The visitors looked like they had stolen three points but Philadelphia Union fought back to claim a big 1-1 result in their highly anticipated rematch against the New England Revolution.
Kacper Przybylko’s late equalizer was his first MLS goal of 2021, and it canceled out a Teal Bunbury strike to push Philly’s unbeaten streak to three matches across all competitions.
The sixth minute saw the first action as Przybylko was bundled over at the top of the six yard box. The tackle touched none of the ball but the whistle never blew as Przybylko and the Subaru Park faithful were left confounded.
The first half was a grinder as neither team found enough space to play the right final ball. Both Jamiro Monteiro and Carles Gil flitted around looking for gaps but found them difficult to uncover.
The excitement level rose when Sergio Santos forced a turnover in the Revs backline and raced after the loose ball, only to lose out to an alert Matt Turner. Moments later Przybylko tipped a pass to Alejandro Bedoya. With the Revs defense retreating, the captain passed centrally to Monteiro but Turner stood tall.
The midfield began to open up and Przybylko was bumped from behind in the box. Once again, the big striker’s pleas went unanswered and Adam Buksa nearly capitalized at the other end
End to end action saw three big chances as Przybylko again was taken down in the box and the Revs countered as Andrew Buksa found space at the edge of the box to turn and strike. Making his 150th MLS start, reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Andre Blake once made the difficult save look easy to keep things scoreless.
The big save injected even more energy into the Boys in Blue. Olivier Mbaizo rocketed a volley to the near post for Santos to flick at goal. The Brazilian put a boot out to redirect the ball on frame but Turner was in position to block the shot away.
Both sides turned to their deep benches to break the deadlock as the action ramped up early in the second half. Revs killer Anthony Fontana entered in the 57th minute and immediately put his foot through a shot that was blocked away. Jack Elliott had the next look at goal but his lefty strike from deep fizzed over the goal.
New England thought they had a smash-and-grab win on their hands when Teal Bunbury slid while shooting and hooked the ball inside Blake’s near post.
Undaunted, Philly sought an immediate answer. Kai Wagner flicked a long ball to the corner flag and Monteiro found an extra gear to track it down. Creating space, he floated a cross into the six yard box and Przybylko fearlessly rose to challenge first Turner, then two additional defenders in the air. On his second leap, Przybylko nodded the ball through traffic and into the goal.
Philly’s frenetic start to the season continues against the rival New York Red Bulls. at Subaru Park on Saturday, May 15th. Kick off is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on PHL17.
