Beating Red Bulls: Philadelphia Union 3-1 New York Red Bulls

Following Saturday's dismal let down against the Colorado Rapids, the Philadelphia Union responded in style with an exciting 3-1 win Wednesday night against New York Red Bulls.

• Conor Casey got the all-important first goal in the ninth minute. He received a pass from Andrew Wenger and made a fantastic run getting past two Red Bull defenders and slotted the ball perfectly past Luis Robles.
• Okugo did not start in the line-up due apparently to the naughty words he uttered to the officials following the collapse versus Colorado. In his place Brian Carroll was inserted in the midfield and the Union went with a 4-4-2 for the night with Andrew Wenger on the left, Sheanon Williams at right back, Ray Gaddis at left back, Maurice Edu back in central defense, and Vincent Nogueira back in the line-up.
• Nogueira is awesome. That is all.
• Of course the Union needed a win to keep up with the playoff race. They played a great game and rightfully left PPL Park with three more points in the standings.
• Remember that one night you were near someone famous but did not realize it until later? That was me tonight. I was about 25 to 30 feet away from Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers, and did not realize it until after I got home from the game and I saw a picture Giroux tweeted at the game. Well, I think I was that close. Maybe it was closer to 100 feet. He was either in my section or the one just to left of me and I do not have the photographic memory to recall what everyone in front of me was wearing. But there are ad board identification letter-number combos in the pictures. Next time I'm at PPL I will use those labels to solve this mystery once and for all.
• Cristian Maidana was taken off in the first half due to injury. Jim Curtin decided to replace him with Fred, who repaid him by scoring a second half goal. In just 60 minutes, Philadelphia Union Fred scored as many goals as Fluminense Fred of the Brazilian National Team did all World Cup. Union Fred > Fluminense Fred. That's just science.
• A New York Red Bulls goal scored by Bradley Wright-Phillips chopping the Union lead in half had Union fans worrying "here we go again." Several members of The Brotherly Game began to wonder not if the equalizer would come, but when. Luckily...
• Sebastien Le Toux converted an absolutely sublime PK. He placed it top shelf where Robles never had a chance of getting to it. To celebrate, he jumped into The River End and celebrated with the Sons of Ben.
• Eric Alexander's penalty to set up Le Toux's dagger came about thanks to the cunning play of Maurice Edu. Alexander pulled him down in response to Edu's intelligent run, and that response drew the attention of Baldomero Toledo. Extra attention is supposed to be paid to tugging on set pieces in the box this season, and Alexander got burned being too hands-on with Edu.
• Yawning will not be an option for the Union as they complete their set of three games in eight days with a trip to the Chicago for another extremely important Eastern Conference game. The Chicago Fire await, and three points will once again be a must for the Union.