Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

The New York Red Bulls saw the return of Tim Cahill and Thierry Henry to their lineup but they were unable to take advantage with the Philadelphia Union in town.

With a chance to take control of the Eastern Conference, the Red Bulls and Union played to a scoreless draw on Saturday evening at Red Bull Arena, keeping the two sides in the top four of the conference but not in control of first place.

Despite holding onto the ball for 63 percent of the time, the Red Bulls couldn’t manufacture many goal scoring opportunities. Ibrahim Sekagya made a rare start, moving teammate Markus Holgersson over to right back, while the wingers for the Red Bulls, Johnny Steele and Eric Alexander, weren’t on their best form.

At the same time, the Union saw an eight straight game for Jack McInerney without a goal, and he had a few chances that he couldn’t put on target, either slicing wide or choosing to pass to a teammate.

Both goalkeepers were the stars for their team, making three saves each, including a couple of real chances.

With the Red Bulls pressing for a game-winning goal late, space opened up on the counter attack that the Union nearly took advantage of. Union forwards Antoine Hoppenot and Conor Casey each had chances on goal in the last ten minutes that Red Bulls stopper Luis Robles had to keep out, while Union goalkeeper Zac MacMath stoned a stoppage-time header on the line from Brandon Barklage.

The best chance of the match came in the 73rd minute as the Union’s Sebastien Le Toux hit the crossbar on a long-range shot.

Here are the match highlights: