RECAP: Jiménez Brace Lifts NY Past Orlando, 3-2
In his first Major League Soccer start, Mijahir Jiménez scored two goals to lift Red Bull New York over Orlando City SC, 3-2, on Saturday.
Emil Forsberg added another in the 43rd minute.
The hosts held back a ferocious Orlando comeback thanks to key saves by Ethan Horvath.
“I think it’s all about mentality as well,” Forsberg said after the game.
“Going into the game, knowing what we’re good at, doing what we are good at, so that start and the way we played, I think we saw it in other games as well. But we didn’t reward ourselves in the same way. We came out today believing in ourselves, in what we do and how we play. And I think we could have scored a couple of other goals in the first half as well. We had some bad luck with the offsides, but in general, a very good first half.”
New York, which opened the season with a 2-1 win over Orlando, is still in playoff position. The home side halted City’s hot start post-World Cup, ending their two-game winning streak.
Jiménez, 19, got his first cap last game as a second-half sub. Still on a short-term call-up from Red Bull New York II, he returned on Saturday. He helped fill in caps from Adri Mehmeti and Jorge Ruvalcaba, who were suspended for cards.
Jiménez opened the scoring in the 23rd minute. Forsberg played a ball through to the right side of the six-yard box to Gustav Berggren, who played a one-time cross into the box to Jiménez. He placed a shot into the bottom left corner. In the 60th minute, he struck again. Dylan Nealis played a ball wide to Cade Cowell, who cut inside on a defender and played a ball into the box that was struck into the top right corner by Jiménez.
Jiménez became the second player in Red Bulls history to score a brace in his first career MLS start, joining Cornell Glen on May 8, 2004.
Before the second goal, Forsberg got some mojo back in the 43rd minute.
Justin Che played a ball forward to Cowell, who dished a cross into the middle of the box to Forsberg, who took a touch and stuck a shot into the bottom right corner.
“It’s all of us playing really well together,” Cowell said.
“The offense is quick. I feel like a lot of times we’re just not as sharp, or the final pass is not there. But it was all there tonight, and we really could have scored five or six goals.”
Forsberg scored his second goal of the season and the 22nd of his career. The midfielder’s 22 career MLS goals are the third-most by a midfielder in club history.
Tyrese Spicer, who came on as a sub after halftime, and Griffin Dorsey scored second-half goals for Orlando.
It was Spicer’s second consecutive match with a goal and his fifth in all competitions this season. Braian Ojeda assisted on Spicer’s goal. Antoine Griezmann assisted on Dorsey’s goal, which was the defender’s fifth tally of the season.
Red Bull have two weeks off coming up, and other teams in Major League Soccer take part in Leagues Cup.
RBNY will be back in action on the road in Atlanta on August 15.
Discover more from New York Sports Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categorized:Credentials News Red Bulls