Early lead, man advantage not enough in tie with Red Bulls
CHESTER » In terms of atmosphere and intensity, the matchup of the two teams that entered Saturday in first and second in the Eastern Conference lived up to the billing.
The soccer, not so much, though that has come to be a given when the complementary styles of the Union and New York Red Bulls clash.
Daniel Gazdag gave the Union the lead two minutes into the second half, and they were poised to pour on when Dylan Nealis was shown a second yellow card in the 55th. But a 65thminute goal by Luquinhas earned the Red Bulls a split of the points at Subaru Park, 1-1, Saturday night.
The Union celebrated a go-ahead goal by Julian Carranza in the 80th minute, but it was correctly called back for an offside.
The Union (5-1-5, 20 points) are now winless in their last five games (0-1-4). They’ve surrendered leads in all five games. They are unbeaten in eight straight meetings with the Red Bulls (5-0-3), including playoffs. Eleven of the last 14 games between the teams have featured two goals or fewer.
The result ends the Red Bulls’ five-game winning streak on the road to start a season, which had tied the MLS record.
If you were expecting pretty soccer, then you were in the wrong place from the start. For two teams hewing to the dictums of modern, counter-pressing, transition soccer, the first half looked at best frantic and at worst … like a battle of rock ‘em, sock ‘em robots, with teams in red and blue kicking instead of punching. Midfields were largely for show, that part of the pitch generally bypassed by long hopeful passes, save for the occasional car crash of a challenge in a game where seven yellow cards were shown.
The Union brought the game to life in the 47th minute on a relatively clean — and rare — moment of soccer-like content. Gazdag won a second-ball in midfield off the Red Bulls defense. He played a diagonal ball into Sergio Santos, who slipped it back to Gazdag on the other side of the defense to rocket a shot upper 90. It’s Gazdag’s sixth goal of the season.
The chaos ratcheted up minutes later. A scrum started with a Carranza foul, which led to some after-thewhistle discussions. Two yellow cards were handed out, then after play restarted, Dylan Nealis caught Santos high on his leg with his studs for his second yellow card, earning his marching orders in the 55th. Nealis’ first yellow came in the 25th, for a foul through the back of Carranza amid the rugged first half.
The chaos only snowballed from there. The Union had two chances in an almighty scramble in the 59th. A Nathan Harriel shot was blocked, by what the Union thought might be a stray arm though replay proved wasn’t, then Gazdag missed wide. Santos started that move, as well as one a minute earlier that ended with Alejandro Bedoya spraying a shot wide.
The Union were, for not
the first time this season, made to rue their wastefulness. A simple ball on the counter clipped in by sub Cameron Harper played Luquinhas into space, and the Brazilian made no mistake.
Given the way the Red Bulls (5-2-4, 19 points) play, dogmatic in their desire to almost never have the ball, being down a man suits them just fine, even opening more space for them to counter. They looked comfortable defending, given that they and the Union entered as the joint stingiest
teams in MLS at eight goals allowed each.
The one place they were susceptible was set pieces, and Carranza appeared to burn them there. Kai Wagner fired in a second ball off a corner kick, and Carlos Coronel beat away a header by Cory Burke. Carranza nodded home the rebound, but he was offside when Burke delivered his header, hence the goal being wiped off. Coronel also stopped a quality Burke effort deep into stoppage time, one of three saves for the former Union goalie.