Bradley Wright-Phillips scored twice late in the second-half to “power” New York Red Bulls past 10 men Philadelphia Union 2-0 last Sunday. Philadelphia Union went down to 10 men in the fifty-third minute when Derrick Jones has apparently issued a red card for an aggressive tackle, and despite plenty of fight in the final thirty-seven minutes, it wasn't to be for the Union.
Elsewhere, in the league, LA Galaxy used stoppage time goal from Romain Alessandrini to force Houston Dynamo to a 2-2 draw and extended its unbeaten run to seven games. Here's a complete roundup of last weekend's MLS matches and how they actually went down.
Philadelphia Union 0, New York Red Bulls 2
The best chances of the first-half came toward the last minutes, with the first coming from Red Bulls midfielder Alex Muyl in the thirty-eight minutes. Alex Muyl attempted to slam a shot through at Union goalkeeper Andre Blake, but the Jamaican international was there for the kick save. The host best chances came in the last minutes of the first half as well, when Chris Pontius' bullet header went over the crossbar. Afterward, the encounter apparently changed unexpectedly in the fifty-third minute, when Union defender Derrick Jones “needlessly” went into a dangerous tackle and was issued a red card for the challenge. The Red Bulls then took full advantage of the Union's deficit by piling up pressures and apparently created several goal threat chances.
Later in the eighty-seventh minute, the Red Bulls finally broke the deadlock thanks to a Bradley Wright-Phillips' fine finish to put the visitors ahead. Just seconds into the stoppage time, Bradley Wright-Phillips scored once again, as he tapped home an open chance inside the penalty box to seal the victory for the Red Bulls.
New York Red Bulls and Philadelphia Union will renew hostilities when they slog it out in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup fifth-round tie on Wednesday 27 June at the Red Bulls Arena.
LA Galaxy 2, Houston Dynamo 2
Houston Dynamo took hold of the encounter in the twenty-second minute, as Mauro Manotas apparently took advantage of a rebound to place the ball past Galaxy goalkeeper Clement Diop to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Later in the thirty-fifth minute, the hosts leveled up the scoreline when Emmanuel Boateng latched on to a Romain Alessandrini's through ball and rounded up Dynamo goalie Tyler Deric before tapping into an open net. Afterward, there wasn't much to write home about the second-half until Dynamo attacking midfielder Elis “surged” down the right flank of the field in the seventy-fourth minute and beat Clement Diop to put the visitors ahead once again.
Just six minutes into the stoppage time, Romain Alessandrini found the equalizer for Galaxy to tie up the score. However, Alessandrini's ninety-fourth-minute equalizer carried a ton of controversy, as he appeared to be clearly offside at the time Galaxy winger Bradford Jamieson played his ball in from the right wing, but to the dismay of the visiting Dynamo, the officials called the goal good and the game eventually ended 2-2 at full-time.
