It was another rough night for Philly when NYCFC came to town. After the previous weeks win over Atlanta United in the Champions League hopes were high that the Union were ready to explode back on the scene with this new found success. However, with the second leg of their CCL schedule taking place three days after this match the Union decided to rest the majority of their starters. This decision was unfortunately immediately evident in the lack of quality in their play.

The game would begin with a decent split of possession. Neither team had real chances with the exception of an early shot on goal for NYCFC. However, as time progressed the chances would begin to dwindle for the Union and expand ten fold for New York. After New York would score their first goal tensions began to boil over for the Union. This physicality came to a boiling point when Union midfielder Jose Martinez committed an egregious thrown elbow in a complete lack of thought. Originally being given as a yellow this turned to a straight red shortly after a VAR review. This left the Union a goal and a man down for the remaining 74 or so minutes. From here stagnation would be the name of the game.

The second half would kick off with the Union still holding off on subs even with their lack of production on the field with the man down. Andre Blake once again showed why he was goalkeeper of the year with save after save to keep the Union just one goal down. Later into the second half Jim Curtin would finally sub on the starting players for the regular Union lineup. This would make an immediate impact giving the Union much more power in the attack giving a much needed boost to their attack producing a chance or two for the team. However, a horrible miscommunication would lead to Glesnes later chesting a ball that he believed Blake would claim only to have it immediately scooped up and placed at the feet of Castellanos who calmly dribbled around Blake and put it away on an empty net.

The match would chug along slowly aside from this with neither side looking to really do too much. With relatively no real shots on goal for either team the match would end with NYCFC taking all three points and the Union remaining winless in the 2021 MLS season.

[Photos by ICONIC photographer Trey Madara]