Red Bulls Stumble in Last MLS Match Before Leagues Cup

The New York Red Bulls traveled out to Salt Lake City, Utah to face Real Salt Lake on Saturday, which was also the final matchday in Major League Soccer before the All-Star Game and the start of the Leagues Cup.

Going into this match, the Red Bulls and their opponents were heading in opposite directions. The Red Bulls were in 11th place in the MLS Eastern Conference and coming off a loss while Salt Lake was in fourth place in the Western Conference.

Real Salt Lake opened the scoring in the second minute when their leading goal scorer, Jefferson Savarino found Diego Luna with a nice cross at the back post. Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel had no chance as Luna slotted the ball into the net, on the volley to give the home team a 1-0 lead.

In the tenth minute, the Red Bulls had a corner kick and their only selection to this year’s MLS All-Star Game, John Tolkin delivered a cross that was headed down into the ground by Andres Reyes but blocked by a Real defender. A loose ball came outside the box to midfielder Cameron Harper who shot over the bar. Real Salt Lake were the more dangerous team in the attacking third and a lot of that had to do with their number ten Jefferson Savarino. In the 18th minute, he teed up a long shot that had a diving Carlos Coronel beaten, but luckily for Red Bull, it went wide of the net.

It took until the 23rd minute for the Red Bulls to come up with their first scoring chance and it involved Red Bull midfielder, Daniel Edelman winning the ball deep inside Real Salt Lake’s defensive half. After Edelman won the ball, he played a through ball into Real Salt Lake’s 18-yard box for teammate Corey Burke. However, Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Zac MacMath rushed Burke and forced him to attempt a chip that flew harmlessly out of play.

In the 43rd minute, Burke was again the beneficiary of another Edelman through ball in the attacking third. This time, the 6’3 powerhouse ran onto his teammates through ball and pushed the Real defender out of the way, before stopping the ball and sending an errant cross that flew over everyone’s heads and out of play.

It was a disappointing first half for the Red Bulls because they conceded a goal in the second minute of the match and when they did have some really good scoring chances, they came up short.

Red Bulls head coach Troy Lesesne made wholesale changes to the Red Bull lineup to start the second half. He started by subbing on right-back Kyle Duncan for Wikelman Carmona. Then Lesesne subbed in Tom Barlow for Burke to partner with Dante Vanzeir up top and Omir Fernandez for Luquinhas on the left wing. Things could have started well for the visitors if Barlow had been able to score on a pass from his teammate Harper that put him in a prime scoring area in the 49th minute. However, Barlow scuffed his shot wide, which made it three prime scoring chances that were spoiled by the Red Bulls to this point in the match.

The home side would take advantage of this miss to go ahead by two. In the 50th minute, Real’s Daniel Musovski took the ball toward the edge of the box and Tolkin failed to take the ball away with a sliding tackle. No other defender was able to strip Musovski of the ball before he played Diego Luna in one-on-one with Coronel. And when the Red Bull keeper rushed out to close off his angle, the Salt Lake midfielder skillfully tapped it past him to give Real Salt Lake a 2-0 lead and complete his brace.

However, the Red Bulls only had a two-goal deficit and would not go down without a fight. In the 55th minute, Frankie Amaya was subbed on for Edelman in the midfield, and in the 74th minute, Elias Manoel was subbed on for Dante Vanzeir.

Both substitutes would be a part of Red Bull’s only goal of the evening, which happened in the 79th minute. Manoel received a pass about five yards away from the edge of Real’s box and sprayed a pass out onto the right wing for Kyle Duncan. Duncan then dribbled a few feet inside the 18, before sending a ground cross into the Real Salt Lake box for Frankie Amaya, who was able to get to the ball before a defender did and score with his left foot for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.

However, this goal only helped the Red Bulls avoid being shut out, their opponents added on to the scoreline, one minute later. In the 50th minute, Real Salt Lake had possession deep inside Red Bull’s defensive half. Red Bull captain Sean Nealis blocked a cross into their box and the ball rebounded to the touchline. The Real Salt Lake player who made the cross, retrieved the ball and passed it to Savarino. Savarino then dribbled towards midfield, while fending off Red Bull midfielder, Peter Stroud and took a right-footed shot that beat the Red Bull keeper to the far side of the net.

The Red Bulls came into this match having played well in two straight matches at home. Last weekend, Red Bull earned a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution at home and just four days ago, they lost narrowly to FC Cincinnati. But during the post-match press conference, Red Bulls head coach Troy Lesesne made it clear he wasn’t happy about the way his team started the game while adding the positives he took away from the match.

Lesesne, Players React to Disappointing Loss

“We can’t start a game like that. Look, I think you start a game like that on the road in a really difficult place to play. You’re putting yourself in a hard position to get back in the game. I liked the changes we made at halftime. I thought that that helped us come back into the game. And I give those guys a lot of credit who came on and you know, then we make a silly mistake for the second goal and Daniel has played so, so well throughout this stretch, so that’s nothing to take away from his performances that we’ve seen from him. But you know, he wants that one back. He doesn’t want to give the ball away clearly in that position. And I think that that one, again puts us in a difficult spot being down two-nil but credit to the group. We fight back, we make it 2-1 and I think if we hang in there for another few minutes and keep it at 2-1 then I do think that we’re coming back into the game so I wouldn’t say that all is lost on the night. There’s plenty to take away that we can use moving forward. But we know it’s not good enough. It wasn’t good enough tonight. I’m not trying to hide behind that and keep it you know, super positive and spin it in any direction. Can’t start a game like that, can’t give away goals like we did to a really good team. But we came back into the game we fought back into the game. And you know we have to move forward. We have to learn these lessons and you’re ready for a cup competition now in League Cup.”

Troy Lesesne New York Red Bulls Head Coach

The only positive to take away from this match for Red Bull was Frankie Amaya’s goal and Coach Lesesne discussed how the defensive midfielder has contributed to the team this year.

“Yeah, I mean, Frankie, he’s one that I felt like he needed a rest to start the game and I wanted him to come on in the second half to give us some energy and a little bit of a boost. And he certainly did that. Beyond the goals, I think it’s fantastic that he’s got four goals on the year. How he’s able to connect us from back to front, through the midfield on the defensive side, and with the ball has been a big step for him this year. He’s someone we rely on in a lot of different ways and I’m really proud of his progress. And again, we’re going to need him to not only score goals from time to time but continue to fill his role for us to have a really, really good chance to make the playoffs. And I’m confident he could do that.”

Troy Lesesne Red Bulls Head Coach

Red Bull can’t linger on this poor result and instead have to get ready for their first Leagues Cup match on July 22 against a New England Revolution team, who they beat a little over a week ago. Red Bulls captain Sean Nealis explained why the team needs to regroup to get ready for their first Leagues Cup match, next Friday.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a trophy to go after. We know New England is a good team, last time they were missing their best player in Carles Gil. We know he’s a game-changer. And, you know, we’ll watch the video and look at all of the problems that we have so far. We need to fix them with the solutions fast because the end of the season is approaching, and we want to win a trophy in this Leagues Cup, and we want to make a run for playoffs. Those are the two goals right now. And yeah, it’s disappointing up until this point of the season.”

Sean Nealis Red Bulls Captain & Center-Back