This was supposed to be the match where the Red Bulls finally would get the better of the Philadelphia Union. A club in peril and the bottom half of the Eastern Conference table, as this would finally be the big result that every supporter was waiting for at the Cathedral of Football. Instead, the Union was ready to take down the Red Bulls, and the home side was jogging along. The Union took advantage twice inside the opening fifteen minutes scoring two goals from Mikael Uhre and Tai Baribo to win the match and jump into tenth place with a single point behind Atlanta United for the wild card spot.
The defense was lagging and sadly they allowed the space and the ability for both Union attackers to get a clean shot to score inside the far post twice on Carlos Coronel. throughout the first half, you saw the Union pick apart the backline as they made fullbacks Kyle Duncan and John Tolkin silly, forcing centrebacks Sean Nealis and Noah Eile to scramble and help out Carlos Coronel from getting scored on again, and again, and again. Maybe they finally got their act together halfway through the opening half, but the damage was already done. The Union had their lead and they wouldn’t give it up. Oh and Andre Blake is back folks. He has returned and he made several fantastic saves to keep that two goal lead from ever getting broken.
But the other culprits were also inside Red Bull Arena and stood there taking the shots and not allowing that ball to go completely over the goal line, and that was the woodwork. I can’t tell you how many times I saw the Red Bulls either Lewis Morgan or Elias Manoel take their shots and smack the posts or the crossbar over, and over again. To be honest, if the woodwork wasn’t being a villain tonight, this would’ve been a five goals to two victory and everyone would be celebrating like the hex has been lifted from their bodies. A joyous celebration would be on from the Passaic River to the George Washington Bridge and everyone would say, the curse is over. Sadly it’s not.
This loss isn’t about why they couldn’t get any signings in the transfer window, why they can’t get a striker, or any other excuse the fans want to give for the reason why they lost and both unbeaten streaks were broken for the season and at home, it’s because their start was horrible. After the fourth minute, they fell apart and when they finally kicked it into high gear, it was already too little, too late. The Union has been doing this to the Red Bulls for a long time, The last victory against the Union was in 2019, this is the fifth consecutive year the Red Bulls haven’t earned three points against Jim Curtin’s side, and even though the Union have been this bad, and have lost a lot of tough matches including the third place match in the Leagues Cup to the Colorado Rapids that knocks them out of the CONCACAF Champions Cup for the moment.
This Red Bulls team still can’t beat the Union with one arm tied behind their back. It doesn’t matter if it was Chris Armas, Bradley Carnell, Gerhard Struber, Troy Lesesne, or even Sandro Schwarz inside their technical area, this team is getting out pressed by Jim Curtin and that is the great common denominator right now. This Union team played desperately and was on the front foot from the start to the end. Sure, they had a few positional slip ups, but at least they had Andre Blake to clean it up at the end, oh they were betrayed by their woodwork at Red Bull Arena, both of the goals should be taken to the Passaic River and get drowned or burn hem in the parking lot (I’m kidding). But this is the worst loss to the Philadelphia Union since they are at the bottom, and the Red Bulls are still in fourth, only because NYCFC lost to the defending MLS Cup Champions Columbus Crew at Lower .com Field.