The New York Red Bulls traveled up I-95 to face a loaded New England Revolution side that has been strong at home and looked unstoppable to start the 2021 MLS season. But to be fair it looked like the visitors had them right where they want them until a red card came out against them as a ten men Red Bulls side fell to the New England Revolution by a final of three goals to one.
The Red Bulls opened the game with a fantastic effort as they were able to score first in this match early. In the 7th minute they earned a corner along the near side, Frankie Amaya delivered a beautiful ball inside the area and out of nowhere Andres Reyes flew inside the area and headed the ball past Matt Turner to open the scoring in the 7th minute. The former Inter Miami Center Back already cashed in a goal to start his Red Bulls campaign.
But while the match was going on, Reyes was playing a strong defensive game. He made a few solid defensive plays, stole the ball away, and able to help link up to an attacking run, that was thwarted by Turner. But once the poor decision-making began, everything fell apart from Reyes. He earned his first yellow card of the night in the 31st minute when he fouled Matt Polster with a shoulder challenge that sent Polster into the ad boards.
He earned his second yellow card and of course saw red on a two-footed challenge seven minutes later that put the Red Bulls down to ten men. While at first, the challenge didn’t look that bad on replay, the manner of the challenge wasn’t that bad, but when you have a yellow card already given to you, you shouldn’t make another rash decision at all.
“We can see in the first 30 minutes that Andrés makes a very good job. I think he has every moment under control in 1-v-1 moments and also in headers. Also, he pushed up the last line on the right way.” said Gerhard Struber, “I think in many moments he makes a good job and in some moments he must learn that he needs the right balance. I think this is a for him is the big next step, that he is also with the high aggression on the field, and he can bring the right balance with the aggression in the right moment. I think he missed this in two times and consequence has a big impact in our game.”
The Revolution were able to level the score at one in the 36th minute when Gustavo Boa got a great feed from Arnor Traustason as he looped a ball and Boa staying onside was able to break out and smash the ball past Carlos Coronel. You would like to think that ending the first half leveled at one, was going to be a safe way for this young side to regroup, and be ready for the second half. But sadly Coronel didn’t get that memo.
Inside first-half stoppage time. Tajon Buchanan got a great look to sneak the ball past Coronel that gave the Revolution a one-goal lead. As Buchanan cut inside the area from the far side, he was ready to take a shot and tuck it inside the front post. Coronel allowed Buchanan to tuck it in, by pushing off the far post and trying to stop a pass, when it was a shot.
Eve thought the Red Bulls regrouped and stayed tough to play with a man down, Adam Buksa in the 82nd minute was able to poke home the third goal for the Revolution to take the full three points. While this is a young side that is playing decently, there are the mental errors that continue to show the growing pains of this squad, while six matches have been played, there is still plenty of time to fix the problems and move forward.
‘It is disappointing anytime you lose a game and today is no different, especially when we had a strong start to the match something that we focused on, and we executed, and it is super disappointing to lose this game on a number of different levels. Yeah, it is frustrating to come back again and lose a game.” said Sean Davis, “Looking back on the game, I wish we did a better job of managing the end of the first half, getting into the locker room I think that would have helped morale and to give up a goal right before halftime is tough, so we have to continue to learn from these experiences, but come halftime
“I think Gerhard [Struber], adjusted the formation and made the necessary adjustments. I am proud of the group for the effort, it was not easy out there especially against a team like New England and we fought until the end. We have to take the good and the bad from this game, but overall, I am proud of the group for how we stuck together. We had a lot of fight in us, and we just have to continue to learn. Ultimately, that is going to add up to getting points on the road and that is our next step as a team.”
The Red Bulls head back to Red Bull Arena next week to host a Nani-less Orlando City team that will be another tough opponent, as they will look to display how good they area. Then the International Calendar comes into play, with the CONCACAF Nations League Semi-Finals for the USA and the continuation of World Cup Qualifying.