The New York Red Bulls (11-8-5) return to the confines of Red Bull Arena Saturday night and take on one of their I-90 rivals, the Philadelphia Union (10-7-7). New York and Philly are both currently poised to make the playoffs and are both still challenging the likes of RSL, Sporting KC, Vancouver, and the Colorado Rapids (among others) for the Supporter’s Shield. The Red Bulls sit second in the east and third overall while the Union sits third in the East and fourth overall. The Red Bulls return home from a two game road trip with an amazing win at Sporting Park against SKC but a loss to the Crew in Columbus. The Union are coming off a 2-0 win over DC United at PPL Park.
This will be the third match of the season between the two clubs, with each of the teams winning their home match. Back on March 30th, the Red Bulls were a dismal 0-2-2 but second half goals from Dax McCarty and Thierry Henry saw the Red Bulls eek out a late win past the Union, who scored off the head of Conor Casey. In the second match in late June, the Red Bulls were coming off a three-week league layoff and came out f the gates flat. It only took Conor Casey, one of those pesky NY killers, seven minutes to put a ball past Luis Robles on a failed corner kick clearance. Lloyd Sam, receiving a rare start in the midfield, would see straight red in the 28th minute and NY would fall out of the game from there on out. Casey would net his second after Robles gave up a rebound and Antoine Hoppenot would ice off the match a minute from full time off a Le Toux assist.
The Union have their full team back and firing on all cylinders after Jack Mac had a brief stint with the USMNT at the Gold Cup. Le Toux and Casey have always been NY killers and with the inclusions of Jack Mac in the attack and Amobi Okugo and Sheanon Williams to add on set pieces, NY has a full plate of threats ahead of them.
The Red Bulls injury front is a little more littered but clearing way as time goes on. Against the Crew, Thierry Henry (who turns 36 on matchday), Tim Cahill, Lloyd Sam, and Kosuke Kimura were out with injuries. Henry is back and 100% after his infamous Achilles flared up again but Kimura remains out with that concussion and perforated eardrum. Cahill and Sam are the two enigmas on their availability heading into Saturday. While they have both been responding well to treatment and have practiced with the full team, it is unclear how much of an impact they can make against Philly. Against the Crew, NY’s midfield looked spaced apart and couldn’t counter the way they did against SKC the previous week. Cahill would definitely bring a calming presence to the midfield and Sam brings that late game spark, running at defenders who are starting to feel the game wear on them. Is it worth it for Petke to include them tonight and risk a set back in their injury recovery when we are at the final 10 games of the season? The Red Bulls will be able to get forward a lot easier and will enjoy much more space at home and possession of the ball then they have over the last two weeks. This is where Steele and Alexander do their best work, having the fullbacks move ahead of them so they can cut inside with the space they have. On the defensive end, Cahill is normally a force defending set pieces or doing the dirty work breaking up plays; however in his two games as a central defensive midfielder for the Red Bulls of New York, Ibrahim Sekagya has done the work Cahill does defensively and pretty admirably for a newcomer to this league. I hope Petke is smart about his choice. Will Cahill play tonight, most likely 100% since it’s Tim Cahill who will play on one leg if he could convince the coach he could have a go. What remains to be seen is if he’ll start on the field or the bench.
As for the tactical part, the Red Bulls have to shut down Sebastian Le Toux’s service from the flanks. Le Toux has 12 assist’s on the season and is leading the league in that category ahead of Robbie Keane, who is on 9. While I said Alexander is going to have room to cut in and Barklage should be overlapping, they have to constantly be aware of Le Toux’s movement off the ball. After that, Holgersson and Olave have to do a better job of tracking Conor Casey who is 5th in the league in goals scored, with 9 tallies to his name. On all of Casey’s three goals against NY, Casey’s movements were sublime in losing his defender and beating them to the ball. While Casey and Le Toux will be NY’s primary foes, Jack Mac has the ability to be in the right place at the right time. He may have gone cold for a while now but he’s a striker and all he needs is an early goal to boost his and the Union’s game.
While most will say every MLS match counts, we are now coming down to the nitty gritty and one slip up of dropped points could be the difference between a world of things ranging from home field advantage to missing the playoffs all together. The Red Bulls and Union look to avoid those dropped points tonight at 8pm on NBC Sports.
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