A rare Dylan Nealis goal broke a scoreless deadlock with just over 15 minutes to go as the New York Red Bulls defeated the visiting Philadelphia Union 1-0 Saturday night in Harrison, N.J.
The Red Bulls (11-10-6, 39 points), who lost to the Union 3-2 in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal in Chester, Pa. on Wednesday, not only won their second straight match in MLS play but snapped a 16-match winless streak against Philadelphia across all competitions.
The Union (15-6-6, 51 points) saw a five-match MLS unbeaten streak (3-0-2) come to an end, their last loss in league action coming to Nashville SC on July 5.
Nealis’ goal came in the 74th minute as Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting’s pass to the right side of the pitch found the run of the Red Bulls defender. Despite a bad angle, Nealis fired a right-footed shot that beat a sprawling Andrew Rick at the far post to make it 1-0. It was just his third goal across all competitions dating back to 2020.
That came not long after Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel came up with a key penalty save in the 65th minute to keep the match scoreless.
After the Union were awarded a penalty after Tim Parker was called for a handball inside the box, Bruno Damiani’s kick from the spot was stopped rather easily by Coronel.
It was the only save he needed to make all evening as that, plus Nealis’s match-winner almost 10 minutes later, helped the Red Bulls end a lengthy winless streak against their Northeastern rivals. Their previous win against the Union came on September 19, 2019.
Coronel kept his eighth clean sheet of the season for the Red Bulls, who joined Charlotte FC as the only MLS teams with 10 home wins.
Rick, the Union’s backup goalkeeper, entered the match in the 28th minute for starter Andre Blake, who left with an apparent right leg injury.
–Field Level Media
