05 May 2010

Philadelpha Falls in Open Cup and Loses Le Toux.

The seeds of a Philadelphia Union-New York Red Bull rivalry were actually planted long before the two teams first met this past Saturday thanks in part to the Union Supporters group, Son’s Of Ben.

You see the SOB’s have long made it a point to torment Red Bull fans with chants of "We've won as many championships as you have," and for those of you keeping count, that’s zero championships for NY in 15 years.

The Bens would actually book passage to Red Bulls games just to establish themselves as an up and coming supporters group and wanted to remind NY fans that they were here to stay. 

That may be the case, but on the field, the Red Bulls have jumped on the early advantage, beating the Union 2-1 in league play over the weekend and by the same score again tonight in the Lamar Hunt Open Cup Play in game.

New York, playing most of their younger players, carried the play of game in the first half and opened the scoring in the 16th minute, when Union goal keeper Chris Seitz failed to secure a Brian Neilson shot that eventually ended up on the boot of rookie Connor Chinn and into the back of the Philadelphia net.

Then in the 41st minute it was Chinn again, this time finishing off a nicely placed cross from Luke Sassano, with a header past Seitz. 

It wasn’t until the 68th minute that Philadelphia was able to pull one back and guess who, that’s right Le Toux.  

The Union’s leading goal scorer actually started the game on the bench, but came on in the second half as the fourth and final sub, per Open Cup rules.  

Le Toux’s goal may have cut Red Bulls lead to one, but in the end it turned out to be a costly sub for Philadelphia, as Sebastien would be stretched off the field with a lower body injury in the 82nd minute.  

I am sure an MRI is forthcoming for Le Toux, and hopefully the results will prove nothing too serious. Despite playing a man down for the remaining eight minutes plus, the Union did their part to keep New York off the board for the remainder of the game.  

Tonight’s loss, by the way, eliminates the Union from the Open Cup tournament as they now set their sights on a two game road trip that begins this Saturday in L.A. against the Galaxy and finish the following Saturday at Real Salt Lake.  

NY-Chinn-(16th minute)
NY-Chinn-(41st minute)
PHI-Le Toux-(68th minute)

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