Chester – It wouldn’t be a Philadelphia Union U.S. Open Cup match without a bit of weather drama. Wednesday’s quarterfinal showdown between MLS rivals Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls was postponed due to weather. However, both teams were back at it on Saturday night at Subaru Park for their first MLS matchup of the season—a fixture that historically delivers fantastic atmospheres and competitive matches. After 90 minutes, the Union walked away with another three points in a 2-0 victory.

“Really happy with the result tonight,” said Carnell post-match. “I think it was a good bounce back over the last couple of games, where we didn’t quite show our true selves. Tonight, we wanted to be a little bit more expressive, in terms of who we are and what we are, show a bit of our signature and reignite a little bit of the all-out pressing phases. So I think you saw that in abundance tonight, and really proud of the boys with the application and the way they went about their business tonight.”

Bradley Carnell’s lineup for the evening was identical to the one announced for Wednesday, with both Quinn Sullivan and Nathan Harriel returning to the starting eleven. Bruno Damiani and Tai Baribo also paired up top for the first time since the Toronto FC match on May 28. Frankie Westfield, who had missed the last few matches with an ankle injury, made his return by appearing on the bench. Two players absent from Wednesday’s bench—midfielder Ben Bender and forward Chris Donovan—returned to the matchday roster.

In the opening minutes, New York applied the better pressure, with Forsberg navigating the midfield and creating a few breakaway opportunities on the counter. They also focused on attacking Kai Wagner’s side of the pitch, with Mohammed Sofo beating him twice within the first five minutes. However, strong defensive clearances snuffed out the chances.

Philadelphia struck first. Indiana Vassiliev’s quick reaction to a loose ball off a Kai Wagner corner kick put the Union up 1-0 in the 9th minute, sending the home fans into a frenzy. It was Vassiliev’s second goal of the season and the Union’s 13th goal from a set piece—and their sixth goal scored in the opening 15 minutes of a match this season.

“It just sets up a tone, right? And I think this is a special game, you know, not just for me as a former Red Bull,” said Bradley. “It’s an important game for me. I know what it means to Philadelphia. I know what it means here at Subaru Park, and I know what that streak means as well. So for me and for the group, yeah, we check off these boxes: Derby, one clean sheet, and we go again.”

Philadelphia’s second goal came in the 24th minute after some beautiful build-up play from Tai Baribo, who found Quinn Sullivan in space. Sullivan passed the ball into the box for a streaking Bruno Damiani, who beat Red Bulls goalkeeper—and former Union backup—Carlos Coronel for his fourth goal of the season. VAR checked the play, which looked close from the press box, but Red Bulls defender Noah Eile appeared to keep Damiani onside. Head referee Marcos DeOliveira II allowed the goal to stand, giving the Union a 2-0 lead.

On his forward’s fourth goal of the season, Carnell added: “It’s good. I mean, obviously for him and his feeling and, you know, to get the groove back, in the run of play, and you could just feel it’s been brewing in training. It’s been edgy in training when things haven’t gone his way. And you know that all just, you know, comes together in a night like tonight, where there’s a bit of pressure, and then we show the quality in certain phases that we have the ability—not just against the ball, but also with the ball—to hurt teams and create things.”

The story at halftime was simple: the Union were out-hustling the Red Bulls and creating more chances. Philadelphia outshot New York 10-0 (3-0 on target), out-possessed them 60%-40%, and converted two of their three big opportunities.

The Red Bulls came out of the halftime break energized, putting the Union on their heels by penetrating the back line twice and earning their first shot of the match while trying to claw back. Goalkeeper Andre Blake was caught in no man’s land on a free kick, but the shot went wide of the net.

Aside from a Danley Jean Jacques cross that Quinn Sullivan couldn’t put on frame, New York dominated the first 15 minutes of the second half. Jean Jacques went down after appearing to get stepped on, but the Haitian midfielder stayed in the match. Carnell later said he believed Danley was fine, but it’s something they’ll monitor.

Carnell’s first subs of the night came when Sal Olivas replaced Bruno Damiani and Frankie Westfield came on for Quinn Sullivan. That sparked the Union to find a little life in the waning minutes, with Jean Jacques narrowly missing a screamer from outside the box.

Shortly after, Olivas—making his second first-team appearance—found himself one-on-one with Coronel after a perfectly timed run, but he was denied by a brilliant save.

Speaking with Olivas post-match about managing playing time between the first and second teams, he said:

“I enjoy it actually, playing some minutes with the first team, or maybe not, just being in the first team environment and obviously going down with Union II to play. It’s good, because obviously, you know, as a player, you need me just to progress and stuff like that. You need to play.”

When asked what he would tell his younger self:

“I tell him just to believe, you know, just to keep on believing stuff like that. Anything is possible. Put your mind to it.”

As for Westfield, playing his first minutes since returning from injury, Carnell had this to say:

“Frankie brings an attitude and an energy that kind of, yeah, it’s it. It’s our team, if you want to speak about what our team looks like, I think Frankie shows that in the locker room as a teammate, whether he starts, whether he doesn’t, he’s coming back from his injury, and he just show, a little bit of grit every single day in training, which even though he’s been out for a while, and an ankle injury is always a touch and go thing, because you get knocked it hurts for five, six minutes, and then you can go again. And he’s had a couple this week getting back into training, and you can see, you know, he just fights through it.”

Carnell would then turn to the bench once more, bringing on Jeremy Rafanello for Tai Baribo and Alejandro Bedoya—who was honored earlier in the evening for his 300th appearance last Saturday in Nashville—for Indiana Vassilev, as the Union looked to see out the match. They succeeded, extending their home unbeaten streak to 11 matches as the final whistle blew at Subaru Park.

Philadelphia is now unbeaten in 15 straight matches in all competitions against the Red Bulls, and their 12-match regular season unbeaten run (8-0-4) is the longest in club history.

Andre Blake recorded his 10th career clean sheet against New York. As a club, Philadelphia now has nine shutouts this season—five by Blake and four by Andrew Rick—eclipsing their total number of clean sheets from the entire 2024 MLS campaign.

With FC Cincinnati and Nashville both losing on the evening, the Union returned to the top of both the MLS Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield standings, finishing the night with 43 points.

Philadelphia now turns its attention to Wednesday night as they host C.F. Montréal, whom they beat 2-1 earlier this season on the road, before heading to Texas to take on the Houston Dynamo next Saturday.

Wednesday’s match is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. If you can’t make it to Chester, the game will be available on Apple TV+ as part of the MLS Season Pass.

Main Article Photo Courtesy of the Philadelphia Union