Philadelphia Union picked up right where they left off on Saturday night, extending their historic unbeaten run with a 2-1 victory over Real Salt Lake at Subaru Park.
The Boys in Blue returned from the international break in winning fashion, picking up right where they left off with another strong performance at Subaru Park. Bruno Damiani provided the breakthrough in the 31st minute, finding the back of the net to send Philadelphia into halftime with a 1-0 advantage. Cavan Sullivan was credited with the assist, bringing him to 20 goal contributions this season and tying Diego Fagúndez for the most by a teenager in a single MLS regular season.
The Union protected the narrow lead deep into the second half before a chaotic sequence doubled the advantage. Philadelphia broke forward on the counter and, after the ball ricocheted off Milan Iloski and crossed the line, the play went to a lengthy VAR review. Five minutes later, the referee confirmed the goal, sending Subaru Park into a frenzy.
Real Salt Lake pulled one back late in stoppage time to cut the deficit to 2-1, but the Union saw out the closing moments to extend their club-record unbeaten run to 13 consecutive MLS matches. The result also saw Interim Head Coach Ryan Richter officially set the MLS record for the longest unbeaten streak to begin a managerial career.
Philadelphia Union continues its busy slate of matches with a road trip to the Windy City for an Eastern Conference clash against the Chicago Fire FC on Wednesday, October 14th. Kick off is set for 8:30PM ET with coverage on Apple TV.
How The Match Unfolded
LINEUP NOTES
After a two-week pause for the latest FIFA international window, Philly resumed play against Western Conference side Real Salt Lake with what's become interim Head Coach Ryan Richter's first choice XI. He welcomed five starters, namely Cavan Sullivan, Neil Pierre, Frankie Westfield, Danley Jean Jacques, and Andre Blake, back to the Starting XI upon their returns from National team duty.
Blake resumed his role between the posts, protected by a backline featuring Westfield, Pierre, Nathan Harriel, and Kai Wagner.
After becoming the youngest-ever goalscorer for the US Men's National Team, Sullivan was back in the Union's midfield, with Danley, Jovan Lukic, and Indiana Vassilev.
Bruno Damiani and Milan Iloski again started up top as interim Head Coach Ryan Richter's attacking duo.
2', Yellow card | In his first match back from national team duty with Haiti, Danley was shown an early yellow for a foul against RSL's Morgan Guilavogui.
4' Blake save! | Sporting the captain's armband, Blake made an important stop, stifiling Stijn Spierings right footed shot from distance that was ultimately called offside.
13', RSL yellow | Deandre Yedlin was shown a yellow card for a foul on Vassiel in the 13th minute, giving Philly a free kick chance from the top left corner of the box. Iloski tried to send capitalize on the opportunity with a strike, but mishit the ball left.
23', Union yellow | After what fans in the stands believed was a missed call for Westfield during a drive in the box from the right, the 20-year-old Homegrown was shown a yellow himself for a physical foul against Kobi Henry.
28', Offside | Sergi Solans was caught offside in an RSL attempt to make it 1-0 in the 28th minute.
31', The Union take the lead! | Bruno Damiani made it 1-0 for the Boys in Blue at home the 31st minute finishing off a seven-pass right side build-up led by Westfield and Sullivan.
The goal marked Damiani's eighth since the team resumed play following the World Cup break.
With his assist tonight, Sullivan has tied New England Revolution's Diego Fagúndez for the most goal contributions by a teenager in a single MLS regular season with 20 total.
39', Philly nearly makes it two | Damiani nearly netted his second of the first half before the break with a headed flick inside the box floating just over the crossbar.
46', Substitutions | During the break the visitors made a pair of changes as Sam Junqua and DeAndre Yedlin were replaced by JuanMa Sanabria and Luc de Fougerolles.
52', RSL chance | Noel Caliskan found an opportunity to equalize, but his shot missed left.
62', RSL yellow | The visitors picked up another yellow, this time with the discipline shown to Dominik Marczuk.
64', Union change | Richter made his first sub of the night in the 62nd minute, sending on Quinn Sullivan to replace Vassilev.
65', RSL change | The visitors replaced Aiden Hezarkhani for Saba Lobjanidze.
69', Blake save! | Blake got a hand on a strong shot from Sergi Solans, spurring a well-deserved chant from the River End.
79', Final RSL change | The final substitution for the visitors came with 11 minutes left as Sergio Solans was replaced by Ariath Piol.
82', VAR check makes its 2-0 | With less than ten minutes left in the match, Philly launched a counter attack with a chaotic scene seeing the ball float across the line after crashing off of Iloski. After a five-minute review the referee send Subaru Park into a frenzy as he declared it a good goal for the Boys in Blue.
90+', Union subs | With seven minutes added to the end of the match, Richter made a triple sub with Ben Bender, Alejandro Bedoya and Malik Jakupovic replacing C. Sullivan, Iloski and Danley.
90+', RSL goal | The visitors avoided the shutout late in the match with Saba Lobjanidze finding the back of the net in added time.
