After their two-week layoff from the international break, the Red Bulls returned to action against a familiar foe in Charlotte FC. Just two & half weeks ago up at Montclair State University in front of close to 3.5k spectators, Red Bull defeated Charlotte 3-1 in the Round of 16 of the US Open Cup, advancing to the Quarterfinals of the tournament.
This time down in Charlotte, the outcome would be different as Red Bull be smacked with a disappointing 2-0 loss. First of all, this would be the biggest crowd Red Bull has faced all season up to this point with 32,064 spectators in attendance. Secondly, Charlotte entering Saturday's match was 5-0-1 this season at the Bank of America Stadium.
For Red Bull, they'd been awesome on the road this season, picking points in every game but one (5-1-1) away from RBA in 2022. But now with their loss to Charlotte coupled with their loss to Miami two match days ago, Red Bull has not lost two straight away from RBA and has struggled mightily. You could argue those two games were the two WORST games of the season.
Both teams were missing some notable key players due to the still ongoing international break in the form of captain Aaron Long for Red Bull and Karol Swiderski & Kamil JĆ³zwiak for Charlotte, a trade-off that Red Bull would most certainly be happy to take. Cristian Casseres Jr. also missed the game due to being in Covid Protocols.
So, here's how Gerhard Struber's men lined up for their already eighth road match of the season.
Red Bull came out of the gates FLYING as they dominated the opening 10'. New York high pressed and hemmed Charlotte in their defensive third for a significant amount of time from the opening whistle while creating some half chances as Red Bull could not find that final ball to open the scoring.
The next ten minutes were way less productive for Red Bull as the play turned into a turnover battle in the midfield for both teams.
The play may have slowed down after the first quarter-hour of the game, but Luquinhas did not. The Brazilian every time he has the ball at his feet has shown that he can create something out of nothing as he did here, splitting three defenders from Charlotte as he feeds Patryk Klimala up the field.
https://twitter.com/NewYorkRedBulls/status/1535704779661393923?s=20&t=3kOY5Ccwb05efeeKS-7jxQ
Dennis Hamlet & Gerhard Struber may have found a future MVP candidate for Red Bull with Luqi already producing 5G, 5A, playing just 915' in all competitions for the New York club in this early season.
Charlotte, however, started to find their groove after some early Red Bull success, holding 70% of the ball for the next 15'.
Red Bull was forced back into their own defensive third, as the expansion side peppered NY with crosses into the box left & right. Charlotte to go along with the dangerous crosses got some shots through to goalkeeper Carlos Coronel, shots the Brazilian keeper was able to make with ease.
Almost a huge moment in the match happened in the 36' as Charlotte goalie KristijanĀ Kahlina thought he had all the time in the world when the ball was played back to him. He would be surprised to see Klimala breathing on his neck as the Pole blocked the keeper's clearance.
Unfortunately enough for Red Bull, the ball fell right back to Kahlina and he was able to clear the danger. A missed opportunity to flip the momentum for Red Bull 10' before the half-time whistle.
Things would even get worse for Red Bull has Ben Bender scored the opening goal for Charlotte as last year's #1 overall pick took a shot from outside the box that was deflected off Tom Edwards and past the already committed Coronel just before halftime, a terrible break for New York.
https://twitter.com/SirHarveyCruz/status/1535713243133517825?s=20&t=3kOY5Ccwb05efeeKS-7jxQ
This first half felt awfully similar to the game down in Miami where Red Bull dominated the game in the early stages of the match, but their play fell off as Miami's picked up and was punished by David Beckham's side.
Red Bull in the first half struggled/lacked "bite" in midfield, losing many of the physical battles in midfield as the half progressed. Casseres Jr. has been a huge miss for Red Bull next to Frankie Amaya against Charlotte.
Struber straight out of halftime attempted to change things up as he brought on Ashely Fletcher, who just returned from an injury, replacing Omir Fernandez, who had possibly his worst performance of 2022
Fletcher's first involvement in the game will go down as a controversial one in the eyes of Gerhard Struber and the rest of the Red Bull players.
Red Bull thought they were handed a lifeline in 57' when the official pointed to the spot after Fletcher was brought to the ground in the box, but after VAR intervened, the penalty was overturned. Another incident that Red Bull had VAR go against them this season. You be the judge.
Red Bull's problem thought-out the game was they just could not create enough in the attacking third past the 15'. Caden Clark, who was not released immediately to the USYNT U20 camp, was brought on in the 72' to try to impact the game and find an equalizer and get another result on the road.
Struber even brought on Tom Barlow for John Tolkin in the 85', but it was just one-way traffic towards the Red Bull goal as Coronel had to bail the Red Bulls out on multiple occasions to make keep it at 1-0.
In the 91' Charlotte would seal the deal as Sergio Ruiz played the ball over to Derrick Jones who just had to tap the ball into the open net past Coronel
At the end of the 90', Red Bull would be frustrated to lose their second consecutive road match of the season, but it was a deserved victory & three points for the home fans rocking the house down Charlotte.
The loss comes as a huge disappointment from Red Bull after getting the needed rest that Gerhard Struber welcomed after a very congested schedule that looked to wear down Red Bull during the month of May, the pre-international break.
Charlotte is now 6-0-1 this season at the Bank of America Stadium, as coach Christian Lattanzio gets a win in his very first game as the head boss in Charlotte.
Gerhard Struber was not the happiest person post-match when he talked to reporters. "A very bad feeling at the moment, for me, for my boys, and for the coaching team. We expect in the end today, a different performance, in the end also a different result."
https://twitter.com/corkinho/status/1535740061395845130?s=20&t=zeHjJwUOW_T2hVrnVKDjvw
Talking about the energy of the team down in Charlotte, Struber was disappointed as a victory would have put Red Bull joint top of the table in the Eastern Conference.
"Right now, we can see, I think with a win today, we are on the peak on the table and always when we are very close the something go wrong. I think in this direction we can see maybe the team, we are not ready for that jump to go directly on the peak and I will not speak about the turf today. I will not speak about the atmosphere."
"We have high standards, especially the last few weeks how we grow, our process is running, the standards go higher and the level goes higher I think also when we lose, the disappointment is much higher like maybe in the last season."
Assistant captain Sean Nealis talked about the "disappointment" postgame in the locker room from all the players
"Yeah, a lot of disappointment from everybody. We had a strong road record to start this year and I think we wanted to continue that trend and the last two road games, we have not been able to put up the result we wanted. We want to thank our fans for coming out and supporting us here in Charlotte, but, yeah not the result we wanted."
Looking forward to Toronto next week, Neals just said he and the boys need to regroup and refocus on the task at hand in front of them.
"Yeah, I think Toronto is another team that loves to possess the ball. We will obviously get Aaron and Cristian back, so I think it will be good to get those guys to help us out. I think we just have to regroup, re-evaluate ourselves kind of delve into the video sessions and kind of have a hard look at ourselves in the mirror and kind of see what went wrong and how can we get back to our winning ways"
https://twitter.com/GdeGustavo83/status/1535732903400943618?s=20&t=zeHjJwUOW_T2hVrnVKDjvw
For a Red Bull team to not get a least a point down in Charlotte with all the controversy and turmoil throughout the Charlotte ranks should be a cause for concern. It looks even worse when you see that most of the first-choice XI was present today, only missing Aaron Long & Cristain Casseres Jr.
Time to erase this game from the memory banks and move on to Toronto next weekend back in the confines of Red Bull Arena.
Toronto has found some good form in their last two matches before the international break, getting a 2-2 draw against DC United & a victory at home against Chicago, 3-2 thanks to two penalties from Alejandro Pozuelo.
One thing to note is Toronto did not play this weekend and could face the same fate Red Bull did at RBA if they are not prepared right.
Hopefully for Red Bull, they kicked off the rust that they most certainly had against Charlotte as they should be big favorites against a LorenzoĀ Insigne-less Toronto team, as the Italian will join the club July 1st.
https://youtu.be/2bj5suWlPWQ
Match Stats
Final Score: NY 0, CLT 2
Possession: NY 39%, CLT 61%
Shots (On Goal): NY 7 (1), CLT 11 (5)
Fouls: Ā NY 10, CLT 6
Corners: NY 4, CLT 5
Saves: NY 3, CLT 1
Next Game: June 18th, vs Toronto FC 7:00 PM EST
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