When Major League Soccer began its second-half sprint, Red Bull New York looked slow out of the blocks.
On Wednesday, the Red Bulls were often exposed and invited pressure with frequent mistakes in a 3-1 road defeat to the rival Philadelphia Union.
The Union won its first match since April 11. It was also Philadelphia’s first home win of the season and the first time that they’ve scored two home goals since February.
Philadelphia Punishes Red Bull Mistakes
It could have been a lot worse for the visitors. The Red Bulls were lucky not to be behind by two goals before the 10-minute mark.
Philadelphia right-back Frankie Westfield missed a glorious chance in the third minute. In the ninth minute, the Union would gain a 1-0 lead when Red Bull goalkeeper Ethan Horvath failed to keep hold of a ball he claimed in the air. Forward Milan Iloski slammed the ball into the back of the net.
Horvath rallied to make several key saves to limit Philadelphia to one first-half breakthrough.
“Coming to play Philadelphia, it’s going to be always a different kind of game,” Red Bull New York head coach Michael Bradley stated during his post-match press conference. “They want a game of chaos, and they want a game of long balls and second balls and loose balls, and they’re good at that. Especially in the position that they’re in at this point. We knew to expect that they would use tonight as a real fresh start, a clean slate, a new season.”
Red Bulls Couldn’t Make Possession Count
Midfield trio Adri Mehmeti, Ronald Donkor and Emil Forsberg combined to feed goalscorer Cade Cowell’s 38th-minute equalizer.
The sides went into the halftime break knotted at 1-1. The Red Bulls owned 62 percent of first-half possession but were outshot nine to five. As a whole, New York won 63 percent of possession, but Philadelphia dominated the contest.
For much of the night, the Red Bulls looked slow to react compared to the desperate Union. Midfielder Indiana Vassilev regained Philly’s lead in the 57th minute.
“The goal to go down 2-1 is, is soft in every way,” Bradley said. “They cross from really far wide, we don’t do well enough to deal with that and then when the ball comes in the box.
“There’s a slight deflection, and so it’s a soft goal to go down 2-1. Then, at that point, again, we didn’t quite have enough. That gave them energy. We didn’t have enough quality and sharpness on the night to really, at that point, find our way back in the game.”
Neil Pierre towered over Dylan Nealis to score an easy header from a corner kick to give Philadelphia a 3-1 advantage in the 66th minute.
Philadelphia midfielder Cavan Sullivan asked all kinds of questions of the Red Bull backline by dancing and weaving past defenders and darting into open spaces.
Red Bulls Turn Attention to Charlotte FC
Julián Bazán made an encouraging substitute appearance. The 20-year-old defender could be in contention to start in Saturday’s home match against Charlotte FC. He has made two substitute appearances since arriving from Liga DIMAYOR side Deportivo Pereira on March 26.
“Julian came on and did a really good job,” Bradley said. “In some way, he’s an interesting player because he has played in different positions. We still view him primarily as a center-back. Obviously, in the last game before the break in Kansas City and then again tonight, we felt like it made sense for different reasons to get him on the field and just use him at right-back.
“He has played there for Colombia’s under-20 national team. He’s also played a little bit deep in the midfield. So he’s establishing himself in our group in a really positive way, and we’re going to continue to push him forward.”
Cowell is hoping to turn the page quickly and focus on Charlotte.
“I think we’re all just wanting to get out there and play again to show what we can do,” Cowell said. “We need those three points. So I think we’re going to be flying ready for Saturday, and it’s a big motivation for us.”
The Red Bulls will need to be sharper and better organized when they return to Sports Illustrated Stadium. Saturday’s match kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
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