Red Bulls Return to Winning Ways, beat New England Revolution 1-0

(Photo by Catalina Fragoso – Double G Media)

Back from another difficult away trip, the New York Red Bulls hosted the struggling New England Revolution, who sat outside of a playoff spot and were in desperate need of points. The match, though a battle for a lengthy period of time, ended up with the Red Bulls once again excelling at home, as the home side recorded a 1-0 win.

The Red Bulls lineup remained unchanged from the team’s 2-2 draw with DC United a week earlier, and were quick to test the opposing defense. The first ten minutes belonged to New York, who recorded shot after shot in an attempt to get the early lead. Despite those opportunities, which included a shot from Kemar Lawrence that hit the post before it went out five minutes into the match, the teams remained scoreless.

After the initial domination from the home side, New England settled into the match and began to create opportunities. The Revolution had a penalty call nine minutes in as Kei Kamara ran into the box and was seemingly pushed by Chris Duvall, but referee Ricardo Salazar ruled otherwise. Regardless of any effort to get a goal from the away side, it was goalkeeper Brad Knighton who was the standout for New England.

In their attempts to break the deadlock, New York were awarded a freekick just yards from the penalty area, which Felipe took. The ball, on frame, was expertly saved by Knighton, who recorded two saves in the first half. The Red Bulls posted ten shots in total during the first 45 minutes, but were frequently stopped by the Revolution, as New York recorded six blocked shots, leading to a scoreless first half.

The second half started off in stark contrast to the first, as New England did most of the attacking. Yet, it was the Red Bulls that scored early on in the second half for the only goal of the match. After a strong stretch from the Revolution back four, they came apart in the 55th minute as Alex Muyl came charging into the penalty area. Muyl’s shot was easily met by Knighton, but the rebound found Bradley Wright-Phillips, who easily slotted the ball into the goal from close range. The goal was Wright-Phillips’ 16th of the regular season, which puts him first in the race for golden boot, tied with Sebastian Giovinco of Toronto FC and David Villa of New York City FC.

Both teams had their attempts to grab another goal during the match, but as full time beckoned, the Red Bulls were set for another three points at home. In the dying moments of the match, goalkeeper Luis Robles went down after colliding with a defender and getting into an altercation with former Red Bull Juan Agudelo. After receiving treatment, Robles got up to finish the match and was promptly handed a yellow card, as was Agudelo.

Following the match, Marsch spoke highly of his team, saying that after the team’s difficult beginning of one win in their first seven matches, they’re “in a good way,” and today was no different. Commenting that “the one blip for us, on the day, was that we didn’t start the second half well,” Marsch was satisfied with the effort from his team.

Marsch also spoke highly of individual performances, saying that “Chris Duvall had his best performance of the year,” along with a backline who have finally gelled despite the many changes over the season. The Red Bulls coach spoke praises, too, of goalscorer Wright-Phillips. “It’s amazing to me that [he] doesn’t get discussed more in the MVP race,” the coach said, before adding that in the games since the Red Bulls’ first seven, the Englishman’s output has been of the MVP level.

New York resumes league action away from home on Saturday, September 3, when the team faces the Vancouver Whitecaps.