The New York Red Bulls went to Talen Energy Stadium expecting a fight from a Philadelphia Union team that had carried a long winless streak into 2017 and kept it going through its first eight games of the new season.
And while RBNY held its own and generated several scoring chances, the team paid a heavy price for not putting the game away when the opportunity was there. In the final 15 minutes, C.J. Sapong bagged a hat-trick to deliver the Union’s first three-point haul since last August.
It got started in the 74th minute: Aaron Long flubbed a clearance and set Sapong running at the back-line; Long recovered sufficiently to get in front of the shot, but it deflected past Luis Robles.