Red Bulls poor performance gives them first loss at Audi Field

New York Red Bulls, Professional, Soccer

July 26, 2021

It took the New York Red Bulls fifth visit to Audi Field to earn their first loss in our Nation's Capital as the club fell to DC United by a final of a goal to nil. It was one play that ended that streak in the brand new home of DC United, but it also ended a six-match unbeaten streak that lasted all the way to the final two seasons of their time at RFK Stadium.

A poor decision by Kyle Duncan to loop a ball from the far side to the near as he saw a wide-open Amro Tarek waiting for that long pass, but so was Julian Gressel, as he found a way to sneak in and strip the ball away from Amro Tarek, and made his attacking run. Trailing the play was Ola Kamara, and when Gressel got to the Red Bulls area, he crossed the ball and Kamara converted the only goal of the match in the 27th minute.

"Yeah, first off it’s a disappointing loss, and there’s no excuses. It wasn’t good enough tonight, and especially losing to DC is never okay. It’s important to have perspective. I think when we look back at the last three or four games, we had a good result against Orlando, and then games that didn’t feel great but still there were some positives, and then tonight it’s just disappointing and not good enough." said Sean Davis, "It’s important to not get too down about that and I think we’re all going to be disappointed and angry, and it shouldn’t be any different. I think playing New England is great for us. It’s a great opportunity for us to bounce back especially being at home where we haven’t been in a while.

"It’ll be important for us to bounce back and have a strong performance, but what other team would you rather play after a disappointing loss against DC than the best team in the league. I think we’re all going to need to reflect and look at the game tape and be honest with ourselves, but there’s a great opportunity on the weekend to turn the page."

All match long the Red Bulls were trying to earn that equalizing goal, but all they found were poor passes that couldn't connect in the final third, and they were met with a solid Bill Hamid, who made a few strong saves to prevent the match from slipping through their fingers. While there were plenty of injuries from DC's side, Tom Edwards was forced to leave the pitch with an injury of his own and the lone center back who was still able to perform was on an island all by himself.

After the match was over, a very disappointed and exhausted Gerhart Struber talked with the media about how sad the performance was, as the club couldn't get the result that they wanted against DC United. You could see the expression on Struber's face on how sad he was after those 90 minutes were played on Sunday night.

"My whole staff and my team, we expected a tough game, but in the end that we find also in our personal battles, better moments, but I cannot feel that we are ready from the mental side sometimes. Also, we were not sharp enough in transitions to find the right player to come in the end zone with clear passes, and also our build-up strategy today, I think was difficult." said Struber, "I think D.C. [United] makes a very good deep block and it was not easy to find a window, but we have not always the patience for the right combinations and for recycling the game from one to the other side that the opponent has more to move and we find more windows. We were too quick in the second zone and sometimes was like a game against the wall and we do not understand to find good switches at the right moment.

"Yeah, this was a little bit better in the second half, but in the end, we create not the chances that we want. We did not have the right forward running at the right time. We were not ready enough to pick up points today, this is in the end, the answer. It is a bad feeling, we expect more, and right now, yeah, we lose this game, and I cannot say we deserve more."

Red Bulls Will Look To Get Back On Track

For Struber, it means that his side needs to return to the training ground and find a way to get his team back on track. They need to get back and find a way to push themselves and earn the three points again at home and hopefully on the road. This terrible performance needs to be corrected and that will be this coming weekend as the New England Revolution comes to town.