Union-Red Bulls 5 Things: Bitter East Showdown Set for Primetime

Union vs. New York Red Bulls
7 p.m. on FS1

Less than a month after the Union (8-6-5) booted the New York Red Bulls (8-9-3) from the U.S. Open Cup tournament, the clubs meet again. This time, it's a primetime MLS collision atop the Eastern Conference on Sunday at Talen Energy Stadium.

Here are five things to know:

1. Rivalry Night
Sunday’s match is one of a kind. It’s a nationally televised rivalry game between two of the East’s best teams, and the Union are ready for it.

“It’s a rivalry game,” Union manager Jim Curtin said. “Our fans don’t like them, their fans don’t like us. The coaching staffs are very familiar with each other, we go back a long way. Two really good teams fighting for a top spot in the Eastern Conference.”

To add fuel to the already heated fire, Sunday is a rematch between the Union and Red Bulls, who met in the Round of 16 of the U.S. Open Cup tournament. The Union dispatched the Red Bulls, whose coach, Jesse Marsch, was ejected before spiking two soccer balls at the Union bench.

“They are a little mad about the Open Cup loss, so they will be aggressive,” Union midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta said. “We need to do a really good job at keeping focus on our game.”

Barnetta might be right about the Red Bulls looking for revenge. 

“I don’t think [the Red Bull players] need a ton of reminders to know this is a heated rivalry,” Marsch said. “The fact that there's been some good games, they’ve ended our Open Cup dreams twice in the last two years, we’ll be ready.”

2. Learning from the Open Cup
While the Union ultimately took the the club’s first matchup, 2-1, June 29, the Open Cup win wasn’t easy. The Red Bulls dominated the first half but lagged in the second, giving up a pair of goals to Chris Pontius.

For the Union, however, a win's a win, and they are taking that momentum into Sunday. 

“It just proves that we can beat them, we did it once,” Union forward Sebastien Le Toux said. “They have good players and they were winning 1-0 before we came back to win the game, so we have to be serious and play the game the right way and make sure we are all 100 percent.”

But the belief of beating the Red Bulls won’t be all the Union need. As Brian Carroll put it, they are preparing for the Red Bulls’ best punch and next-level intensity.

“There will be a little bit of extra there, just because of playing each other recently and it happened to be an Open Cup game,” Carroll said. “When you put us against each other that many times during the season there’s always going to be intense matches going on.”

Marsch agreed.

“This game won’t look like either half, it’ll be much more combative, well contested and well competed,” Marsch said. “We’ll be ready for that.” 

3. Red Bulls road struggles
Facing one of the league’s best home teams could be an issue for the Red Bulls — one of the league’s worst road teams at 1-7-2.

“We need to start doing better on the road, period,” Marsch said. “It’s a big test going down to Philly, they’ve been good at home. We need to be ready at all levels.”

Regardless of their road trouble, Curtin isn’t taking the competition lightly. The Red Bulls dominated the Union in the first half of the Open Cup on the road, and can do it again. 

“They’re dangerous,” he said. “Red Bulls for me is one of the best teams and once they pin you in, they have these one-twos and combinations that are second nature for them. We can’t allow them to establish that. That starts by pressure up the field.” 

4. Keep an eye on
Ilsinho: The skillful forward scored his first two goals of the season against D.C. United last week, and tore the Red Bulls up in the team’s first match with a pair of primary assists. The Union will look to him to replicate that potency Sunday.

Bradley Wright-Phillips: That scary part about BWP’s season is he took seven matches to score his first goal. Now he leads his club with nine in 18 starts. “Bradley Wright-Phillips’ goal record speaks for itself, he’s one of the top forwards in our league and as he goes, Red Bull go,” Curtin said. “When he’s scoring, they are tough to beat.” 

5. This and that
• Outside of the Open Cup, it hasn’t been much of a rivalry for the Union. They are 5-9-2 against the Red Bulls all time in MLS play.

• The Union haven’t just been good at home against the East, they’ve been dominant. The Union are 8-2-2 against the East this season and 7-0-0 at home.

• Separated by just two points, the Red Bulls can leapfrog the Union with a victory Sunday. “Right now, looking at the table, it’s a big six-pointer and it could be an important result once you get to the end of the year,” Marsch said.

Copyright CSNPhily
Contact Us