Philly Sports Jabronis
Report From PhiladelphiaUnion.com
The Union (1-2-4) fell to the New York Red Bulls, 2-1 at Red Bull Arena Wednesday night in Harrison, N.J., as an 80th minute penalty kick by Sebastien Le Toux wasn’t enough to level against goals from Thierry Henry and Lloyd for the home side.
After a strong first half from the Union, Henry put the Red Bulls up first scoring his second of the season in the 57th minute. Just 10 minutes later, Sam made it two when he flicked a cross into the box from Eric Alexander to the far post of Union goalkeeper Zac MacMath.
“Not only did we let them off the hook, but we should have had them in the second half, too,” said Union manager John Hackworth. “We knew they were going to be dangerous if we let them hang around for as long as we did. Very frustrating to play as well as we did in some aspects of that game and then be down, 2-0.”
The Union managed to pull one back after a handball in the box from Ibrahim Sekagya gave the Union a penalty kick and sent Sekagya to the locker room after receiving an ejection. Union midfielder Sebastien Le Toux stepped up to the spot and buried yet another of his trademark penalties into the corner.
“He knew where I was going,” said Le Toux, who was a teammate of Robles’ in New York for part of the 2012 MLS season. “I felt lucky to get it by him because he knew where I usually put them. I am happy to get a goal, but I would have been happier if it meant we won. It’s unfortunate because for much of the game, I thought we were the better team tonight.”
It appeared that the second goal from New York took the wind out of the collective sails of a Union side that found it difficult to contain the quick counterattacking style of Red Bulls. Though the Union did find chances in the box late, they were unable to make them count.
“It’s baffling to watch [the two goals New York scored] back,” said Union manager John Hackworth. “You look at the plays we got right in this game and then we let those kinds of goals happen…it’s just not good enough. When I looked back at those two goals [postgame] in the locker room, I see breakdowns. I see our back line get pulled apart when we want to make sure that they are staying compact. We are talking about two balls that are crossed in the box and [the Red Bulls] win both. At the end of the day, we feel like we played well but they were just better in the box than we were.”
The final stats show the Union again the better team in possession (52.5 percent) and in accurate passing (83.5 percent), a statistic that would dictate that the controlled tempo kept New York on its heels for much of the contest.
The Union will now look to shake of the frustration of coming up short and focus energies on another Eastern Conference foe when Houston Dynamo visits PPL Park this Saturday (4 p.m., The Comcast Network).
“It’s frustrating because we’ve had a couple chances to win here and I thought today was one of those good chances, as well,” said Union defender Amobi Okugo. “We had a really good first half, but just didn’t bring that into the second half and they punished us. It’s annoying, but we have to take how disappointed we are and build on it for Saturday.”
BOX SCORE
New York Red Bulls 2, Philadelphia Union 1,
Wednesday, April 16; 7:30 p.m. ET
Red Bull Arena
Harrison, NJ
SCORING SUMMARY
NYRB: Henry 57’ (Miller)
NYRB: Sam 67’ (Alexander)
PHI: Le Toux 80’
DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY
PHI: Fabinho 17’ (yellow)
NYRB: Sekagya 78’ (red)
NYRB: Olave 83’ (yellow)
NYRB: Henry 89’ (yellow)
UNION STARTING 11
MacMath, Fabinho, Okugo, Wheeler, Gaddis, Edu, Nogueira, Fernandes (Lahoud 76’), Maidana (Hoppenot 76’), Wenger (Casey 66’), Le Toux.
Substitutes not used: Blake, Williams, Berry, Carroll.
RED BULLS STARTING 11
Robles, Olave, Kimura, Sekagya, Miller, Alexander, McCarty, Luyindula (Cahill 63’), Sam (Armando 80’), Wright-Phillips, Henry (Steele 94’).
Substitutes not used: Izquierdo, Stevenson, Lade, Meara.
