the ball went behind him and was going to be kicked in by the Red Bulls player, but the goalkeeper grabbed him and pulled him away. Without hesitation, Referee point to the penalty-spot and showed Union goalkeeper Freese a Red Card.
Taking the kick would be one of the newest players on the team, Patryk Klimala and Thursday's rivalry game was just his sixth start this season. The Polish striker sent replacement goalie, Bendik the wrong way and passed the ball into the right side of the net for his second goal of 2021.
Patryk Klimala puts it away.@Audi | #RBNY pic.twitter.com/sXH6CNmupW
— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) July 9, 2021
- SUB | PHI | Santos - Leon Flach
- NYRB | CB Mandela Egbo IN, Tarek OUT
Philadelphia Union Head Coach Jim Curtain made a substitution in the 72nd minute, replacing Flach with Brazilian central midfielder Santos. In the 84th minute, Curtain's move would pay huge dividends for a Philly team that were already down to ten men.
With nearly five minutes left in the 90 minute-game, Red Bulls left-back Tolkin went down after rolling his ankle deep down the right sideline in his own half. Instead of courteously waiting for the Red Bulls to recollect themselves, the Union threw the ball in. Oliver Mbaizo lofted a cross into the Red Bull box, where Santos rose above the Red Bulls central defender covering him and headed the ball just inside the left post and into the net, tying the game at one.
Even though their player had gone down with injury, the Red Bulls clearly were not aggressive enough to keep possession out of Philadelphia's hands and credit to Philly they kept pushing and scored the equalizer in dramatic fashion near the end of the game.
The assistant referee added seven minutes to the stoppage time for this game. In the 92nd minute, Philadelphia's super-sub, Santos, muscled a Red Bulls player off the ball near midfield. He dribbled all the way into the box where he took a weak left-footed shot that was rolled into Carlos Colonel's safe hands. Dissapointingly for Red Bull, they could not apply enough offensive pressure near the end of the game, whether that was due to several injuries they sustained or tired legs, to score a go-ahead goal and this edition of the New York-Philly soccer rivalry ended in a 1-1 tie.
Let's Hear from the Players
During the post game show on the MSG Channel, Captain Sean Davis said his team need to be "more mature" during games where emotions run high against their rivals. One of the longest-tenured Red Bulls players also described how it felt to just get 1 point from a game they could've gotten three from.
It was a big match for both teams," Davis said. "That's the nature of the beast, we expected it to look like that. The standard is to get three points and while it bothers us, we'll regroup and grow from this [experience]." - Sean Davis
MSG Networks TV Host Michelle Gingras called the Red Bulls the youngest team in Major League Soccer. In the starting eleven for the match against Philly, two under-20 players started; John Tolkin at left-back and Wikelman Carmona as a midfielder. Carmona is one of the youngest and has now made consecutive starts for the first time this season.
The Red Bulls TV color analyst on MSG, Shep Messing discussed the team's youth and how that factored in to their lack of maturity at the end of this game.
Red Bulls are a young team and let's make no mistake, Philadelphia are very good. As the game wore on [and Philly went down a man] you got the feeling they weren't going to give up on the game and Santos was subbed in and flipped the game on its head." - Shep Messing
The Red Bulls have a long break before their next game. That game will take place on their home turf, Red Bull Arena on July 17 7:00 PM against Inter Miami CF. Jersey Sporting News will have continued coverage of the New York Red Bulls all season.
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