Union’s victory over limping Red Bulls sets stage for a promising stretch

Ugly, grisly, grotesque, hideous, horrid, unseemly, unsightly.

Those words could best sum up the Philadelphia Union’s 1-0 win over the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena Saturday night.

Appalling, frightful, gross, repugnant, repulsive, unlovely, foul.

“It certainly wasn’t a pretty game by any standards,” Union coach Jim Curtin said after the game. “It was one of the ugliest games I’ve seen this season, but it’s also a testament to the players because they knew it was going to be a nightmare.”

In a game with high pressure, sloppy passes (61.9% pass accuracy for NY, 52.4% for Philly), and a combined 5 shots on target, the Union were fine with creating few chances and slowing the game down immensely, knowing they only needed one to hit to outlast the struggling Red Bulls.

“The ball’s out of bounds more than it’s in bounds,” Curtin added. “I bet it was in play, we get all the statistics, it’ll be in the 40s, 40 minutes out of 90.”

Daniel Gazdag scored his seventh goal of 2023 and fourth in the league from the penalty spot. The foul, if we can call it a foul, came after Red Bull defender Dylan Nealis interfered with Julian Carranza inside the box. Though the contact was minimal, referee Joseph Dickerson pointed to the spot immediately, then spent a lengthy time reviewing the play. Despite clear video evidence that showed Carranza’s embellishment of a minor obstruction, the call stood, and Gazdag did what he’s done all season—erase the demons from his penalty miss in the MLS Cup.

Coming off an emotional loss midweek in the Concacaf Champions League semifinal at LAFC, one in which the Union should have fared better, a return home to face the Red Bulls was never going to have the glitz and glimmer of the previous game. Yet more than anything, the Union needed a league result, something they’ve only done once since a 1-0 win over Chicago on March 11. So this game was never going to be about style. It was going to be about out-grinding an opponent that has been sitting at the bottom of the table and going through its own disasters both on and off the field in recent weeks.

“We have a target, starting with the Toronto game, the block of five games,” Curtin said. “Before Toronto, we said this five-game block we need ten-plus points, and that was a good starting point to get six right away.”

The Union are currently 4-4-2 with 14 points, good for 7 th in the Eastern Conference. With recent wins over Toronto (2-3-6, 12 points, 13 th in the East) and the Red Bulls (1-4-6, 9 points, 15 th in the East), two teams that have been poor all season, they’re back on track with their first league winning streak since the infamous late August-September explosion of goals. Following the loss to Minnesota in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 32, the Union will now travel to Colorado (2-3-6, 12 points, 10 th in the West), whom they beat 6-0 during that previous win streak. The Union return home Wednesday to face D.C. United (4-5-2, 14 points, 8 th in the East) then New England (7-1-3, 24 points, 1 st in the East) on Saturday, with the latter being the club’s toughest
test since LAFC.

“We’re going to recover as quick as we can,” Curtin said, “trying to get a result against Colorado and then just a little bit unlucky that we have to play home against DC and turn around and play a fresh New England team who doesn’t have a game that week.”

New England will be the Union’s only league opponent other than FC Cincinnati with a winning record, but the Cincinnati game came in between the Union’s CCL quarterfinal matchup with Atlas, which added airline miles to a club that’s played more minutes than any other in MLS to date this season. Regardless, the next three games are all winnable, and the Union should benefit from knowing they played with the league’s best team for 135 minutes. “As much as the Champions League hurt,” Curtin said, “it’s behind us, and that has to be the mentality that we move on to the next game. That’s the most important game.”

With the CCL and U.S. Open Cup out of the way, the Union can now focus on amassing league points as they enter a favorable stretch of May and June before the Leagues Cup begins in early July. Looking ahead at the five blocks of games after New England, the Union will play at NYCFC (4-4-3, 15 points, 5 th ), whom they’ve matched up well with as of late, before a home midweek vs Charlotte (3-5-3, 12 points tied for 12 th ) and a Saturday against Montréal (4-6-0, 12 points 11 th ), both revenge games in their own unique way. Charlotte trounced the Union 4-0 at home late last season. Montréal scored two late goals to beat the Union earlier this year, a loss that looked even worse after Montréal got beaten 5-0 and 4-0 by Vancouver and New England, respectively, following the Union win.

The Union will then travel to San Jose (5-3-3, 18 points, 4th in West) and have the international break before going to Orlando (4-4-2, 14 points, 9th). So over the next eight games, the Union will face two teams with winning records, and though four of their next eight will come on the road, two of their midweeks will be at home, where they’re currently 3-1-1 as opposed to 1-3-1 away.

So as long as the Union maintains a healthy rotation to ensure freshness over the next six weeks, which in itself brings more questions than answers, we may soon see them return to the top three in the Eastern Conference, where they rightfully belong. And all the drama of dropping early-season points will be in the rearview mirror as the current Eastern Conference champions regain confidence and momentum entering the second half of the season, where in the past, they’ve managed to outlast the competition by putting in consistent performances.