The New York Red Bulls huddle as a team prior to a penalty shootout against the Philadelphia Union in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match at Red Bull Arena on Wednesday, June 28. (Photo Credit: Brian Fonseca)
HARRISON —— The first two meetings between the New York Red Bulls and the Philadelphia Union in 2017 were split down the middle, each ending in dramatic fashion with each team taking the three points once. There were five goals between them, all scored in the final 15 minutes, all unlocking increasingly frustrating matches fought in midfield.
Wednesday night’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup meeting looked to be the exception when Sacha Kljestan and Bradley Wright-Phillips — a duo which has brought much success to New York in their two and a half seasons together — combined once again to open the scoring midway through the first half.
“I owe him a couple,” Wright-Phillips said. “I still got a few to pay him back but I’ll start with that one.”
But the Union wouldn’t let themselves fall without a fight, chipping away at the Red Bulls’ defense from that moment forward, coming closer and closer as the final whistle approached. Finally, four minutes from time, Roland Alberg would equalize the match, seemingly fulfilling the future those in the stadium foresaw.
Gonna need 30 more minutes in #NYvPHI thanks to @rolandalberg's finish.
Watch here: https://t.co/y5kgkuMQKm https://t.co/GJhYQUwC8L
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 29, 2017
NBeing in a knockout competition, the match was forced into extra-time, setting up some more late drama, or at least it seemed. In the end, it became another 30 minutes for goalkeeper Ryan Meara to shine. Often playing in the shadows of starter Luis Robles, Meara looked like he played week-in-week-out, routinely keeping the Union from taking the lead.
When it came time for penalties, the Fordham graduate put an exclamation point on his fine performance, saving a Francis-Jean Picault shot for the final time and allowing Felipe to score the game-winning penalty as the Red Bulls defeat Philadelphia 5-4 in the shootout to advance to the Open Cup quarterfinals.
Felipe scores #RBNY's 5th penalty to win the shootout against #DOOP. Onto the #USOC2017 quarterfinals the Red Bulls go. #NYvPHI pic.twitter.com/nALgdNysUu
— Brian Fonseca (@briannnnf) June 29, 2017
“Philly’s a good team. They got back into it in the second half, made it hard for us and we just had to grind it out and get through and I was kind of confident once we got to penalties, we’d be alright,” Meara said. “I’ve seen our guys take plenty of penalties in practice and usually they’re pretty clinical. I was always confident I was going to be able to make one save or two, so fortunately, it worked out that way.”
New York came out of the gate with an experimental line-up featuring three center-backs and four central midfielders, a project which would be cut short 20 minutes into the match. Tracking back to defend, centerback Aurelien Collin went down clutching his left hamstring in pain, immediately being subbed out for Connor Lade as the Red Bulls shifted their formation to a more standard 4-4-2.
“There’ s few things with it,” said head coach Jesse Marsch of the formation. “When you play with Philly, one of the big things you have to take care of are the flanks. We felt that this was something that would help us get out and press them and not let them find areas that are from the wide spots. I thought the first half, it worked very well. I thought even in the beginning of the second half it worked very well, but we didn’t capitalize, which is a theme for this season, trying to figure out how to get more goals.”
The flow of the match would remain much of the same as the first minutes — the Red Bulls holding possession, the Union attempting to catch them on the counter — but it would be another 20 minutes until anything would come of that control, when Kljestan opened the scoring, the league’s leading assister in 2016 switching roles with the club’s all-time leading goalscorer for a change.
Completing a lovely stretch of play involving combination play with Kemar Lawrence, Sean Davis and Felipe, Wright-Phillips received the ball at the top of the 18 with his back to goal. Having scored a brace against the opposing Philadelphia Union 10 days prior, one couldn’t blame the striker for turning and having a go at goal, but instead he cut it back to an open Kljestan who had yet to score in 2017. He would have no issues putting this one past John McCarthy, the savior for the Union each of the last time these two clubs met in the Open Cup, giving the Red Bulls a 1-0 lead to take into the break.
High Press 101.@SachaKljestan finishes off a slick sequence. #NYvPHI #USOC2017 https://t.co/26lxhbnxIB
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 29, 2017
“It was like the old days,” Wright-Phillips said of the goal starting with a turnover off the high press. “I feel we haven’t got many goals like that this season but we used to get a lot like that so it’s something we got to still work on and get more goals like that.”
Collin struggled to contain C.J. Sapong prior to his injury, needing a great recovery run from Aaron Long and a pair of strong saves from Ryan Meara to keep the clean sheet.
That @Rmeara18 save though! ??#NYvPHI | #RBNY | #USOC2017 pic.twitter.com/7mBZlVEUMX
— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) June 29, 2017
Meara came up big again just after halftime, making a big save on a cross from Fabinho in the 55th and another on a shot from Fabrice-Jean Picault in the 65th. And when Meara wasn’t able to get to the ball, the post saved the day, knocking back Sapong’s 73rd minute strike in what would be the Union’s best chance of the day until the equalizer.
Extra-time would be much of the same, Meara making a save in the first minute of the extra period, knocking a shot against the post and out for a corner. It’d be the first of a barrage of shots from the Union, who got to Meara’s goal early and often in the extra period but failed to take advantage, either shooting it high over the crossbar or getting stopped by Meara as he finished with seven saves.
For his final save, he left the best, spreading across the goal to his right to deny Red Bull killer Chris Pontius to do what he does best once again.
.@Rmeara18 takes flight!!! ✈️#NYvPHI | #RBNY | #USOC2017 pic.twitter.com/aPokyGAc2U
— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) June 29, 2017
Philly would continue to control and create damage, but wouldn’t score, the post again coming to the rescue, an offside call doing the same shortly after. The Red Bulls were barely holding on for the draw, struggling to do anything in attack and handing the visitors plenty of space to exploit. They’d get to the shootout by the skin of their teeth, leaving just enough energy to score all five shots and let Ryan make one last save.
“Fatigue and subs and guys going down started to add up that then we had to hang on,” Marsch said. “Let’s be honest, in the overtime, we had to hang on.”
With the win, the Red Bulls advance to the quarterfinals of the Open Cup, where they’ll meet the New England Revolution on July 13. It’ll be the second meeting between the club’s in nine days, as they meet on July 5 in MLS action at Gillette Stadium.
It confirms perhaps the most peculiar stretch in the club’s history. Within a six-match stretch over the course of a month, the Red Bulls will have faced the same three teams — New York City FC, Philadelphia and the Revolution — twice.
“It’s been a little weird playing basically three teams in the past month, all pretty big rivals so it adds a little bit to that,” Kljestan said. :The fortunate thing i think this time is it’s not three days between games, I think it’s a week between games so it’ll be nice to get some rest and hopefully get two goals.”
***************************************************************************************
Scoring Summary:
New York 1-0 Philadelphia — Sacha Kljestan (assist Bradley Wright-Phillips, 42′)
New York 1-1 Philadelphia — Roland Alberg (assist Jack Elliot, 86’)
Penalty Shootout:
New York 1-0 Philadelphia — Sal Zizzo
New York 1-1 Philadelphia — Roland Alberg
New York 2-1 Philadelphia — Gonzalo Veron
New York 2-2 Philadelphia — Chris Pontius
New York 3-2 Philadelphia — Daniel Royer
New York 3-2 Philadelphia — Francis-Jean Picault
New York 4-2 Philadelphia — Sacha Kljestan
New York 4-3 Philadelphia — Marcus Epps
New York 5-4 Philadelphia — Felipe
Starting Line-Ups:
Philadelphia Union: John McCarthy, Fabinho, Jack Elliot, Joshua Yaro, Keegan Rosenberry, Haris Medunjanin, Derrick Jones (Adam Najem 82’), Fabrice-Jean Picault, Roland Alberg, C.J. Sapong (Chris Pontius, 105’), Jay Simpson (Marcus Epps 61’).
New York Red Bulls: Ryan Meara, Damien Perrinelle, Sal Zizzo, Aurelien Collin (Connor Lade, 23’), Aaron Long (Daniel Royer 77’), Kemar Lawrence, Tyler Adams, Sacha Kljestan, Felipe, Sean Davis (Gonzalo Veron, 100’), Bradley Wright-Phillips.
***************************************************************************************
Follow Brian Fonseca on Twitter @briannnnf for updates. Email him at brianfilipefonseca@gmail.com with questions, concerns, tips or story ideas.
New York Red Bulls
Philadelphia Union
