The Philadelphia Union battled back from a rough first half and a two-goal deficit to earn a tie with New York Red Bulls, 2-2, in front of a sellout crowd at Talen Energy Stadium.

Philadelphia Union struggle with New York Red Bull's press

From the first minute on, New York pressed hard on the Union backline, causing poor distributions and an uneven composure. The press nearly paid off in the 17th minute, when Mike Grella harried Ken Tribbett and forced a turnover right outside the box. However, Tribbett did well to rebound on the play and slide the ball out of danger for a corner kick.

Things turned chippy early on in the first half when, in the 19h minute, Grella looked to have body slammed Tranquillo Barnetta to the ground after being fouled by the Swiss midfielder. Despite being after the play and unnecessary, Grella received only a talking to and escaped without a yellow card.

Less than ten minutes later, a pressing Grella, joined by Bradley Wright-Phillips, again caused another turnover by Tribbett in front of net. In the 27th minute, the Red Bulls made sure to take advantage of the mistake this time as Wright-Phillips found Sacha Klejstan wide-open on the other side of the box for the easy goal and 1-0 New York lead.

Sacha Klejstan scores a first-half brace against Union

In control of much of the play, New York would double their right before the halftime whistle. In the 44th minute, Klejstan stood over a free kick 25 yards out from the Union net. After multiple Red Bulls players stepped over the ball to create confusion, the 2016 MLS All-Star struck the free kick, which happened to deflect off Barnetta’s back and past a frozen Blake for the 2-0 lead.

Fabian Herbers changes second half narrative

The second half open fairly similar to the first as the Red Bulls looked to continue to press high and cause havoc in the Union’s defensive half.

However, the narrative of an easy Red Bulls win was thrown for a loop in the 64th minute when Union forward Fabian Herbers entered the match. The rookie came into the game as tactically playing right below CJ Sapong.

“I saw that they were pressing very high and that we needed runs in behind and I was trying to do that. “ the rookie forward said post game. …I tried to get some energy into the game and make the defense chase us. I think that worked pretty well today.”

Less than a minute after Herbers came into the game, a suddenly alert Union team began to create chances and was awarded a golden opportunity to get back into the game when Red Bulls fullback Sal Zizzo pulled down Chris Pontius in the box. In the 67th minute, Sapong calmly stepped up to the penalty spot and hammered home the chance to cut the Red Bull lead in half.

Herbers would get on the stat sheet just a minute later when Keegan Rosenberry sent him behind the Red Bulls’ backline on the right flank. The former Creighton BlueJay took the back to the end line and sent a low cross into the box. The ball skirted past an outstretch Sapong on the near post, but, at the back post, Pontius was there to collect the easy tap-in goal to level the score at two.

Down a man, Union still nearly snatch all three points

The Union’s attempts at collecting all three points were thrown for a loop when Ilsinho was ejected for striking Connor Lade with a flailing arm in the 72nd minute. Despite being up a man, Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch felt his team could not withstand the pressure coming from the Union attack in the last 20 minutes.

“I had to go to five in the back when we were up a man and I didn’t feel like we could defend,” Marsch said in his postgame press conference. “..That was the only way to manage the game tactically so that we could somehow stop giving away big chances and even with that being said, we almost gave it away still.”

Philadelphia would knock at the doorstep a t few more times in the last 15 to 20 minutes, but referee Alan Kelly would blow his whistle after three minutes of stoppage time with the score still level at two.

Where do both teams go from here?

Both teams face tough weeks ahead. Philadelphia will first head to Boston to take on New England Revolution in the Lamar Hunt United States Open Cup Quarterfinals on Wednesday. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM EST. Then, the Blue and Gold will head further north to take on Montreal Impact on Saturday. Kickoff for Saturday’s match is 7:30 PM EST.

New York will only play one game next week, but it will be against New York City rival, NYCFC. Kickoff for the New York Derby is at 1 PM EST.