Sergio Santos saw his goal cancelled out by Omir Fernandez's emphatic strike as the Philadelphia Union drew 1-1 against NYRB at the Red Bull Arena.
Santos opened the scoring as Jamiro Monteiro's corner bounced into the six-yard box for the Brazilian forward to tap into an empty net.
Fernandez then levelled just short of the 40th minute as his fierce effort left Andre Blake with no chance of keeping it out.
Cristian Casseres had the first chance of the game in the opening minutes. He received the ball on the edge of the box and tried his luck. His right-footed shot flashed across the goal and just wide of the post, but Andre Blake did not seem troubled by it.
In the 8th minute, Jamiro Monteiro had the Union's first opportunity. The ball went out wide to Leon Flach, who cut the ball back into a fantastic position for Sergio Santos to attack. However, Santos missed the ball, and it eventually fell to Monteiro, who saw his effort take a slight deflection, as the ball flew out for a corner, which came to nothing.
In the 18th minute, Santos put the Union in front. Monteiro's corner towards the near post evaded everybody and eventually bounced into the path of Santos, who was in the centre of the six-yard box. The Brazilian forward essentially had an open goal and was able to prod home with ease.
Dru Yearwood came inches away from finding an equaliser in spectacular fashion. He shot from the edge of the box with a side-footed effort which went across the goal. It had the power to beat Blake, who was stood helplessly, but it had too much height as it flew just over and wide of the target.
Omir Fernandez levelled for the hosts in the 38th minute. He did well to control the ball inside the box before swivelling and blasting his shot into the back of the net, giving Blake no chance of saving it.
HALF-TIME: NYRB 1-1 Philadelphia Union
In the 64th minute, Blake made the first save of note in the second half as a shot from distance was straight at him. He was able to get down to it comfortably as he got his body behind the ball.
John Tolkin had a speculative effort go over the crossbar in the 70th minute. He received the ball 35 yards from goal and decided to try his luck. However, the shot had too much height on it and flew over the goal.
The Union had the ball in the back of the net just after the 70th minute, but the offside flag killed off any chances of it being a goal. Santos ran onto a flick-on beyond the NYRB defence before sliding it across to Kacper Przybylko. Przybylko played it back to Santos to slot into an empty net, but as he did that, the offside flag was raised. The Brazilian forward was judged to have made his run too early. It did go to VAR, and although it was a tight call, they stuck with the initial decision.
FULL-TIME: NYRB 1-1 Philadelphia Union
New York Red Bulls: Carlos, Gutman, Nealis, Duncan, Reyes, Yearwood (Royer 74'), Davis, Tolkin (Edwards 88'), Casseres (Carmona 46'), Fernandez (Barlow 58'), Kimala (Amaya 74')
Unused Substitutes: Harper, Meara, Clark, Diarra
Philadelphia Union: Blake, Mbaizo, Elliott, Glesnes, Wagner, Martinez, Bedoya (Aaronson 74'), Flach, Monteiro, Przybylko, Santos (Gazdag 74')
Unused Substitutes: Freese, Powell, Findlay, Bueno, McGlynn, Sullivan, Davo
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