Match Thoughts; Philadelphia Union vs. New York Red Bulls

New York's Juan Agudelo attempts a bicycle kick in the second half. (Getty Images)

The budding rivalry between the Philadelphia Union and the New York Red Bulls is evolving into one of the better ones in MLS and this particular match just added fuel to the fire.  The Union have really been struggling this season, especially in the goals department.  They had recorded 2 or fewer shots on goal in 6 straight matches, a dubious MLS record.  The Red Bulls were streaking in another way, winners of their last three.

The Union clearly came to play in this one though, and dominated most of the first half.  Freddy Adu in particular seemed to be in rare form, both sending in shots on target and creating chances for his teammates.  However in the 5th minute he picked up a yellow card for a nasty tackle on Roy Miller and that would come back to haunt the Union star.  Still, Adu had the best chance of the early minutes, sending a bullet into goal in the 8th that was smothered by Ryan Meara.

New York only really only had one attack in the first half, but they made it count.  In the 17th minute Mehdi Ballouchy found Joel Lindpere in the box, and Lindpere struck it hard into the Philadelphia net to give the Red Bulls a 0-1 lead.

The Union didn't miss a beat though and continued their attack.  Lionard Pajoy was much more active, and had his best game in a Union uniform.  In the 24th minute he let loose a rocket from the top of the penalty area but Meara managed to pull out another nice save to preserve the lead.  However in the 31st Philly finally struck.  Adu sent a nice cross into the area that found the head of Pajoy, who promptly buried the strike to equalize the match at 1-1.

Unfortunately things went horribly wrong for the Union in the 43rd minute.  Freddy Adu was driving with the ball in the area, and tried to go between two NY defenders.  He went to the floor and the referee's whistle blew.  The Union fans expected a penalty, but instead the ref showed Adu his second yellow card for diving. Replays clearly showed their was no contact on the play, but Adu continued to plead his case even as the red card came out.  Later he would say that he did not intentionally fall over on purpose, but braced for contact that never came.  At any rate the half ended with the score at 1-1 but the Union down a man.

The Union responded immediately in the second half though and took the lead through the foot of Pajoy.  In the 46th minute he squeezed through the NY defense and slotted in a goal from an odd angle to make it 2-1.  That would be the last joy for the Union though.

Juan Agudelo checked in again and injected heart and pace into the Red Bulls offense, much the same way as he did midweek against Houston.  Philadelphia began to show signs of fatigue from being down a man and New York capitalized.  In the 68th minute Red Bulls defender Markus Holgersson got totally free on a corner kick and equalized with a header to make it 2-2.  Ten minutes later Kenny Cooper gave the Red Bulls the lead for good, tapping in an odd angle shot of his own to make it 2-3.

The Union did get a golden chance to equalize late though.  There was a scrum in the NY area in the 86th minute, and the ball ended up flying free parallel to the NY goal line.  Michael Farfan was right there for Philly and all he had to do was touch the ball to send it in for the equalizer.  He tried to lift his leg and kick it in, but totally whiffed and the ball drifted past the goal and out for a goal kick, taking with it the Union's last good chance to equalize.  The match finished at 2-3.

NOTES:  The good news for Philadelphia is that it was their first multigoal game of the year.  Earlier in the week they beat German club Schalke 04 in a friendly at PPL park, but were subjected to chants of "Lets see you do it on Sunday."  Ryan Meara sported a new horrible haircut that is apparently the handy work of Wilman Conde.  He must have still been intoxicated when he did it.