RECAP: Red Bulls Strike Magic in Kansas City, 2-1
Red Bull New York traveled to Kansas City and secured a 2-1 victory over Sporting KC.
First Half
In this half, the Red Bulls, unlike the last couple of matches, started with their foot on the gas, scoring the first goal in the fourth minute of the game. In this goal, Jorge Ruvalcalba scored his third goal in four games and his sixth overall goal of the season, assisted by Gustav Breggeren, who replaced Emil Forsberg due to injury. Not long after, in the eighth minute of play, Sporting Kansas City took control of the ball and had two back-to-back scoring chances that Ethan Horvath fended off, maintaining the small 1-0 lead. After these two back-to-back saves, Kansas City was in control of the game, and Horvath had a problematic play where he came close to being out of the box with the ball in his hands, but on closer view, the ball was still in the box even though Horvath was out of the box.
In the 19th minute, Cade Cowell had to be subbed by Rafael Mosquera due to an ankle injury when he fouled a KC player. In the next minute, Breggeren injured his back and walked to the bench with the athletic trainer, but he was able to return to the game. The KC stampede ended in the 29th minute when Red Bull managed to get some plays in the opposite half of the pitch. After the 33rd minute, the game went into a lull until the 41st, when the Red Bulls nearly lost their lead in the game.
Another chance that KC had was in the 43rd minute when Kevin Harris was all alone in the box, where Horvath was able to deflect it away. Near the end of the half, Jakheele Marshall-Rutty was booked with a yellow, and he was lucky that there was another Red Bull player, because it would be a red for a clear and obvious goal-scoring chance. To cool off KC’s attacks, in the 48th minute of the first half, Julian Hall set up Ruvalcalba for his second of the game.
Second Half
In the first ten minutes, there were only two dangerous plays. The first was Ruvalcalba almost scoring his third, but the through ball was kicked too hard. The second was when Dejan Joveljic scored but was caught in the offside trap that annulled the goal. In the next couple of minutes, KC retook the offensive and maintained it until the 64th minute, when Calvin Harris finally broke the clean sheet when he flicked the ball that went over Horvath’s head. This pressure went on until the 69th minute when Lasse Berg Johnsen was booked for a clip on Ronald Donkor.
In the 72nd minute, Ruvalcalba and Breggren were subbed off by Nehuén Benedetti and Roald Mitchell, respectively.
In the 79th minute, Omar Valencia and Mosquera were subbed off to make way for the debut of Julián Bazán and the season debut of Cameron Harper. Before these subs, Kansas City, and then in the 82nd minute, Harper almost made it 3-1 in his season debut.
What’s Next
With the World Cup coming up, the next game will be in July when they take on Philadelphia on July 22nd in Chester.
The Red Bulls will be in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and thirteenth place in the Supporters’ Shield standings when the break starts.
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Categorized:Red Bulls