Union (4-2-3-1) 

Blake 

Fabinho-Marquez-Yaro-Rosenberry 

Creavalle-Barnetta

Pontius-Alberg-Ilsinho 

Le Toux 

Bench: McCarthy, Gaddis, Tribbett, Carroll, Missimo, Fernandes, Restrepo

Red Bulls (4-2-3-1) 

Meara 

Zizzo-Collin-Zubar-Lade 

McCarty-Davis 

Grella-Kljestan-Sam 

Wright-Phillips 

Bench: Robles, Bilyeu, Duvall, Felipe, Veron, Allen, Muyl

 - Fabian Herbers misses out with an undisclosed injury, so an already thin frontline looks even thinner. (CJ Sapong is still out with an ankle injury.) Sebastien Le Toux is drafted in to start, and there are no options behind him on the bench. Chris Pontius could conceivably start up there, but that’s not a great option.

- Besides that, changes are minimal. Warren Creavalle is in for Brian Carroll. Josh Yaro holds his spot in central defense. And red-hot Roland Alberg is still there looking to add on to his seven games in four games.

- The Red Bulls name a pretty solid team, save for Luis Robles getting a night off. Bradley Wright-Phillips is up top, and the bench still looks strong with Gonzalo Veron and Felipe on the bench. Mike Grella and Sasha Kljestan are in the center of midfield to create chances.

Sunday’s 3-0 win by the Philadelphia Union was one of those games where there seemed to be more going on than one or two stories could possibly encapsulate. So there’s Conor Casey’s obvious contributions to the win, and Zac MacMath’s view of a busy week. But here’s what’s left over from the remains of the games.



- We might as well get right into it: The Lloyd Sam red card that changed the game. John Hackworth deferred comment until he saw a replay. Sam did the same. Notorious friend of the refs Mike Petke called it “a coin flip”. And Danny Cruz was sure it was red. With that many different conclusions, it’s clear that it was a borderline red. In watching it over and over (check it out for yourself), I don’t even think it’s terribly clear who got to the ball first. The statement issued by the ref stated that it was a two-footed challenge by Sam, but the replay really shows that he simply had two feet near where Cruz slid into him. Awkward, it certainly was. Whether it was red-card-worthy malicious, I’m not so sure.

- Boy, was Thierry Henry angry and frustrated out there. His post-game comments don’t quite do justice to the handful of outbursts he had when passes weren’t played where they needed to be.
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