New York Red Bulls vs. Philadelphia Union | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

New York Red Bulls vs. Philadelphia Union
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 13
Red Bull Arena — Harrison
May 26 - 7 pm ET
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It is another turnpike tussle as a confident Philadelphia Union squad, fresh off an impressive 4-1 drubbing of Real Salt Lake, face arguably the best team in MLS at the moment, as the New York Red Bulls handed Atlanta United a 3-1 home loss Sunday night for their fourth win in a row.

New York have only lost once in 10 regular season home games against the Union (7W-2D), though the Union did get a 0-0 draw on their last visit (September 17, 2017).

New York Red Bulls

Jesse Marsch promised a heavyweight showdown Sunday night and the clash between the Five Stripes and the Red Bulls lived up to the billing and then some.

After falling behind following an Ezequiel Barco goal and having a Josef Martinez tally called back on Video Review, Danny Royer leveled for the Red Bulls (7-3-0) from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute. Bradley Wright-Phillips, who drew the PK, then struck for a brace four minutes apart in the second half in a wild, emotional affair that also saw Kemar Lawrence leave the field on a stretcher after what appeared to be a scary head injury and Tyler Adams leave with swelling in his right knee.

But Marsch said both players are good to go and both are possible inclusions for a Red Bulls team riding a four-match winning streak into Saturday night.

“Kemar’s good,” Marsch said after training Wednesday. “He’s done a ton of testing, which is one of the reasons they gave him off [today] because they treated him like a lab rat for two days just to make sure everything is ok, but everything is great. He’ll be in training full tomorrow and he should be ready for the weekend.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: D - Fidel Escobar, M - Derrick Etienne Jr
Injury Report: OUT: D - Kyle Duncan (torn right ACL), GK - Luis Robles (knee injury); QUESTIONABLE: M - Marc Rzatkowski (calf injury), D - Kemar Lawrence (head injury), M - Tyler Adams (knee)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Ryan Meara — Michael Murillo, Aaron Long, Tim Parker, Connor Lade — Sean Davis, Tyler Adams — Florian Valot, Kaku, Danny Royer — Bradley Wright-Phillips

Notes: Kaku’s two assists last weekend means he enters the weekend leading the league with nine. No other player in MLS has more than six assists. … New York have only lost once in their last 13 MLS games at Red Bull Arena (8W-4D) and are outscoring their opponents 34-9 along the way.

Philadelphia Union

For the first time this season, the Union (4-5-2) have strung together consecutive wins, following a 2-0 win over the Montreal Impact with a 4-1 hammering of RSL Saturday night at Talen Energy Stadium.

Marcus Epps and Borek Dockal gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead and Ilsinho and Keegan Rosenberry struck in the final 16 minutes to close out an impressive victory.

“I thought a very strong performance from the group,” Jim Curtin said after the match. “We talked a lot about if we did not back up a good performance in Montreal with another one it would be meaningless. Credit to the players. They deserve all the credit. I thought the energy that was put in made Salt Lake uncomfortable.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Richie Marquez (sports hernia surgery), D - Joshua Yaro (concussion)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3–1, right to left)
GK: Andre Blake — Keegan Rosenberry, Mark McKenzie, Auston Trusty, Raymon Gaddis — Haris Medunjanin, Alejandro Bedoya — Marcus Epps, Borek Dockal, Fafa Picault — C.J. Sapong

Notes: Rosenberry’s goal last weekend was his first in his last 34 league appearances, and his third in his 60 regular season appearances. … Philadelphia’s 2-0 win over Montreal on May 12 snapped a franchise-record 16-game road regular season winless streak (12L-4D).

All-Time Series

Overall: New York Red Bulls 12 wins, 35 goals … Philadelphia Union 6 wins, 27 goals … 4 ties
At New York: Red Bulls 7 wins, 16 goals … Union 1 win, 8 goals … 2 ties
Last meeting at New York: New York Red Bulls 0, Philadelphia Union 0 (Sept. 17, 2017)