The New York Red Bulls knew they had to take care of business on Wednesday night, and they did so with a tremendous performance that was worthy of a gigantic celebration with their fans. However, unfortunately for them, while dominating all the statistical categories in the match, they couldn't dominate the most important stat of them all & that was the scoreboard.
After 90 minutes were finished, the Red Bulls and Atlanta United ended their tussle with a scoreless draw and both sides are still alive inside their playoff positions. All match long you saw the Red Bulls attack, and defend strongly on both sides of the pitch. There were some great opportunities for the Red Bulls to convert but at the end of the day, they couldn't convert.
But they had great chances to do so, especially in the second half with Patryk Klimala getting a fantastic ball whipped in from the far side from Caden Clark. He was in a perfect position to smash it in, but he nails the crossbar, he also had a breakaway moments later, but sadly his shot was right at Guzan and made the save.
Clark also got into the act with a chance of his own. When John Tolkin ripped a long low ball towards the net, left a juicy rebound for Clark to pick it up and score, but it was wiped out for offside, as the ball was played and Clark tried to return to an onside position, his back foot was half a step off.
While this was a fantastic performance for the Red Bulls, they did it without Gerhard Struber who was suspended for tonight's match on yellow card accumulation. Apparently, he left his technical area three times this season to other argue an issue or celebrate a huge goal with his team at the death.
He left his area in Atlanta on June 27th, then the triple retake of the penalty at Stade Saputo in Montreal on August 14th Then their last match at Red Bull Arena when Fabio scored the late winner, against Montreal. That's why he was watching this match from the skybox.
"Yeah, I think big compliment for my boys and also for my coaching. They made today a great job. We dominated the game from the first second in all phases of the game. Transition, crossing, everything go correctly in this way, what we prepared the boys yesterday in the training with our match plan," said Struber. "And I think the play, the actions, yeah, the execution, in the end, was completely misdirection what we want in the end. I think we have to be critical with our self, especially how we handled in the moment, chances, this is in the end I think not enough. I think we have to win this game clear, especially when, look, now in the expected goal race, we dominated the game from chances and also from the expected goals, and this means we have to score."
Decision Day for Red Bulls
Now everything hangs on the final day of the regular season this coming Sunday on Decision Day in Nashville, Tennessee.
- Red Bulls Reunite Nealis Brothers - December 16, 2021
- John Wolyniec steps down as Red Bulls 2 head coach - December 10, 2021
- Red Bulls transfered and signed Carlos Coronel to three-year deal - December 6, 2021
