New York City beats Philadelphia, hands Union 4th straight home loss
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CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Alonso Martínez scored early and Hannes Wolf scored his first career goal late in the first half to spark New York City FC to a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia on Wednesday night, handing the Union a fourth straight loss at home for the first time in club history.
The Union (3-4-5), who were the last unbeaten team through seven matches this season, have surrendered the first goal in six of their last seven matches and yielded multiple goals in five straight.
New York City (6-5-2) jumped in front in the 2nd minute when Martínez, making just his fourth start and 11th appearance over the past two seasons, used assists from Santiago Rodríguez and Andrés Perea to score his third goal of the season. It was the third assist for Rodríguez, who has already matched his career high with five goals this season. Perea, who made one start and eight appearances for the Union last season, notched his first assist after scoring his first goal for NYCFC last week in a 3-2 victory over Toronto.
New York City took a 2-0 lead into halftime on a nifty goal by Wolf, who drilled a left-footed shot to the top left corner of the net off a free kick in the second minute of stoppage time.
Philadelphia quickly pulled within a goal in the second half when Julián Carranza scored in the 47th minute. Jack McGlynn picked up assist on Carranza's fifth netter of the campaign and his first in the last five matches.
Matt Freese had four saves in goal for New York City. Rookie Oliver Semmle saved five shots in his eighth start for Philadelphia in place of the injured Andre Blake.
The match was interrupted in the first half after a raccoon made its way onto the field. The critter eluded the grounds crew for several minutes before being trapped with a garbage can and safely removed.
New York City returns home to play the New York Red Bulls on Saturday. Philadelphia travels to play the New England Revolution on Saturday.
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