CHESTER, Pa.— Meeting for the second time this season, Union II hosted Red Bull New York II looking to spoil their foe’s undefeated record and continue their own momentum coming off a 2-1 win over CT United. Unfortunately, despite controlling a good portion of the match, Union II were unable to maintain their 1-0 lead, and ultimately fell 2-1.
Ryan Richter’s lineup saw a bit of a change up, and featured three strikers in Malik Jakupovic, Stas Korzeniowski, and Eddy Davis, though Davis was positioned as a left midfielder. Richter would share after the match, “That was probably the first game in his life that he started in that position, not played, but started and I think he did a good job.”
Kellan LeBlanc was on the right in the midfield, and Matheus De Paula and Mamoutou Berthé were the defensive mids. The back line was unchanged with Jordan Griffin and Giovanny Sequera at left and right back, respectively, and center backs Rafael Uzcátegui and Finn Sundstrom. Andrew Rick got the nod in goal for the second time this season with Union II. The game day roster was markedly different in some respects, as it featured far fewer Academy amateurs—in fact, De Paula was the only amateur starter.
Union II saw their first chance in the 6th minute as they earned a corner, but were ultimately caught offside. About 10 minutes in, Red Bull II were starting to put some pressure on Union II, forcing some clearances from the defense. A free kick for the Red Bulls almost got them on the board, however Roald Mitchell was ruled offside.
Red Bull II’s Andy Rojas received the first booking of the afternoon after fouling Sequera in the 13th minute, however Sequera received his own yellow card about a minute later. Sequera shortly after went on a run down the right side, crossing the ball to Korzeniowski, whose shot went just wide right. Korzeniowski continued to threaten as he ripped a shot on target that was deflected out by the keeper, Tobias Szewczyk, for a Union II corner. When it came to Korzeniowski scoring, it seemed not a matter of if, but when.
Union II’s De Paula received a yellow in the 20th minute for a foul as the match was, as expected, very physical between the two squads. Union II largely controlled a lot of the first half action, with the defense doing a solid job of clearing out threats, but New York tested Rick in the 32nd minute when Rojas sent a strong shot that Rick laid out and saved. As the visitors were trying to swing the momentum their way, they started to bring more pressure on Union II’s defense. The back line had some nifty clearances, however, and stayed compact.
Union II saw some more chances as the first half was winding down, including a shot by Davis from distance that just missed wide right. As Red Bull II tried to counter, Sundstrom picked up a yellow for a foul in the 39th minute.
During the two minutes of first half stoppage time, Rojas, already on a yellow, collided with Sundstrom and appeared to put an elbow to the defender’s head, knocking him down to the ground and requiring the training staff to come out. Sundstrom was ultimately able to continue, but no discipline was handed out to Rojas, and the match went to halftime scoreless. After the match, Richter shared, “If we had VAR in this league, neither goal for offside, but the second yellow card that needs to go for Rojas, number 70, that would get reviewed and be a straight red card.”
The second half was not even a minute old when Union II took the ball down and forced a save by the Red Bull II keeper, leading to a corner that saw a Davis shot miss to the right. Right after, Davis, who just came back from an injury recently, went down in some pain. He was subbed off for Willyam Ferreira in the 48th minute.
“You know, he [Davis] was more than I thought he would be defensively, and then he looked dangerous in transition,” Richter said after the match. “It’s not the style of player he is; he’s probably not going to look so normal in possession. And we knew that, but I thought he did a really good job. It was a shame that he had to come out of the game, but when Willyam came in, that was probably the brightest he’s looked in a little while. Overall for Eddy, you know, I’m proud of him.”
Ferreira did, in fact, make an impact shortly after entering the pitch. Union II finally found their breakthrough when Korzeniowski received the ball from Ferreira, ran on goal, and confidently slotted it past the keeper to break the deadlock and make it 1-0 in favor of Union II in the 51st minute. Korzeniowski now leads Union II with four goals in his three appearances. Red Bull II responded with a bit of pressure, forcing a save by Rick in the 58th minute on Paul Sokoloff’s shot.
Red Bull received another yellow in the 65th minute, this time Dennis Gjengaar for a foul on Ferreira. Red Bull II found the equalizer when Rick got caught out of goal and Mijahir Jiménez slotted the ball into the empty net in the 67th minute. Jiménez did appear to be offside, but the goal stood.
Richter went to his bench once again in the 70th minute, replacing Berthé and LeBlanc with Óscar Benítez and Sal Olivas. After Red Bull had scored, the momentum really switched in their favor as they found the back of the net again in the 72nd minute courtesy of Dennis Nelich (who also looked to possibly be offside) to take the 2-1 lead. After Union II had been controlling the match for a large amount of the time and outshooting their opponent, Red Bull II seemed to have wrested control in the latter part of the second half.
Union II continued to battle for the equalizer, and seemed to have found it in stoppage time after some great buildup from Jakupovic to Sequera led to what appeared to be a goal by Korzeniowski, but the offside flag went up and halted the celebrations. Though Union II outshot their opponent, they were not able to secure the win, and Red Bull II continued their undefeated streak with a 2-1 win.
Despite the loss, Richter was positive on a lot of what he saw from his squad:
“I thought for this league, that was a very high level game. I’m proud of our players for the way that they performed individually and when they played as a team. And that’s a good team for MLS Next Pro, and you can lose a game. It came down to a couple moments that honestly, were not dangerous moments that led to the goal. And that’s the part that’s disappointing.”
However, Richter has seen a lot of growth since the lackluster offensive performance against Red Bull II back in March, adding, “The message to the group was, if we use the last game against Red Bull as kind of the measuring stick of how the last few weeks, how we regrouped, I think that was much, much better with the ball in transition. We’re definitely taking steps forward, so that’s positive. And it hurts to lose it, it hurts so bad. But, you can lose a game, because they [Red Bull II] are playing too. They’re playing the game too. I’m proud of the guys.”
On the constructive end, Richter added, “The only piece that was missing is maybe just a little extra push at the end, of which didn’t feel like we really had that. You get the goal—he was offside. But not enough for the push in the last 10 minutes, I would say. But overall from the game, like I said, I think was a good level of the game and our guys stood up today to that level.”
On what he saw that led to that change in momentum that swung Red Bull II’s way, Richter shared:
“It was just a sloppy moment for the first goal. You know, even in that phase of the game, it goes in waves of like when you’re in control, when they’re in control and that was a moment that we were in control. And I didn’t think that, you know, just dropping focus for a second, and a moment that didn’t have to be. If you do that, you can get punished for it, and I think that’s what we have to learn from.
“And then naturally they get the second goal, kind of exactly the type of play that we showed them before of what they’re trying to do, and they’re good at it, so it’s tough to stop, but just that we’re a little more switched on in those two moments. They’re a good team and they created some stuff too, but I think we did okay today.”
Richter also wanted to make the point that the lack of VAR at the level really brings the need for tighter officiating, which he said earlier in the week to this writer that the job of the referee is not easy, but that they need to get it right so the players learn and are held accountable for mistakes. After a player from CT United last weekend should have probably been shown a red card, it happened again to Richter’s squad in this match. More than one thing can certainly be true, in that Union II could do better, but also some missed calls can potentially be deciding factors in a game.
“And these guys [the match officials] have to… it’s two weeks in a row with decisions that can decide games. And I don’t want to use that as an excuse, so please don’t. Don’t understand me as that is an excuse for the result of a game, but if we want to make this league professional, then these referees have to take vision, and the excuse of not seeing the play… there’s four referees in the field. Someone sees it, the fourth official sees it, and you have to have the courage to make the right decision in that moment.”
There were several bright spots in the match. In addition to Davis putting in a good shift, right back Giovanny Sequera had a strong match. Richter shared his thoughts on him:
“He plays with his heart, and he’s starting to play a little better of using, calming his head down to make better decisions. That’s a challenge for him. We’re pushing him for it, not every week, but literally every single day of, you know, finding the balance of this fire that you have inside of you, but also having a cool mind and, you know, he has the ability and quality to push and be a great player at this level and play at a higher level. And yeah, he has to keep getting better like he is, you know, so I love that kid… [Richter with a big grin] I love that kid, and trust me, we never want to stop that fire that’s inside of him, but just trying to teach him how to manage that, and use it in the right way.”
Richter also again praised Academy amateur and midfielder Matheus De Paula, who this writer recently spoke with him about, calling his minutes “fantastic.” Richter shared, “There’s a reason he plays 90 minutes every game. We trust him. He’s a machine. He’s done great.”
Union II will now have over a week until their next league match as they host New England Revolution II on Wednesday, May 13 at 7:00 PM at Subaru Park. However, they will be in action in a friendly, open to the public, versus USL League 2 side Ocean City Nor’easters this Friday, May 8 at 1:00 PM at the WSFS Bank Sportsplex. The Nor’easters are in their preseason, and have had many Union ties, including Richter being a former player for them. With it being a friendly, one can naturally expect to see a wide variety of players get a chance, so it will be worth attending if you can make it.
Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II.
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