Red Bull Get a Late Winner in New England As New York Starts 3-0 On the Road For The First Time In Club History

Red Bull seems to love playing away from home in this early portion of 2022 as they come away with their third win in enemy territory in three tries.

New York returned from the international break looking to make club history with a win. Winning three out of your first three away games has never been accomplished in the club's 26-year history.

Manager Gerhard Struber continued his tradition of keeping the opponent on their heels as he switched back to three at the back as you can see below.

Struber said that his team's ability to change formations week in and week out is “on a very good level” and makes team "unpredictable".

Red Bull opened the game on the front foot creating some havoc inside the first 10' of the match. In the 11', Patryk Klimala found himself on a three-on-one counterattack after a great step up by Dru Yearwood in midfield.

One on one with Andrew Farrell, Klimala beat the CB and ripped a shot at the near post that was stirred wide by Brad Knighton. Though it was a good scoring chance, Klimala potentially could have squared it to either Tom Barlow or Omir Fernandez who were both free around the penalty spot for a tap-in.

Later in the first half around the 28’, Red Bull had a FK from a little ways away. But as it was being recycled into the attacking half for New York, it fell to the feet of Klimala with his back to goal.

This time he played it off to Frankie Amaya who ripped on from outside the box to the far post, but Knighton was up to the task and JUST got his hand to it to force a corner.

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Red Bull would have another throw in the 32’ but this time it was cleared by New England & Amaya ended up taking down last year’s MVP Carlos Gil, earning himself a yellow card. That yellow would come back to bite Red Bull later in the game.

That would be all the action in the first half as Red Bull would feel happy to go in the locker room knotted up at zero apiece. But they were set to be faced with some early season adversity.

But the Red Bulls came out of the half strongly, with the first opportunity falling to Yearwood who blasted one from way downtown with his weaker left foot, but it was no problem for the 37 Y/O Knighton, who easily gobbled up the shot.

Just minutes later, a sequence of blocked shots almost led to Red Bull netting a goal. Luquinhas had his initial shot blocked at the top of the box which then fell to Amaya, who took a strike from around 25 yards out. That was also blocked but it fell to Cristian Casseres Jr. in the box, once again Knighton made a highlight-reel save to keep the game scoreless.

A closer look showed that it seemed to hit former NYCFC midfielder Tommy McNamara's arm. At first, he had his hands behind his back, but as the ball got closer to his vicinity, he sort of rolled his arm towards the ball to block it while turning his body as it hits his left forearm. You be the judge, but that probably should have been given as a penalty to Red Bull.

https://twitter.com/NewYorkRedBulls/status/1510420507887341572

New England would turn up the pressure in New York’s defensive third with some grade-A chances and if not for Carlos Coronel, Red Bull would have left Gillette with zero points to their name.

The first came in the 63’ as Emmanuel Boateng crossed one in from the LW and Sebastian Lletget cut the ball off and got a shot off just inside the six-yard box, but Coronel made the save. Though when Red Bull cleared the danger, they were not out of the woods yet.

Referee Victor Rivas would make a highly questionable call that could have cost Red Bull the game. As Boateng & New England were on the counter, Rivas called Amaya for a foul and issued the Red Bull midfielder his second yellow of the match, reducing the Red Bulls to 10 men for the final 18 minutes of the match. Was this challenge even a foul?

New England was back on the front foot and was pressing for the opening goal and almost had it as Boateng whipped another cross into the box, this time to the head of Brandon Bye at the back post. Bye then headed the ball to Lletget standing right in the middle of the six-yard box and off one bounce, headed the ball towards the back of the net.

Luckily for Red Bull, Coronel made one of the saves of the season to keep them in the game, which ultimately lead to New York picking up three points.

In the 90’, both Luquinhas & Ashley Fletcher, each coming on as subs, would help set up the breakthrough goal for Red Bull.

Luquinhas stole the ball from Gil as he was back pressing and off two touches found Fletcher breaking the backline of the Revs and running in behind. Fletcher, just before the ball rolled out of play crossed a ball into the middle of the box as Casseres was making a late run towards the penalty spot.

In one of the craziest/weirdest sequences in recent memory, Andrew Farrell attempted to clear the ball, but it went straight into Matt Polster, bouncing off him and into the back of the Revolution's net for an own goal; Red Bull takes a SHOCKING 1-0 lead with just minutes left on the referee's watch.

https://twitter.com/NewYorkRedBulls/status/1510430760204914689?s=20&t=RA3H2me5ZvbIyxvfEc1GNQ

https://twitter.com/redcoachjay/status/1510454458723049474?s=20&t=RA3H2me5ZvbIyxvfEc1GNQ

The Red Bulls would hold on in the final seven minutes to win on the road in Gillette Stadium, a place they have historically struggled to leave with points.

Struber seemed pretty happy with the result saying it was a “very good feeling”. He also talked about the winning goal as a “ping pong moment” that required luck.

And as he stated after the Minnesota loss when the football gods were not on the Red Bulls side, he said “This is football". He expanded on his comments saying, "When you invest so much in a game as we did, the luck goes your way.”

Struber also praised the fans who made the three-and-a-half-hour trek from Red Bull Arena all the way up to New England to support the players for 90+ minutes. “It was good to see so many fans; it motivated the team on the pitch”.

https://twitter.com/NewYorkRedBulls/status/1510655969742790658

Red Bull captain Aaron Long classified the win as “not the prettiest” and that his team was “resilient & ground it out for the three points”. Something that clearly changed from just two weeks ago against Columbus.

Red Bull also secured their first clean sheet of the season as Coronel made five saves in the winning effort while also taking home MOTM honors.

In 2021, Red Bull was tied for first in all of MLS with 13 clean sheets and as Sean Nealis told the media after the Columbus draw, they look to equal that tally or even surpass it this season.

Long also stated that he is "pleased" with how the team has continued the momentum of 2021 into this season but now is looking towards winning in front of the home crowd next week against Montreal; "that is on the forefront of our minds"

Ashley Fletcher also spoke to the media postgame and broke down what lead to the eventual game-winning own goal. "I saw Casseres running into the penalty area. We were down to 10 men, if there was a chance to nick a goal, that was it. His run made the goal because it caused confusion in the box."

He also talked about the differences between the English Championship, second division, and MLS and he had an interesting comment. Fletcher stated that "the quality is very similar" between the two leagues. "The quality is high between the training sessions and the games. Hopefully, I can kick on now and force my way into the starting eleven, beating top sides."

Fletcher went on to praise himself, as he has high expectations for himself as he gets more acclimated to the league. "This is a league where I believe I can score goals and create chances, that is what I am here to do. This is just the start."

Red Bull now sits in second place on 10 points, tied with Atlanta after five matchdays. Red Bull now heads back to RBA as they look for their first home victory.

They will face a Montreal team that is coming off a 4-2 victory against Cincinnati, their first win of the season, and currently sit in 13th place with only four points after five games. If there was a game to win at home, it would be this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHxKW20BOQA

Match Stats:

Final Score: NY 1, NE 0

Possession: NY 34%, NE 66%

Shots (On Goal): NY 12 (5), NE 11 (5)

Fouls: NY 23, NE 13

Corners: NY 5, NE 7

Saves: NY 5, NE 5

Next Game: April 9th, vs Montreal 4:00 PM EST