Photo by Kyle Grantham/Philly Soccer Page
The Philadelphia Union played host to I-95 rivals New York Red Bulls in the Quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup nearly a month after the originally scheduled match. The Union were looking to reach the Semifinals for the first time since 2018, while the Red Bulls were looking to break a 15 match winless streak against the Union, stretching back to 2019. Once again weather delayed the game, but this time only for about two hours.
When the match finally kicked off under the lights of Subaru Park, the Boys in Blue twice had to rally to extend their unbeaten streak against the Red Bulls. Talisman Tai Baribo netted the first equalizer, positioning himself perfectly to pounce on a deflected clearance off a free kick. New York regained the lead with 20 minutes remaining but newly-signed forward Milan Iloski scored his first goal with the Boys in Blue, finishing off a counter attacking pass from Baribo. With extra time looming, Olwethu Makhanya was the latest hero in the rivalry as his 89th minute goal proved the difference as the Philadelphia Union advanced to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semfinals with a 3-2 win over the New York Red Bulls.
How The Match Unfolded
Like the rain-cancelled match a few weeks ago, Bradley Carnell trotted out a strong starting team, captained by goalkeeper Andre Blake. The defense lined up with Kai Wagner at left back, Olwethu Makhanya and Jakob Glesnes as center backs, and Frankie Westfield at right back. Danley Jean Jacques and Jovan Lukić started as the defensive midfielders in the 4-2-2-2 lineup, and Quinn Sullivan and Indiana Vassilev lined up as the attacking mids. The frontline was led by strikers Tai Baribo and Bruno Damiani. The Union’s bench consisted of Andrew Rick, defender Nathan Harriel, midfielders Alejandro Bedoya, Jesus Bueno, and Cavan Sullivan, and forwards Mikael Uhre and Milan Iloski.
First Half
The Union started in the usual manner, overloading the right side of the field at the kickoff, trying to play the ball deep into Red Bull territory. Unfortunately, the eighth minute saw the Red Bulls strike first, as a botched Union clearance allowed Wikelman Carmona an unchallenged shot from outside the box, beating Blake at the post. VAR reviewed a possible handball, but the goal stood and play restarted.
It wasn’t long, however, before the Boys in Blue equalized. A Wagner free kick in the 13th minute was flicked on by a New York defender to the far post, where Baribo took two quick touches before shooting past local product Anthony Marcucci.
The rivalry began to heat up and the 23rd minute saw a quick Glesnes restart driven long across the field to Wagner, who was tackled by Kyle Duncan, earning the New York defender a yellow card. Two minutes later Red Bull defender Bull Raheem Edwards was also the recipient of a yellow card after a harsh challenge. The Union were unable to capitalize on either free kick.
The 30th minute saw New York drive into the Union box, only to shoot into the side of the net. Sullivan was lucky to escape a yellow card a minute later after a late challenge, leading to a free kick for the Red Bulls. Before the restart, New York defender Duncan was lucky to escape a second yellow for decking Danley. Blake made a great save in the 33rd minute by punching a Noah Eile shot over the bar as the Union failed to clear the ball after the restart. Moments later New York made its first substitution with hot-head Duncan leaving the field for Dylan Nealis. Duncan let New York head coach Sandro Schwarz know he disagreed with the decision – only proving Schwarz made the correct call.
As the half wore on, the Red Bulls continued to have the better of the Union, keeping the pressure on Blake and the defense. When the whistle blew for the half the rivals were knotted at a goal apiece.
Second Half
Carnell made his first change of the match coming out of halftime, swapping Indiana Vassilev for the team’s newest addition Milan Iloski, who got involved right from the start. A Sullivan cross in the 53rd minute found Iloski, who mistimed his strike and shot wide by yards. A foul in the 59th minute by Sean Nealis on Iloski a few yards outside the box led to a free kick and a yellow card to Carmona for dissent. Sullivan and Wagner stood over the ball and Sullivan took the shot, missing wide right. Moments later Damiani led a break on goal, passing to Sullivan on his right, who shot over the net.
Still locked at 1-1 in the 70th minute, Carnell brought on some fresh legs, subbing on Uhre for Damiani. Moments later, New York took the lead, as a long breakaway pass found Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who beat Glesne to the ball and with one touch tipped it past Blake. Not ones to shy away from a battle against a hated rival, the Boys in Blue quickly equalized in the 74th minute as Iloski scored his first Union goal in style. An unselfish pass from Baribo found the striker unmarked in the six-yard box, and Iloski made no mistake this time. After equalizing, Carnel took the opportunity in the 77th minute to make two changes, with Harriel replacing Westfield and Bueno coming on for Lukic.
The match appeared heading to extra time when a foul on Uhre by Dylan Nealis in the 89th minute led to a Wagner free kick from about 30 yards out. Goalkeeper Marcucci erred, trying to punch the ball clear but it only fell right at the feet of Makhanya, whose shot went into the inside side netting for the go ahead goal.
The Boys in Blue were able to run out the clock as stoppage time saw Cavan Sullivan replace Baribo and Bedoya replace Quinn Sullivan.
PSP’s 3 Points
- The Streak: The Union’s streak against the Red Bulls reached 16 matches across all competitions. Can the Boys in Blue make it 17 on Saturday when they travel up I-95 to north Jersey?
- Four Strikers: Go ahead and say that Damiani hasn’t done enough and Uhre is overpaid, but the Union now have four legitimate MLS-caliber strikers on the team. It is a luxury to have Uhre and Iloski come on as substitutes.
- A Shot at a Trophy?: The Union will now face off in the semifinal against a Nashville team they have lost to twice this season. The winner of the Nashville – Philadelphia semi will likely be the favorite in the final. Can the Boys in Blue bring home some hardware?
Lineups
Philadelphia Union (4-2-2-2):
Andre Blake; Kai Wagner, Olwethu Makhanya, Jakob Glesnes, Frankie Westfield (Nathan Harriel); Danley Jean Jacques, Jovan Lukić (Jesus Bueno), Indiana Vassilev (Milan Iloski 46′), Quinn Sullivan (Alejandro Bedoya 90’+4′); Bruno Damiani (Mikael Uhre 70′), Tai Baribo (Cavan Sullivan 90’+4′)
Substitute not used: Andrew Rick
New York Red Bulls (4-2-3-1):
Anthony Marcucci (Carlos Coronel 90’+3′); Noah Eile, Sean Nealis, Raheem Edwards, Kyle Duncan (Dylan Nealis 35′); Daniel Edelman, Peter Stroud; Serge Ngoma (Dennis Gjengaar 82′), Julian Hall ( Eric Maxim Choup-Moting 64′), Wikelman Carmona; Wiktor Bogacz (Emil Forsberg 64′)
Substitutes not used: Alexander Hack, Adri Mehmeti
Scoring Summary:
NY: Wikelman Carmona – 8′
PHI: Tai Baribo – 13′
NY: Eric Maxim Choup-Moting – 71′
PHI: Milan Iloski – 74′
PHI: Olwethu Makhanya – 89′
Disciplinary Summary:
NY: Kyle Duncan (yellow card) – 23′
NY: Raheem Edwards (yellow card) – 25′
NY: Wikelman Carmona (yellow card) – 60′
PHI: Jovan Lukić (yellow card) – 75′
NY: Dylan Nealis (yellow card) – 88′
PHI: Cavan Sullivan (yellow card) – 90’+6′
Iloski is a great addition. He displayed a striker’s touch on the goal, didn’t try to kill it but calmly placed it in the perfect spot the goalie couldn’t reach.
Amen. Perfectly done, punished the keeper for not coming across.
I was in 127, so I had a good angle on it, and when the ball went to him I instantly said in my head – don’t go far side – he went short side in the perfect spot. Very well done… just a great finish
Also in 127. I was thinking when he kicked it that it was going wide left. Happy I was wrong.
Two other 127ers. That’s where my tickets are. Was above 105 last night covering the game.
Stop by some time when you’re not covering the game, Chris. My wife and I are in row C, last 2 seats towards the river end side of the section. If you are on that side, I’m sure you’ve walked by us a million times.
We are row M on the River End. Must have passed you thousands of times by now!
A read that the Vasilev substitute was for a concussion which is why NJ was able to change keepers at the end (it was their 4th window) and the Union could bring on both Bedoya and Sullivan. I’m wondering if he’ll be available Saturday.
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Makhanya still has some work to do in learning how to move the ball quickly against pressing teams. He had a few times he was forced into dangerous back passes to Blake.
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Kudos to the ref who didn’t fall for NJ’s flopping. He did miss a few calls when players slipped due to the wet turf rather than get fouled (and most of those went in the Union’s favor), but overall got most of them right. This was borne out by the number of VAR checks but no calls to the monitor. This is how VAR is supposed to work, not acting as the ref on the field but only overturning clear and obvious errors.
That makes sense (the concussion); I was wondering how the Union were able to use 6 subs.
Funny, since I wasn’t counting the Union subs but instead noticed the extra window for the NJ keeper change.
Thanks for the info Andy! I was confused by that the subs
The window bothered me since the Vassilev swap came at halftime. The CBSSN crew had the sixth sub, but never said you got an extra window.
That’s a rule that needs to change. You should get an extra window if the sub needs one. But the Vasilev sub didn’t burn a window so should have stayed at 3.
I went to the game twice, but didn’t watch it. But then I did watch it in my pajamas.
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I sat through the first delay/cancel and then got soaked and drove through dangerous flood waters trying to get home. Last night, when it became clear the game — if they played at all — wouldn’t even start until almost 10, I had to bail and head home. Work night, can’t be heading home at 1 (if it went to pens).
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But they did play, and I did watch. And it was a good win. My son is over the moon on Iloski. His overall play was really good and clever, and the goal was precise.
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No one to blame on Chupo-Moting. That was just a pinpoint cross and a perfect finish.
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Third time’s the charm for Nashville?
The good news was that the roads were much better last night than they were a month ago. It stopped raining sometime around 10.
Yeah, that Chupo-Moting goal was gorgeous. Sure, we could have marked him a little closer, but sometimes you have to give a guy credit for a sublime finish.
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I bought tickets to this game as soon as the last one was rescheduled. I made it to 8:15 because we knew it would start until 9:30 at the earliest. With an early morning work meeting, that wouldn’t work. But yeah, it was a great game to watch from the comfort of home!
The CBS announcer was terrible though. Could not pronounce Damiani to save his life, and was in the tank for RB on every ref call — poor take on most of them.
What a great game; a true classic! Had so much fun but was happy that it did not go into overtime. As it was, I only got home at midnight. Thought the stadium was very noisy for only being a quarter full.
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Think lots of us should travel to Nashville to support the team because it will not be easy there. Hope Philly Sport Trips organizes something!
I originally gave our tix to a friend and his wife for the first go round … the rain messed up their night out.. so he called and said his wife was going to back out for game 2.. so in I stepped.. I thought the boys played pretty well! They battled back from a goal down twice and found the game winner before the end of regulation!! Iloski looks like he’s up for the press and has a smooth finish. Keep beating the Pink Cows and build some momentum for closing out the season!! As a side note… Open Cup games are the craziest weather games the Union plays in! How many have had rain and wind and lightning!! Ok on to the next!
I think there’s probably been more lightning delays for Open Cup games than for regular season games (despite there being so many more of the latter). It’s a good thing since there is a lot more room in the concourse during an Open Cup game.
They showed incredible resiliency last night. Red Bulls have to be ripping their hair out wondering what they have to do to beat Philly. If Glavinovich can come back healthy in place of Makhanya, I really like our chances to finally bring home a trophy.
I’m not sure whether Glavinovich should replace Makhanya or Glesnes. Makhanya’s been more consistent of late and is the one who is more likely to fit into the team’s long term plans.
It was glorious listening to the deflation by the RB radio announcers. The cows have been in spectacularly bad form, benching players and trying to do something right. I’d like to have been at this one. I’ve been at most open cup matches and, despite what Mother Nature or OT gods throw at us, they tend to be fun. I can’t do next month’s semi but getting down to Nashville would be fun supporting. I think the Boys in Blue get it done down there.
I will not complain about the Apple announcers for one month. The two guys last night were beyond atrocious. Even after replay showed the referee made the correct call, they would still argue about it.
It’s always nice to beat Red Bull. It won’t otherwise mean anything unless we win the next two matches. If we do, then we’ll finally wim a championship in something. As Jim Curtin also reminded, it’s also the easiest path to Champions Cup. It’s doable. For once I wish they will. We need silverware.