Up a Man, Red Bulls get Scoreless Draw in Orlando

The New York Red Bulls traveled down to the Purple Palace on Church Street, they ended up with a scoreless draw against Orlando City. All match long last year’s Eastern Conference foes made several attacking runs, but give credit to the goalkeepers, they were sharp all match long.

Orlando got the first shot on goal when Luis Muriel battled with the backline, and just got ahead by a step. He took a hard shot, but Carlos Coronel stood his ground and was in a great position to make the two footed save standing up.

In the fourth minute, it looked like the Red Bulls were going to take the early lead. Emil Forsberg had the space to make a nice pass to Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, but sadly the Cameroonian was in an offside position when he accepted the ball.

The Red Bulls would later go up a man when Robert Schlegel put himself behind the eight ball for double yellow cards. In the 31st minute, he was shown his first booking. Then in the 54th minute, Schlegel took down Choupo-Moting with a high right boot, then two minutes later the second yellow card came up, then red and he was sent off.

Coronel made more saves in this match as he stood his ground with a two-handed punching save when he leaped in the air again. Robin Jansson just got ahead of his defender in the 43rd minute heading into halftime scoreless.

“It’s hard always to play like here in Orlando, they have many good players, and they know also how to play against us. They put, like many plays in the side of the field, and then they create two verse one. I think we started below, but then after, I think we grow up in the game. Second half, we played better. We play for the three points, but in the end, to take a point here from Orlando is a good one for me.” Said Carlos Coronel

The Red Bulls had an opportunity to take the lead in the 76th minute. Emil Forsberg on the far side made a low cross toward Sean Nealis, then as Sean got to the end line. He made a quick cross to Wiki Carmona inside the area, and with a quick shot, Pedro Gallese quickly got his hands down to make the save.

The Red Bulls ended their season series with Orlando City with two draws. A two goal draw at home, and a scoreless draw in Central Florida. So for the second time in four road matches, the Red Bulls earned a draw. Their second scoreless draw of the season.

“We didn’t start very well, and our biggest fight in this game today was the weather, and we could see it in our warmup. It was so difficult for us now and to come over this point and to come over and overcome these resistances, what you need then in this game. We tried everything but we lost easily the ball and our pressing it was not all together, always one step too late in our moments. And then we changed the structure not in the 4-3-3, more in a 4-2-3-1, but it was not a topic for structure because our shifting was not good enough. I said this directly in our locker room, we had a great training week, all the training sessions every day in this week. But at the end, we didn’t show this on match day.” Said head coach Sandro Schwarz.

The Red Bulls return to Sports Illustrated Stadium as they will host their bitter rivals in DC United, as Hate DC Week is upon us.

CARLOS CORONEL: Recorded his third shutout of the season, and 38th in his MLS career. His three shutouts this season currently rank him tied for fourth place in MLS He also earned his 17th career MLS Shutout on the road for the Red Bulls.