Sixty-one days after their last MLS game, Red Bull New York were in the City of Brotherly Love to take on their rival, Philadelphia Union in their return to league play.
It was set up on a platter for Michael Bradley’s side to come out and take three points from the Union, who came into tonight’s game last in the MLS Supporters Shield standings.
But it just didn’t turn out that way because of a poor finish to the game by Red Bull New York.
Red Bull may have held serve in the first half, going into the halftime break tied 1-1, but they weren’t on their A game early on in the game. In the ninth minute, veteran goalkeeper Ethan Horvath dropped a cross after running into a teammate inside the 18-yard box. The loose ball was collected by Union forward Milan Iloski who kicked it into the bottom right corner of the net.
Then in the 22nd minute, the Union’s homegrown midfielder Cavan Sullivan took a half volley from about 30 yards out that was going bar down before Horvath jumped and touched it over the bar.
Twelve minutes later, Iloski one-timed a shot from outside the box that was going inside the left post before Horvath dove and saved it.
After four first half saves from their goalkeeper, the Red Bulls tied the game when Adri Mehmeti drove the play forward with a pass in the midfield to Ronald Donkor, who then found Emil Forsberg. Forsberg then sent a through ball into the Union 18-yard box for Cade Cowell whose first-time right-footed shot beat Andre Blake. The goal was Cowell’s second of the 2026 MLS season.
After the goal, RBNY captain Emil Forsberg, who provided the assist, encouraged his teammates saying ‘Let’s go!’ But instead of getting the message, Horvath had to bail his teammates out after they surrendered another Grade-A scoring chance right before halftime. On this play, Bruno Damiani’s shot from the center of the box was smothered by Horvath who made a brilliant save.
The Union picked up where they left off in the second half, as Sullivan leaned into a left-footed strike from inside the box that was saved by Horvath just five minutes into the new frame.
After this, Red Bull put together a nice five minutes, forcing Union goalkeeper Andre Blake to make two saves. First, Jorge Ruvalcaba took a shot from outside the box that was easily saved by Blake. The second time, Blake was one-on-one with the Red Bulls’ leading scorer, Julian Hall and stopped the 18-year-old’s difficult volley.
But there wasn’t sustained pressure after these chances. Instead, the Red Bulls totally switched off defensively.
It started with Indiana Vassilev’s volley which took a deflection off RBNY defender Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty before zipping inside the post in the 57th minute to make it 2-1 to the home side.
In the 65th minute, Red Bull conceded a free kick in the center of the field. The kick was taken directly and deflected off of a Red Bull player and beyond the by-line for a corner kick.
And on the ensuing corner taken by the Union’s Kai Wagner, tall Union defender Neil Pierre made a giant leap and headed the ball with power into the far side of the net to give the hosts a 3-1 lead.
Ten minutes later, RBNY head coach Michael Bradley made three substitutions:
- Gustav Berggren came in for Forsberg
- Julian Bazan for Marshall-Rutty
- Mohammed Sofo for Cowell
The changes made little impact on the game, as Red Bull tried to manufacture offense through Ronald Donkor’s creativity but the Union held firm and denied Red Bull a dangerous chance for the rest of the game.
Union head coach Ryan Richter guided his team to victory in his first MLS match in charge.
Despite Ethan Horvath’s seven saves, which tied a season high that was set in Red Bull’s last match, Red Bull New York suffered their sixth loss of the season and fell from 5th to 7th place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings.
Luckily, Red Bull will get right back at it this Saturday when they return to Sports Illustrated Stadium for REDD’s Birthday, featuring Sesame Street, for a match vs. Charlotte FC at 6:30 p.m.
The Union will also play on Saturday for the second game in a row at Subaru Park when they face Seattle Sounders at 7:30 p.m.
