Mikael Uhre and Tai Baribo scored 10 minutes apart in the first half as the visiting Philadelphia Union raced out to a quick start and beat the New York Red Bulls 2-0 Saturday night in Harrison, N.J.
The Union (7-11-9, 30 points) have won three of their past four MLS matches after enduring an 0-6-4 skid from May 25 to July 13. Philadelphia also improved to 4-0-2 in its past six visits to the Red Bulls and 9-0-4 in the past 13 matches vs. New York.
New York (10-5-12, 42 points) became the last team to lose a home game after starting 7-0-5 at home this season. The Red Bulls also saw a nine-game unbeaten streak stopped (2-0-7).
Uhre opened the scoring in the fourth minute when he caught New York’s defense sagging off him. After getting a feed from Jack McGlynn, Uhre cut to the right of Kyle Duncan and got past Sean Nealis to blast a right-footed shot from about 22 yards out into the bottom left corner.
After scoring his 10th goal, Uhre set up Baribo’s seventh in a sequence that included 13 passes.
Baribo capitalized on four defenders backing off and sent a right-footed shot from above the central part of the box inside the right box past the diving try of goalie Carlos Coronel. After allowing the goal, Coronel slammed his hand on the field in frustration.
Philadelphia goalie Andre Blake made four saves for his second shutout of the season as New York took 21 shots but had six shots blocked and constantly missed the net. Coronel made four saves as Philadelphia finished with 11 shots.
Following the two goals, Blake denied Elias Manoel and Duncan in rapid succession in the 18th minute. Nine minutes later, New York missed another scoring chance when Lewis Morgan’s right-footed try hooked right.
New York continued to miss chances at scoring in the second half. Morgan hit the crossbar in the opening minute of the half, Manoel hit the post in the 60th and Dylan Nealis missed the net on a header three minutes later.
Manoel hit the crossbar again in the 70th, a minute after Coronel denied Uhre, and in the 75th Morgan saw a shot sail to the left. New York finally got a shot on goal in the 86th, but Blake easily stopped Manoel’s attempt from the left side.
–Field Level Media
