Photo @PhilaUnionII 1-Apr-24

As a magnificent sunset faded into twilight on Long Island Wednesday evening, Philadelphia Union II defeated New York City FC II 4-1 to move into fifth place in the eastern conference on 10 points.

Sal Olivas scored in the 20th minute from an excellent hockey assist by Neil Pierre to Cavan Sullivan who in turn kept his striker onside while splitting New York’s center backs. The El Paso native was clinically precise as he gave his side the lead.

In the first minute of first half stoppage time, Olivas fouled his marker Jonathan Lopez deep in the offensive left channel corner. Lopez both retaliated and escalated the conflict earning himself a straight red card, over balancing Olivas’s yellow. The man advantage tilted the rest of the game Philadelphia’s way more than it already was.

In the 59th minute in a melee in front of goal, Stas Korzeniowski collected a rebound from an Olivas shot and slotted home to create some breathing room on the scoreboard. In the 73rd Nick Pariano converted the penalty kick David Vazquez had drawn the minute before, and head coach Ryan Richter began to move deeper into his bench for developmental minutes.

New York’s consolation score in the 87th was answered immediately at the other end when Kellen LeBlanc fed Gio Sequera for the Venezuela’s first ever Union II goal putting the result beyond any shadow of a doubt.

In advance

Both teams’ first teams played the previous weekend, and do not play again until this coming Saturday, so there were no schedule restraints on first-team deep reserves playing down. Both sides had lots of them.

It would be a battle of similar developmental philosophies.

Both teams use lots of first team deep reserves in second-team games. For NYC’s lineup we put the team to which we believe they are rostered as an exponent after the family name. We followed Transfermarkt’s roster, since NYC FC II itself has not updated its information from last season, either on its website or on social media. MLS NEXT Pro’s roster lists are consistently unreliable.

First half

Philadelphia’s high pressure dominated the half.

In possession, they moved the ball more quickly than did New York when they had it, and when out of possession, they applied defensive pressure more quickly than New York. New York tried to build out of the back but could not work the ball through the midfield. They were forced to rely on the long ball.

New York also played a high restraining line, providing Union II with quantities of green space into which to play their own long passes. Repeatedly, Philadelphia got onto the ends of long deliveries and the score was only 1-0 because NYC goalkeeper Mac Learned made several strong saves and his defenders blocked several good Union shots.

Union’s quickness meant New York committed 12 fouls to the Union’s six in the first half. Philadelphia took 13 shots with four on target and four others blocked. New York had only 2 shots with one on target. Their shot forced an excellent save from Andrew Rick in stoppage time of the half.

Philadelphia’s midfield bossed the half, and then New York went down a man.

Second half

Unsurprisingly, New York’s head coach Matt Pilkington made three changes at halftime replacing his disqualified defender while sacrificing a striker, replacing the embarrassed Andres Perea (see below), and changing another defender.

Union II head coach Ryan Richter made no personnel changes at the break. Tactically he adjusted his shape to reflect having the man advantage, making Nick Pariano a single six and pushing David Vazquez into the “empty bucket” as an attacking center mid.

New York slowed the tempo as much as possible, packing it in when Philly had possession and no longer trying to get out on the break. The slower tempo denied the visitors the advantage of quickness and pace that they had enjoyed in the first half. And losing their central center back hurt them when dealing with melees in front of goal. Union II’s second goal came from a failed clearance.

As is no surprise, when Richter replaced one and then all of his midfielders (except Pariano) and replaced his strikers, New York began to regain some semblance of offensive pressure. Richter’s first job is to get his players game minutes to develop them, not to lock down wins. Replacing Sullivan with LeBlanc did not give New York much of an opportunity, but replacing Vazquez and Olney did.

It is clear that the key to Union II’s defensive dominance is the pressure the starting midfield has been able to place on both New York City II and Atlanta 2. Sullivan, Vazquez, Olney, and Pariano are as effective this year in Richter’s version of Carnell’s system as they were last in LeBlanc’s version of Curtin’s.

New York was simply outclassed on the night until three of those four middies went to the bench.

Cavan Sullivan

Sullivan’s passing and ball-handling was devastating out on the right flank. He plays as an inverted midfielder (as does Olney on the other side). After Pierre’s feed to him, he had the vision to find Olivas just before he went offside, splitting the defending center backs for a breakaway goal that set the tone of the match.

Union fans will remember that two years ago Andres Perea was loaned to NYC FC and the next year was traded to them where he became a primary reserve as a midfielder. He had not been playing much this season, so was sent down for game minutes with the farm team. Cavan Sullivan shredded him, tore him into strips and burned them. The 15-year-old was faster, quicker, and much more of an offensive threat. Perea could not stop him.

Next match

Philadelphia Union II plays next on Saturday, May 3^rd, away to eastern conference leader Chattanooga. Tap is scheduled for 7:00 PM Eastern time, and the match is scheduled for broadcast on Apple’s MLS Season Pass.

Three points + 1

1. Nick Pariano played the second half as a single six with David Vazquez pushed forward as an attacking center mid, since New York was a man down.
2. Gio Sequera scored his first goal for Union II.
3. Neil Pierre’s passing into the green space behind New York’s game-long high restraining line created threat after threat after threat against the younger Cityzens’ goal.
4. Union II has scored nine goals in its last two matches, having given up a total of five and remaining without a loss on its record to date.

B O X S C O R E

Lineups

Union II (4-2-2-2, L-R), 1^st – 8+2; U II – 2+5; A – 1+2.

Starters: Andrew Rick; Isaiah LeFlore, Rafael Uzcategui, Neil Pierre, Gavin Wetzel; David Vazquez (Jamir Johnson 84′), Nick Pariano; Cavan Sullivan (Kellen LeBlanc 60′), CJ Olney (Giovanny Sequera 84′); Stas Korzeniowski (Markus Anderson 60′), Sal Olivas (Eddy Davis 60′).

Starters’ Average Age = 19.5

Unused Substitutes: Jojo Elliott; Oscar Benitez, Ramzi Qawasmy, Leo Soria.

NYC FC II (5-3-2, L-R)

Starters:Mac Learned^2nd; Drew Baiera^1st, Prince Amponsah^1st, (Christopher Tiao^2nd HT) Jonathan Lopez^2nd, Max Murray^1st,Julien Lacher^2nd; ((Lee Guarino^2nd79′), Peter Molinari^1st, Maximo Carrizo^1st, Andres Perea^1st (Piero Elias^2nd HT);  Zidane Yanez^1st, (Collin McCamy^2nd HT), Seymour Reid^1st. ((Sebastiano Musu^2nd 80′).

Unused substitutes: Dylan McDermott^2nd; Pierce Infuso^2nd, Jack Loura^2nd, Brennan Klein^2nd .   

Goals

Union II          20th minute           Sal Olivas (Cavan Sullivan, Neil Pierre)

Union II          59th minute           Stas Korzeniowski (Sal Olivas)

Union II          73rd minute            Nick Pariano (Penalty kick)

NYC FC II        87th minute           Leo Guarino (Sebastiano Musu)

Union II           88th minute           Giovanny Sequera (Kellen LeBlanc)

Yellow Cards

Union II           45+2 minute         Sal Olivas (foul)

NYC FC II.       60th minute          Drew Baiera (dissent)

Union II           85th minute          Giovanny SEquera (delay)

Union II          90+1 minute           Jamir Johnson (foul)

Red Card

NYC FC II        45+2 minute        Jonathan Lopez (retaliation & escalation)

Stats

Whistle & Flags

Ref: Kyle Averill, AR¹: Sharon Gingrich, AR²: Kendall McCardell, 4^th: Ariel Raban.