On a hot and steamy Saturday night, the Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls drew to a 0-0 draw. The night will probably be known for more of the off the field stuff than what happened during the match for the most part, though Andrew Rick did get his first career shut out with the first team. But with the supporter’s group protest being announced prior to the game, one could argue that for some, that took more of a precedence than the actual game itself.
When the starting 11 was announced, there were a few changes from Chicago, with Andrew Rick returning to net and Quinn Sullivan on the bench. Union defender Damion Lowe returned to the lineup after his stint with Jamaica for Copa America. For the Red Bulls, former Union striker Cory Burke was on the bench as well former Union back up Carlos Coronel was in net.
Jack and Nate added the Olympic Roster
Both Jack McGlynn and Nate Harriel were announced to be added to the Olympic roster ahead of the Paris games and were recognized prior to kick off. Jim echoed the praise for both players, “First of all, they deserve all the credit for that. It’s a hard thing to make because the roster size is so small, there’s there’s such a small group that gets the opportunity to do that to get to do it in France is also pretty special in Paris, which will be once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope they go there and maybe defy the odds and win a medal. You know, it would be an incredible achievement. We’re already really proud of them. And the things that they’ve done here for the Union is great, homegrown players. They’ve become guys that I think we forget how young they still are, because they get penciled in and play every minute for us. And they can dominate games here at the pro level. So hopefully they go there with confidence.”
Protest in the stands
Prior to tonight’s match, the Sons of Ben and Keystone State Ultras both organized separate protests aimed towards the Union’s ownership group for lack of support for the first time. Both groups were quiet at kick off time, with KSU raising a banner asking for Union primary owner Jay Sugarman to leave. The banner was removed by security apparently from what I heard due to MLS policy and not team policy.
The Sons of Ben on the other hand were asked to sit and remain silent for the first 5 minutes of kick off. While some did, there were a few that remained standing. The Sons of Ben’s board chimed in after the game that ownership has agreed to meet with them to discuss the protest this coming week. I spoke with some fans and supporters before and after the match last night and we will have an article out later this week on http://www.theoneteamweagreeon.com sharing some thoughts from them on the team and ownership.
Union versus Red Bull draw it out
Back to the game, the Union had a chance early on with McGlynn putting a shot on net to which Coronel stopped. The Union had a few turnovers that led to opportunities for Red Bulls that were either saved by or were off target. Through 21 minutes, both teams were pretty even until the 23rd minute when Dante Vanzier broke through the Union defensive line and had a great opportunity on net which was neglected thanks to Damion Lowe’s heads up play. “I thought Damian was really good,” Curtin said. “Won a lot of duels, put out a lot of fires, still things we can clean up because Red Bull had some chances too, as did we, but overall a really solid performance and good to have him back.”
In the 33rd minute the Union created an opportunity with a wonderful ball from Leon Flach on a redirected header that sent the ball right into Daniel Gazdag who sailed it high into the River End. Then in the 45th minute, Chris Donovan got nice positioning on a pass into the box, however thanks to a great defensive effort, Donovan’s header went wide over the top of net.
At halftime, the Union had 57.8 percentage of possession of the ball and had mustered 7 shots to Red Bulls’ 8 shots. However, for the most part, the game was fairly even.
With the second half underway, the Union created a nice opportunity from a build up starting with Rick that finished with Harriel passing the ball through the middle, but Gadzag was unable to run it down.
The first substitution came in the 55th minute when Quinn Sullivan came in for Donovan. The Union, in the 56th minute, had another opportunity when again Gazdag went 1 vs 1 with Coronel, which was blocked as well as the follow up shots.
As the Union built into the second half, so did the Red Bulls, at times creating chances that kept the young Rick on his toes. Around the 73rd minute, Quinn Sullivan broke free on a 1 vs 1 which went off to the side.
In the 81th minute Alejandro Bedoya subbed in for Leon Flach. I asked Jim his thoughts on Ale’s return to the Union. “Alejandro has been through these types of games, we wanted to get him 15 to 20 minutes as his first game back. He’s an attacking, you know, a little bit more of an attacking player than Leon. Leon had a solid game. But at that moment, we wanted to go for it, they didn’t really play with a 10 that was in the middle of the field. So we were hoping all he could get on the ball play some four passes, which he did.” Jim remarked.
Heading into the final stretch, the Red Bulls started to create some chances including in the 87th and 89th minute where they managed two amazing opportunities, however Rick denied both opportunities adding to his solid performance in net.”You know, anytime you make an early save, I think that that gives you confidence and belief. Are there things that he’ll work with Phil and look at the film and work on some kicking in different things. There’s going to be learning moments for him all the time, but he made some big saves tonight that we needed and it’s a clean sheet for a young goalkeeper, so that can only build confidence.” said Jim.
Elliott subbing out for Mbaizo was the final substitution. With the four minutes of added time, Rick made two good saves to get his first clean sheet on his 1st team career and help the Union get their first point at home since June 1st. “So no moral victories but also still good to keep a clean sheet,” echoed Curtin.
Jose Martinez Back
Jim was asked about Jose Martinez’s return from COPA America. “We’ll give him a day or two to recover [emotionally], he was excellent by the way in the games. Venezuela had a great run, game could have gone either way last night with Canada. But great player, you guys know my love for Jose.” It seems Jose might back back in time for the Union’s next game on Saturday as they travel back up to Canada to face Toronto FC, whom the Union drew earlier this year at home and get revenge for their performance last season when they lost before heading back home the following week to face New England and Nashville before the Leagues Cup break.
(Special Thanks to Todd Lewis of the Free Kick for clipping the video for this article)
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