Midseason Friendly Match Report: Philadelphia Union 2-3 New England Revolution

Photo courtesy @PhilaUnion on X

The Philadelphia Union hosted the New England Revolution in both teams’ third friendly of the FIFA World Cup break. Thunderstorms over Chester required the match be suspended for 40 minutes at halftime and then again for over an hour in the 65th minute. The match was then moved into the WSFS indoor field to play a final 45 minutes. Philadelphia’s goals came from Milan Iloski and Ezekiel Alladoh. It was initially set to be two 45-minute periods and a 30-minute period, totalling 120 minutes. They ended up playing a broken 111.

Any intended conditioning plans were interrupted by the change in match length, giving some players more or fewer minutes than intended. It was still an opportunity for both teams to test themselves against MLS-quality opponents and get match conditioning, despite the two significant interruptions.

In advance

Ryan Richter’s Philadelphia Union played two previous friendlies during the World Cup break. The first was a 2-2 draw against the Houston Dynamo in front of season ticket members at the WSFS Bank Sportsplex, and the second was a 1-0 win behind closed doors at New York City FC. PSP tips its cap to @JoserNunez91 for reporting the scoreline.

Cavan Sullivan and Frankie Westfield were the goalscorers against Houston. We do not know who scored against New York.

New England’s original plans for the break involved a trip to Austria, but their schedule changed, and they decided to stay in the United States to play MLS teams instead. The Revolution are unable to use their own facilities during the break because of the World Cup at Gillette Stadium and their training ground being the matchday-minus-one facility. All three of their friendlies have been on the road.

This conflict for them highlights yet another benefit of the Union’s facilities being separate from the Philadelphia sports complex and the fact that the entire organization is on one campus. The Union does not have to deal with those kinds of logistical issues and can instead benefit from having had Côte d’Ivoire at Subaru Park on its own terms.

First 45

A Milan Iloski and Ben Bender attack down the left-hand side earned the Boys In Blue a corner in the second minute of play. New England cleared it out to the top of the box. Japhet Sery tried to play it backwards toward the goal despite having Indiana Vassilev in front of him with a better angle, and New England took it on the break and switched the field early to break past the Union’s deep-lying safety Ben Bander and open the scoring at the other end through new signing Wilson Harris.

Neil Pierre got on the end of a later corner kick, but New England keeper Donovan Parisian saved his header.

Nathan Harriel cleared the ball off the line following a New England free kick in the 20th minute.

Philadelphia started to find an attacking rhythm after that point culminating in Cavan Sullivan’s flick to Milan Iloski, whose header equalized in the 28th minute.

New England should’ve gone ahead again in the 31st minute, but US Youth international defender Peyton Miller missed a wide-open sitter at the back post. That attack emphasized Danley Jean Jacques’ value in the defensive midfield in this Union squad. The pairing of Indiana Vassilev and Jesus Bueno was not fast enough to catch up to the play on that break, leaving Miller open on the back post.

Jesus Bueno received a yellow card in the 34th minute.

The half ended in a deadlock, and a thunderstorm rolled in over Chester, extending the halftime delay to 40 minutes.

Minutes 46-65, the first time

After the lengthy break and a ten-minute warm-up period, both teams took the field with the same lineups as at the start of the match.

Bruno Damiani won the ball in the attacking half and was fouled. The referee awarded Philadelphia the advantage, and the attack ended with a Jesus Bueno strike going wide right.

Peyton Miller scored for New England in the 51st minute. Miller broke past the Union defense, and even though Andre Blake made the initial save, Miller tapped in the rebound. He looked like he could have been offside on his run, but the assistant referee on that side did not raise his flag.

Cavan Sullivan was fouled on the dribble outside of the box by New England right-wing Alhassan Yusuf in the 60th minute. Yusuf was cautioned. Sullivan put the free kick to the top right corner, but Parisian saved it.

Philadelphia took three consecutive corners. After those, Ezekiel Alladoh and Jovan Lukic replaced Ben Bender and Bruno Damiani in the 63rd minute. Indiana Vassilev slid up to the left attacking midfield.

Lightning had been getting closer to the building over the entire duration of play and cracked over the Delaware River in the 65th minute, stopping play once more. After about an hour of deliberation, the match was moved inside to the WSFS Bank Sportsplex to play a final 45 minutes.

Indoor period

All eleven Philadelphia players who began the match on the bench started this indoor half. Alladoh and Lukic remained on the field, having seen less than two minutes of play before the delay. Union II captain Rafael Uzcategui lined up as a left back and Phillipe Ndinga as a right back. Kellan LeBlanc lined up as a holding midfielder, and Giovanny Sequera played right attacking midfield.

Philadelphia dictated play down the right sideline through the first ten minutes of the period through Giovanny Sequera and Phillipe Ndinga in that channel.

Agustin Anello got the ball in the back and back-heeled it to Ezekiel Alladoh, whose score equalized 20 minutes into the period.

George Marks had an important save 23 minutes in to keep New England out after they dispossessed Geiner Martinez outside of the Union’s box.

Rafael Uzcategui saw mustard 31 minutes into the period for a foul outside the box.

New England’s Diego Fagundez was cautioned for fouling Eddy Davis four minutes later.

Play became noticeably more physical in the final six or so minutes of the restarted period. Ndninga thrived under the pressure and demonstrated technical dribbling abilities to get past oncoming New England defenders.

New England scored the winner on a free kick 42 minutes into the period. Keegan Hughes got loose in the box and headed the ball right past Marks. The ball hit the roof on a Marks clearance right before the foul, and Philadelphia could have argued that the play should have been stopped for a drop ball in the box rather than letting play continue until the foul. Either way, nearly four hours had elapsed since the initial kickoff time for the match, and things finally ended soon after.

Next match

According to Crossing Broad’s Joe Tansey, the Union will play one more friendly next week against DC United. We do not know any more information other than that it is happening.

Major League Soccer resumes play in 13 days, on July 22nd, when the Philadelphia Union will face Red Bull New York at Subaru Park at 7:30 PM EST.

Three Points:

Neil Pierre looks like a first-team player after his six-month loan to Lyngby. Head Coach Ryan Richter has worked with him previously at the Union II level and appears to have faith in him going against MLS-level opponents.
Olwethu Makhanya and Danley Jean Jacques are yet to return from international duty after their nations’ eliminations from the FIFA World Cup.
Also, according to Crossing Broad’s Joe Tansey, Quinn Sullivan is fully training, and the club is looking to give him 10-15 minutes in the friendly against DC United next week.

Lineups

Union (4-2-2-2, L-R) Interim Head Coach Ryan Richter, Bethlehem Steel FC’s original captain.

Outdoor Starters: Andre Blake; Nate Harriel, Neil Pierre, Japhet Sery, Frankie Westfield, Jesus Bueno, Indiana Vassilev, Ben Bender, Cavan Sullivan, Milan Iloski, Bruno Damiani

Indoor Starters: George Marks; Rafael Uzcategui, Finn Sundstrom, Geiner Martinez, Phillipe Ndinga, Jovan Lukic, Kellan LeBlanc, Agustin Anello, Giovanny Sequera, Ezekiel Alladoh, Eddy Davis