The Sons of Bens would say that “we all hate Red Bull,” and that’s mostly true. It’s a New York team, so they are intrinsically disliked.

That’s who comes to town next Saturday for the opening round of the MLS Cup playoffs. It’s the #2 seed, your Philadelphia Union, against the #7 Red Bulls, and this season the Union played New York three times, ripping off a home win and two road draws.

The games were pretty damn ugly, if we’re being honest. You’ve got a high-pressing New York team that likes to junk up the game. And a defensively-sound Union team that doesn’t carve out a lot of meaningful attacking chances. It’s no surprise that we only got five goals in three games, and I reviewed them in this Twitter thread, to jog your memory:

We also broke it down in an audio format, on the latest IASIP, with Mark Fishkin of the Seeing Red podcast.

It’s Episode #138 – “A Grudging Respect?”