Match preview: Philadelphia Union vs. New York Red Bulls

Game: Philadelphia Union vs. New York Red Bulls

Date: Sunday, June 18th

Time: 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 4:00 p.m. Central Time, 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time, 9:00 p.m. UTC

Venue: Talen Energy Stadium (Chester, Pa.)

Referees: REF: Allen Chapman, AR1: Kyle Atkins, AR2: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho, 4TH: Ted Unkel

Television: ESPN, ESPN Deportes, American Forces Network Sports

Streaming: Watch ESPN, ESPN Deportes+

All-time record: The Philadelphia Union have won six, lost eleven, and drawn the New York Red Bulls three times in MLS play. The Union won their last match against NYRB by a score of 3-0, with CJ Sapong getting a hat trick.

What the Union will look like

Fresh off of their midweek U.S. Open Cup win against the Harrisburg City Islanders, the Union will most likely revert to a more familiar lineup than what was presented against Harrisburg. Andre Blake and Alejandro Bedoya will be back from international duty with Jamaica and the United States, respectively. Something to watch for is the center back pairing, as all four center backs were used against NYCFC and Josh Yaro and Jack Elliott played a full 90 against Harrisburg. Did Jim Curtin like the chemistry he saw against HCI, or is he going to look to put veterans Oguchi Onyewu and Richie Marquez up against Bradley Wright-Phillips and the Red Bulls attack?

What the Red Bulls will look like

New York also played a midweek U.S. Open Cup match, defeating New York City FC 1-0 in North Jersey. Unlike the Union though, NYRB played most of their regular starting eleven. The were five players not in Wednesday’s match that played in their last MLS match (a 1-0 loss to the Montreal Impact), including Kemar Lawrence (who was with the Jamaica National Team) and Michael Murillo (who was with the Panamanian National Team). It will be interesting to see how Jesse Marsch deals with squad rotation on a short week – especially when they’ll play NYCFC again next Saturday.

What to expect

It’ll be an entertaining match in the national spotlight. As always, the Red Bulls are loaded with talent from top to bottom, but are 1-6-0 on the road this year and have only scored four goals away from Harrison while allowing fifteen. With the confidence gained from a solid U.S. Open Cup win against the Harrisburg City Islanders, the Union will look to get another winning streak underway.