Noah Eile Soars for the Winner against Montreal

After the dismal performance against DC United at home last week, the Red Bulls returned to Sports Illustrated Stadium to face a CF Montreal side that has been pesky and dangerous. But after the full ninety minutes, they secured a one goal to nil victory and ended their two match winless streak.

The loan goal of the match was scored by the Swedish youth international centerback, Noah Eile, as he was positioned perfectly at the far post. Omar Valencia delivered the corner from the near side, as the ball was in the air, Eile leapt up and powerfully headed the ball down and beat the goalkeeper for his first MLS goal.

“No, it felt great. Obviously, the game being a tie as well, it felt even better. So, yeah, it was. I lost a little focus there a few minutes after, so that I had to refocus again, yeah, because it was still a lot of fun to me” said Noah Eile. (On Eile’s Goal Celebration). “No, I think first it was a little bit on the fly. And then I have a nephew back home, he’s two years old, so he likes me to do a crab celebration. So, I kind of did that for him.”

All match long CF Montreal were giving fits from the start of the match all the way to the end. While the Red Bulls did have the lead after Eile scored, it didn’t feel as if they were going to keep it for a long time. But the Red Bulls did and got the full three points.

Carlos Coronel had to make several strong saves early in the first half, especially in the second minute of the match, as he made a diving save at the far post to prevent Montreal from sneaking in an early goal. For the first fifteen to eighteen minutes, Montreal dictated the game and pressed on the Red Bulls.

Amazingly, the home side absorbed all of Montreal’s attacking runs and finally settled into the match. While at times it wasn’t pretty, they did get the job done. But they had two excellent chances to get on the board first.

CF Montreal had the ball in midfield, passing to one another, until a poor back pass led to a breakaway for Cameron Harper. When Harper got to the area, Sebastian Breza came off his line to harass him, took the shot toward the far post, but it slightly went wide in the 17th minute.

Later in the first half, Harper had another glorious attacking run in him along the far side. He crossed the ball low toward Emil Forsberg, but the pass was just a bit ahead of the Red Bulls Captain, and he couldn’t make contact on the ball in the 33rd minute.

Give Breza some credit in this one as well; he looked calm and confident on his line this afternoon, especially making a huge save on Wiki Carmona in the 58th minute. Carmona took a shot that surprised Breza, and somehow quickly dropped to the floor and reached out with his left hand to make the save. That ball was destined for the back of the net if not for Breza’s quick actions.

After Dylan Nealis went down with the hamstring injury last week against DC United, Kyle Duncan came back to the starting lineup after ACL surgery when he suffered the tear towards the back end of last season, played the full ninety minutes and never looked out of place.

“Yeah, you always want to be a little careful coming back after seven months. Felt like I had the energy to go. I was on the field. I looked at him, said “Coach, let me run it,” you know. So, he let me play the 90 minutes and I’m glad we got the win.” Said Kyle Duncan, “Honestly, I’m very happy to start today. There’s a lot of depth in the team. Coach could’ve gone with anybody in the team.  Obviously, he chose me to step up to the plate and perform.

Going from a bad loss to a good win, Sandro Schwarz knows there had to be some form of improvement coming from his squad against a plucky Montreal side that is looking as if they are starting to turn things around. They didn’t score today, but give Montreal head coach Marco Donadel credit for starting the turnaround.

“In the first half, I would say after ten minutes, 15 minutes, I had also a good feeling. We spoke in the halftime. We showed poor sequences from the technical point, one situation in our defense and in our pressing that we can stay more in a higher position with Wiki at the left winger and then our transition moments, we stay a little bit wider with our wingers and the buildup, what I explained right now, to have these counter movements.” said Sandro Schwarz, “To have these counter movements, and yeah, this was the main part. This was not on an emotional side or something like that because my feeling was that we were in the game, also, in the first half. It’s clear, with a young group that you don’t have now the best feeling directly in the game after this last game against D.C. United because it was very tough, especially Sunday and Monday after the game. But the reaction in the game, and I don’t want to talk about the reaction of the last game; the reactions when we made mistakes, and this is what we need. I’m very proud of the guys how we handled these situations today.” 

The Red Bulls will now go on a two match road trip as they head down to South Florida to take on Inter Miami, then a quick trip to Colorado Springs for their US Open Cup Round Four match at the Switchbacks of USL Championship.

NOAH EILE: Scored his first MLS Goal

OMAR VALENCIA: Earned his third Assist of the season, from the near corner

CARLOS CORONEL: Secured his fourth shutout of the season, stopping all five Shots on Goal while Montreal made ten total shots in the match.