"White Wedding" In Harrison: Red Bulls Thrash Galaxy in Rematch of MLS Cup

Daniel Rebain
3 days ago
7 min read

Updated: 10 minutes ago

Photo credit: New York Red Bulls

Harrison, NJ — Just over five months ago, the New York Red Bulls were playing in their first MLS Cup Final since 2008 against the LA Galaxy in Carson, California. Things didn't go to plan on that night for the team in Red and the Galaxy went on to lift their sixth MLS Cup.

Fast forward to the present day and the Red Bulls looked to avenge their loss from that December day in Los Angeles. Sandro Schwarz and his team did more than avenge that loss, they embarrassed the Galaxy.

New York scored not one, not two, not three, not four, but SEVEN goals against the Galaxy in front of 23,225 jubilant fans at Sports Illustrated Stadium. This result will go into the history books as a club record for goals in a home match.

Eric Choupo-Moting and Emil Forsberg both chipped in with two goals, with the captain regestering an additional two assists. Forsberg joined Antony De Avila (July 13, 1997) as the only players in club history to produce multiple goals and multiple assists in a single MLS match.

Red Bull was on the front foot from the opening whistle and New York for just the second time this season would score inside the first ten minutes when Choupo would get the home team on board with his fifth goal of the season.

Choupo-Moting scores his fifth goal of the season to begin the onslaught against the Galaxy — *Photo credit: New York Red Bulls*

The designated player has struggled to get looks inside the penalty area this season for New York, but this time he took matters into his own hands. After some nice close-quarters passing with Emil Forsberg, Choupo created his own space at the top of the box and elegantly snuck his shoot into the bottom left corner of the net past a diving John McCarthy to open the scoring just seven minutes into the game.

Ten minutes later, that lead would double for Red Bull, when Emil Forsberg scored his fourth goal of the season. Omar Valencia, who was tied for the league lead for assists by a defender, hit the captain perfectly in stride to put the Swede through on goal. Forsberg with a perfectly timmed run slipped past the Galaxy backline and with three touches, the ball was in the back of John McCarthy's net for the second time.

The New York Red Bulls have been plauged with slow starts all season long, repeatedly needing to mount a comeback, but tonight, they had a two-goal lead for the first time inside the first 20 minutes.

"I think the best thing was that we kept on going," said Forsberg post game. "We kept on playing the way we want to play, and I think that’s why we scored seven goals today. We played forward, we played fast, we tried to hurt them as much as they could. I’m very proud of the team and our performance today. We didn't stop after two or three, we kept on going, and it was fantastic."

The Galaxy attack would wake up after soaking up the Red Bull pressure in the first 20 minutes. Following an LA corner kick, Edwin Cerrillo's first time shot was labbed for the upper right corner, but a diving Carlos Coronel had other ideas, pushing the shot over the bar to keep a hold of the 2-0 lead.

New York wasn't done with their offensive onslaught in the first half hour. Following a Sofo one-on-one that was saved by McCarthy, the captain Emil Forsberg was able to fit his pass into the path of Choupo-Moting, who made no mistake and scored his second goal of the game to give the Red Bulls a three-goal lead for the first time in league play this season.

Coming back out for the second half, the Red Bulls continued to put their foot on the Galaxy's neck when Emil Forsberg made it 4-0 in the 50th minute. With a free kick in the center of the field from about ~25 yards, the captain saw his shot off the direct free-kick curl inside the right post past a helpless John McCarthy.

Video via: New York Red Bulls

The team was clearly in a groove and the captain echoed that post game. "It’s a hard thing to explain, you just have fun out there," said Forsberg. "You help each other, you have fun, you play one-two's, you play forward, you score goals together. With our fans having out back, it’s the best feeling. I think everybody is going home happy tonight."

In the 67th minute, Sandro Schwarz would make his first substitutions of the game, making a triple chnage that saw both Cameron Harper and Dennis Gjengaar come onto the pitch. Just seconds after touching the field both would help contribute to Red Bull's 5th goal of the game.

The Galaxy have struggled with the press all game and John McCarthy's clearance attempt fell straight to Gjengaar. With a free path towards the goal, Gjengaar's travela attempt was partially saved by McCarthy, only for the oncoming Harper to tap it over the line to make it 5-0 New York Red Bulls.

Cameron Harper thanks Dennis Gjengaar for the easy tap in to make it 5-0 — *Photo credit: New York Red Bulls*

Things would get chippy in the 74th minute after Emil Forsberg was fouled late Lucas Sanabria. Both Noah Eile and Sean Nealis would get involed in support of their captain. It took a couple of minutes to finally settle both teams down. Once the dust settled, referee Guido Gonzalez handed out a total of four yellow cards.

Back to the soccer and it was another substitute making a positve impact for Sandro Schwarz. Wiktor Bogacz came on the field for Choupo-Moting and created a handful of opportunities for his teamates. Bogacz's size and pace was notable, geting in behind the Galaxy defense multiple times and, with his patience, recorded his first career MLS assist when he found Dennis Gjengaar at the top of the box to make it a touchdown for New York.

"I mean, today, there was absolutely no pressure when we came in," said Gjengaar about coming into the game up 4-0. "It was more just go out and have fun and try to score even more goals. And when the goalie just passes me the ball, I just go straight for the goal. Playing and scoring tonight, it's almost the same feeling you have when you play with your best friends at home. Just going on the field and just having fun."

The score would reach 7-0 just before the final whistle thanks to Galaxy right-back Miki Yamane chipping his goalkeeper after attempting to play the ball back to him. Just the cherry on top for Red Bull after an all-around perfect game from Sandro Schwarz side.

It's a good feeling, of course, when you have had performance, and it's not only a result," Schwarz said about the 7-0 victory post game. "It's more the qualities, more how the play and the intensity with which we played and I'm very proud, especially, of the second half. So, it's not so easy when you have 3-0 in half time but then to continue the style of play, how we want to play with the same intensity, and that's good. This was our main topic after Inter Miami, especially also the whole season, so to play with a clear direction and to play very aggressive and to have these deep runs, it was great, great to see today and of course we scored in the right moment, when we scored especially in the first half in the beginning 2-0. It's good but now we must continue in four days, it's the next game."

The Red Bulls celebrate a goal as a team — *Photo credit: New York Red Bulls*

With their touchdown and extra point against the Galaxy, Red Bull tied their record for most goals in a game with seven, last achieved in the infamous "Red Wedding" against NYCFC at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx back in May of 2016.

"In a match like tonight, it's not every day we can celebrate like this", said Coronel. "I mean 7-0 made us very happy. It’s not only about the result, but how you play. We showed that today with our quality. We have to keep this quality and, in every game, we have to improve. If we find the right way, we can have a good season."

Red Bull goalkeeper Carlos Coronel made six saves in the win and he was very pleased with the goal support in front of him.

Now the focus shifts quickly to New York's next match against Nashville midweek. Red Bull already beat this Nashville team 2-0 earlier this season, but the team knows they need every single point they can get with five more MLS games this month.

"We can be happy about this game today and then tomorrow we start focusing on the next game Wednesday. It’s a hard business so we can’t be too happy about this game for so long. We have a big game in Nashville and we must prove ourselves in that game as well. So we’re happy today but tomorrow we start working on the next one.”

Kickoff for the New York Red Bulls match Wednsday night down in Nashville is set for 8:30 p.m. For highlights from the Red Bulls 7-0 victory over the LA Galaxy, scroll to the bottom of this page.

Match Facts:

New York Red Bulls Starting XI (4-2-3-1)

New York Red Bulls lineup against the LA Galaxy

Carlos Coronel (GK); Omar Valencia, Noah Eile, Sean Nealis, Kyle Duncan; Felipe Carballo, Daniel Edelman; Wiki Carmona, Emil Forsberg (c), Mohammed Sofo; Eric Maxim Choup-Moting

Bench: Wiktor Bogacz, Julian Hall, Cameron Harper, Dennis Gjengaar, Peter Stroud Alexander Hack, Tim Parker, Raheem Edwards & A.J. Marcucci

Los Angeles Galaxy (4-4-2)

John McCarthy (GK); John Nelson, Maya Yoshida, Emiro Garces, Miki Yamane; Julian Aude, Edwin Cerrillo, Marco Reus, Diego Fagundez; Chrisitian Ramirez, Miguel Berry

Bench: Matheus Nascimento, Lucas Sanabria, Isaiah Parente, Tucker Lepley, Elijah Wynder, Eriq Zavaleta, Mauricio Cuevas, Novak Micovic