Halftime report: Philadelphia Union 0, New York Red Bulls 0

The Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls are scoreless at the half. The Union started out well despite a slippery field. Three minutes in Roland Alberg was able to chest down a ball in the box, however he was quickly swarmed by three white shirts and his shot went nowhere. Alberg was fed a nice cutback pass from Chris Pontius that lead to a shot in the sixth minute, however that was saved by Luis Robles.

In the eighth minute, Alex Long tripped up CJ Sapong just outside of the box. Long was shown a yellow card, and the resulting free kick from Haris Medunjanin just missed the goal.

In the 12th minute, Alex Muyl’s toe-poke was on frame but Andre Blake was able to cover it up and snuff out the danger. Two minutes later, Bradley Wright-Phillips was in on goal with Fabinho, but Fabinho was able to dispossess BWP and clear the ball.

In the 18th minute, Alejandro Bedoya made a nice cutback deep and was able to get of a nice curling shot that Robles was able to hang onto.

A minute later, Daniel Royer crossed it into the box. Kemar Lawrence got on the end of it but Andre Blake was able to save the chance. The Union was also able to block a follow up chance to keep the match scoreless.

In the 25th minute, Fafa Picault made a bad sliding tackle on Felipe which drew a yellow card. Not to be outdone, Medunjanin picked one up shortly thereafter for dissent when he kicked the ball out of the field of play during the stoppage.

The next 15 to 20 minutes were much more defensive, with both sides looking to keep numbers back and not concede. In the 41st minute, a wide-open Bradley Wright-Phillips got his foot on a cross in front of the goal. Luckily for the Union, he directed it just wide.

Just into stoppage time, the Union had a chance deep with Kemar Lawrence handled the ball. Haris Medunjanin’s free kick went to the far post, where absolutely no one was there to get on the end of it.

Philadelphia Union:  Andre Blake; Fabio Alves, Richie Marquez, Jack Elliott, Ray Gaddis; Haris Medunjanin, Alejandro Bedoya; Fafa Picault, Roland Alberg, Chris Pontius; CJ Sapong

New York Red Bulls: Luis Robles; Kemar Lawrence, Damien Perrinelle, Aaron Long, Michael Amir Murillo; Felipe, Tyler Adams; Daniel Royer, Sacha Kljestan, Alex Muyl; Bradley Wright-Phillips

Scoring: Philadelphia Union – None; New York Red Bulls – None

Disciplinary: Philadelphia Union – Fafa Picault (Yellow – 25’), Haris Medunjanin (Yellow – 26’); New York Red Bulls – Aaron Long (Yellow – 8’)