The New York Red Bulls took the field on Sunday, July 25 in Washington D.C. just one point ahead of their opponent, D.C. United in the MLS Eastern Conference Standings, but they would fall behind them after this one.
Caden Clark is tied with Fabio and Patryk Klimala for the team-lead in goals this year with four. The 18-year-old who will be transferred to Bundesliga side RB Leipzig next season, missed four games after having to go through an appendectomy in late June. Yesterday, Clark made his first start since June 23.
First Half Events
Both teams came out flying in the first 20 minutes. There were some high-speed challenges going on in the midfield and Caden Clark dispossessed D.C. United players a few times.
In the 26th minute, D.C. United scored first. Red Bulls center-back Amro Tarek was given a pass going backwards, in the Red Bulls defensive half. Tarek tried to poke the ball forward but it was blocked by D.C. United midfielder, Julian Gressel.
Gressel took over possession and was out on a break into the Red Bulls' 18-yard-box. He made an accurate cross to Ola Kamara, who tapped the ball through the legs of Red Bulls goalkeeper, Carlos Colonel and put the home team in front 1-0.
The goal was due to a costly turnover by the Red Bulls backline and D.C. United's offense seizing the opportunity. Giving up a goal so easily against a division rival in their barn is never a good idea and the Red Bulls would rue conceding early in this one.
Second Half
In the 53rd minute, the Red Bulls nearly struck gold. Right-back, Kyle Duncan dribbled forward in the attacking third, but had the ball swept cleared away from him.
The ball fell to the Red Bulls' captain and defensive midfielder Sean Davis. He made a great pass to Christian Casseres Jr. who made a run up to the edge of the D.C. United 18-yard box.
Casseres shifted quickly onto his left-foot and falling down, unleashed an accurate shot. The Venezuelan's effort was saved by a diving D.C. keeper, Bill Hamid.
— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) July 26, 2021
Discipline, Boys...
Between both teams, seven Yellow Cards were shown by the referee. The Red Bulls unfortunately had to play more aggressively after going down early. To D.C. United's credit, Julian Gressel hustled to create the turnover that led to his team's only goal of the match and after that, the home side locked it down defensively and limited the Red Bulls to not one quality scoring chance.
Red Bulls manager, Gerhard Struber made three substitutes for New York, which included Amaya on for Dru Yearwood, who played a phenomenal game. Yearwood showed more energy than any of his teammates and looked dynamic while dribbling through the midfield.
Caden Clark left the game in the 71st minute, and was replaced by Wikelman Carmona. Tom Edwards had to be subbed off in the 80th minute, due to a very noticeable injury. He was replaced by Omir Fernandez, who slotted into the midfield and the Red Bulls apparently just went with three defenders for the rest of the game. Even though they were pushing for the equalizer, D.C United really did a good job of defending and breaking up Red Bull plays.
The team stats showed that New York Red Bulls had a 60%-40% edge in possession. Amazingly, there were only three shots-on-goal, altogether, the Red Bulls had just one on four attempts. D.C. United scored their goal because of a Red Bulls turnover and their shot was one-on-one with the Red Bulls goalkeeper.
Postgame Comment from the Captain
This was a tough loss for the New York Red Bulls and the team's captain, Sean Davis, always answers the media's questions after every game, win or loss. That was no different after his team dropped a heartbreaker for the fans against D.C. United, so Davis described what led to this result.
"We didn't create enough good looks on goal and that speaks about our overall team performance. It's important for our team to assess this honestly and move forward, because it's a long season, you can't get too high, you can't get too low and we want a lot of [our rookies] to learn how to move on from a tough loss and get ready for the next game." - Sean Davis
The Red Bulls next opponent will be the best team in Major League Soccer (MLS), the New England Revolution. Struber's men have lost their previous two meetings with Arena's group, but narrowed the scoreline from 3-1 to 3-2 the last time.
While the Red Bulls lost the first meeting with their historically closest rivals, D.C. United, they have put together a solid last five games. The Red Bulls have earned one point from last four matches going back to June 27.
Struber will undoubtedly have his team ready to put their best foot forward against a team that they want to avoid being dominated by this season. The Red Bulls next game will kick off on Saturday July 31 at 6:00 PM.
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