Union maintain mastery of the Red Bulls with 2-0 victory

Indiana Vassilev and Bruno Damiani each scored first-half goals for the Philadelphia Union, who defeated the visiting New York Red Bulls 2-0 on Saturday night in Chester, Pa.

Tai Baribo and Quinn Sullivan recorded an assist apiece for the Union (13-5-4, 43 points), who snapped a two-match losing streak while extending their unbeaten streak vs. the Red Bulls to 14 matches (10-0-4), a stretch dating back to 2019.

New York (8-8-6, 30 points) is now winless in its last five matches (0-3-2).

The Union, originally scheduled to host the Red Bulls on July 9 in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal before the match was postponed due to severe weather, got off to a quick start inside of 10 minutes thanks to Vassilev.

A Kai Wagner corner kick deflected off a New York player and was cleared off the goal line by Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel, but Vassilev knocked in the loose ball to make it 1-0 in the ninth minute. It was his second goal of the season.

Damiani made it 2-0 in the 24th minute thanks to solid buildup play by the Union. After Sullivan took a pass from Baribo and played Damiani ahead with a precise touch, Damiani struck it past Coronel at the far post for his fourth goal of the season.

That was all the scoring the Union would need for the evening as the Red Bulls failed to register much in the way of a threatening attack. Just one of their seven shots was on goal as Union goalkeeper Andre Blake kept his sixth clean sheet of the season.

Philadelphia improved to 7-1-3 at home with the win. New York dropped to 1-7-4 on the road, their lone victory this season away from Red Bull Arena coming on May 24 against D.C. United (2-0).

Coronel ended the night with three saves for the Red Bulls.

--Field Level Media