Union II Face Rivals New York Red Bulls II in 2025 Home Opener at Subaru Park

The 2025 MLS Next Pro season is fully underway, and this week, Ryan Richter and his Union II side play in their home opener at Subaru Park against rivals New York Red Bulls II to close out game week 2 of the 2025 season.

Union II Season Opener Preview

Ryan Richter’s side started their 2025 season off with a goalless draw on the road to New England Revolution II. Many familiar faces returned for the 2025 season with one in particular performing at his usual, excellent standard, and that was Andrew Rick Jr. Rick saved a penalty in the final few minutes of the game to save a point and keep a clean sheet. The young keeper then saved another penalty in the extra point shootout but his teammates missed the next 2 penalties and Union II lost the extra point.

There were plenty of debuts and new faces around the Union II team last week, with the likes of Isaac LeFlore making his Union II debut, and Union’s 2024 MLS SuperDraft pick forward Stas Korzeniowski also made his debut. More debuts are set to take place on Monday evening as Ryan Richter will be without Frankie Westfield and Kellan LeBlanc both received international callups and the team recently announced the signing of defender Rafael Uzcategui from Colombian top league side Boyaca Chico FC.

Union II’s bitter rivals, NYRB II, will be traveling to Subaru Park after a solid 1-0 road win over Atlanta United 2. Midfielder Andy Rojas scored the only goal of the game in the second half, and NYRB II will be looking to get a good result against Philly as they face NYCFC II in the Hudson River Derby next week.

Union II, Union — Image Credit: Philadelphia Union II

These two sides have faced each other six times over the course of the league, with the record heavily in favor of Union II, with a 4-1-1 record. Last season, they faced each other three times, with the record being split 1-1-1. They played to a 1-1 draw in the first game of the three-game series, but Union II came out on top in the extra-point shootout, 4-3.

They then played in New York later in the same month, and Philly smashed their rivals 5-1. Braces by both David Vazquez and Markus Anderson, with the opening goal courtesy of Eddy Davis, secured all three points. The final meeting of these two sides last season saw NYRB II convincingly win 4-1 at Subaru Park in an extremely rare disappointing performance from Union II.

Ryan Richter will be looking to get his first win in his first home game as Union II head coach in this one. Tickets are available for the game on the Union II website, but if you can’t get down to Subaru Park on Monday evening for the 7 p.m. ET kickoff time, the game will be available to watch live on Apple TV via an active MLS Season Pass subscription.