10-man Union can’t hold on, fall to Red Bulls

The game was transformed in the 53rd minute when Derrick Jones got his marching orders for a high tackle on Felipe. It’s just the second road win for the Red Bulls (7-7-2, 23 points) this season.

CHESTER » The ideological framework on which the Philadelphia Union hang their hat is that on any given day, they can compete with any team in MLS.

When that day features a red card as Sunday’s visit from the New York Red Bulls did, the margin for error is so thin as to be nearly insurmountable, even if the Union came within three minutes of surviving.

Bradley Wright-Phillips struck twice in five minutes off mirror-image goals as the Red Bulls downed the Union, 2-0, in an affair that pivoted in the 53rd minute when Derrick Jones got his marching orders for a high tackle on Felipe.

Jones’ challenge was more clumsy than malicious. Whether or not he crashed into the Brazilian with intent, he went over the ball with studs showing, and referee Allen Chapman, whose grasp on proceedings was tenuous at best most times, had no choice but to reach for his back pocket and show the Union its first red card of the season.

The decision elicited raised eyebrows from the Union postgame.

“Don’t believe it’s a red card,” manager Jim Curtin said. “Felipe is a guy we talked about all week in terms of a guy that can get under your skin and frustrate you, don’t fall into any of the fighting or any of that. I think he may have baited the ref a little bit, made it look a little worse than it was.”

“I don’t think it’s a red card,” midfielder Haris Medunjanin said. “Jonesy went for the ball and with a player like Felipe, he likes to jump. I think everybody saw it was not a red card. It killed our game.”

For 35 minutes, the Union withstood the pressure by the Red Bulls (7-7-2, 23 points), who snapped a six-game road losing streak with their first away goal since April 1.

The goals were simple in design but flawless in execution. The 87th-minute opener stemmed from a low, driven cross by Kemar Lawrence from the left wing that Wright-Phillips directed home after splitting the center backs. Lawrence, a halftime sub, fizzled the cross with just the right pace to escape a sliding tackle by Jack Elliott, and Wright-Phillips needed only to tap the ball home on the doorstep.

In the second minute of stoppage time, with the Union subbing off right back Ray Gaddis and pressing for an equalizer, the defense was stretched in transition. A cross-field ball by Gonzalo Veron found opposite winger Sal Zizzo down the right channel, and Zizzo’s ball across the sixyard box was touched home by WrightPhillips for his eight goal of the season.

“Today I was dreadful,” Wright-Phillips said. “I was dreadful. I hear I was close to coming out of the game. I just tried to hang in there. I did think I would get a chance. I wanted to stay in for that because I didn’t get much else in the game.”

“He’s definitely one of the best drifting off the shoulder and making it difficult to locate him,” Elliott said. “Me and (Oguchi Onyewu) just talked to each other, and it takes the whole back line and midfield to keep him out. He’s a good player.”

Even before the red, the Union (4-7-4, 16 points) created few chances in dropping their third straight game. They troubled Red Bulls goalie Luis Robles with just one shot on target, but it inspired a tremendous save. Robles extended to a full stretch for a sensational one-handed denial of Chris Pontius in the 22nd minute after Aaron Long was roasted in an aerial duel.

The visitors outshot the Union, 14-7, and suffocated them with 64 percent of possession, including 74.2 percent after halftime. When the Union had the ball, they completed a paltry 66.4 percent of passes, dwarfed by the Red Bulls’ rate of 80.8.

The Union have scored just once in three MLS matches, though Curtin stands by the argument that things could’ve been different had Pontius beaten Robles in the 22nd or converted an open header just before halftime off a Gaddis cross that streamed wide of the target.

“We’re getting looks,” Curtin said. “The second half of this game is a tough one to judge our attack on because we were absorbing and taking a lot of pressure. I don’t think creating chances is a problem for us right now. I do think we do create enough to score. Executing on set plays, we could do a little better. I think it was a little bit off in that regard.”

Also off is the momentum the Union had generated via a six-game unbeaten run that seems distant. They have two home games remaining against Eastern opposition in consecutive weekends with an Open Cup tie at Red Bull Arena sandwiched in between.

Rebounding for those contests will require some rapid regrouping.

“We’ve been here before in the beginning of the season. We lost a lot of games,” Medunjanin said. “I think it was not necessarily this game because we had good chances, especially in the first half with Chris Pontius in the last minute of the first half and a couple of chances we had. They also had something, but nothing serious. When you play with 10 men, it doesn’t matter who you play, it’s going to be difficult. We have two more games at home so we need to come back and stand behind each other and win on Saturday.”