Red Bulls Explode for Five in the Second Half

In a match that many thought, after a terrible opening half, that the Red Bulls were on their way toward a six match winless streak, but somehow they turned it around and exploded into a five goal barrage as the Red Bulls turned the tables and came out into the second half to take down the New England Revolution by a final score of five goals to three.

The Revolution scored in the fifth minute as they attacked down the far side. When the cross came toward the area, Sean Nealis tried to stop the ball, but didn’t get enough of it. It deflected off Sean Nealis’ left leg, kicked back toward Leo Campana, and with one full motion, struck the ball hard past Carlos Coronel for the opening goal.

Then, in the 30th minute, Kyle Duncan put himself into no man’s land, as the Revolution tried to make it two goals to nil, but was successful after Luca Langoni got into position to take the shot from the near side of the area. His chance hits the far post and out, but Duncan puts himself into a vicarious position, as the ball hits him in the back and rolls completely over the goal line.

Something happened in the locker room as head coach Sandro Schwarz must’ve given his team the riot act. Something clicked, and the Red Bulls started to work better and smarter on the pitch. In the 56th minute, the Revolution meltdown begins. Wiki Carmona attacked down the near side, then cut inside the area. His shot was blocked, but Ronald Donkor picked up the ball, gave it back to Daniel Edelman, and he shot it on goal, took a deflection, and went inside the far post.

Sandro makes three substitutions, bringing in Wiktor Bogacz, Julian Hall & Alexander Hack. Then they got a bit more dynamic. The top two players for the Red Bulls once again had their second match of scoring two goals each in Emil Forsberg and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. Both men had another fantastic night converting goals and leading the charge. These men came up huge once again.

In the 70th minute, Mohammed Sofo was along the near side. Moved the ball back and passed it to his countryman, Ronald Donkor, who quickly redirected the ball to Forsberg, then he made the pass to Choupo-Moting, who settled it, turned quickly, and ripped it inside the far post to level the match at two. Then two minutes later, the Red Bulls took the lead.

The go ahead goal almost looked like a carbon copy of the equalizer. As Julian Hall hustles to the ball at the near side of the area. A quick pass to Dennis Gjengaar, who quickly finds Forsberg. The captain of the Red Bulls dribbles along the top of the area, then out of nowhere, he makes a beautiful smasher by turning on the ball and destroying it inside the far post.

“I think the second half helped us a lot. You know, we turn everything like we are playing home. So, the fans are here, everyone is here. We just have to turn everything down for them to be happy. I think we’ve been playing a lot of games, and we didn’t win a lot of games, but we just must focus. And I think that’s why we needed that, and the fans, too, needed that. I think that’s it. You know,” said Ronald Donkor

Choupo-Moting earned his second of the game in the 83rd minute, as the ball was moved up along the far side. A long diagonal pass was headed for Dennis Gjengaar at the near side. He tried to slide and shoot the ball, but Ivacic made the stop. He left a rebound for Donkor to track the ball and retrieve it, found Choupo-Moting trailing the play, and when he made the pass, the shot beat Ivacic.

“Everybody must take responsibility, and everybody has the same important role. I would say, I know we talk about leaders and everything. I have a lot of experience. Email the same, and we give our best every time, but we need them as well, and we try to help them as much as possible. And if we do it like today, it’s the best,” said Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, “I couldn’t score without the great work from Ronnie, for example, at one goal. And, of course, the pass from Emil. And Amy couldn’t score without Dennis when he got the bottom, so it’s all about teamwork at the end of the day. But of course, we know that Emil and I, we know that we have a special role in the team, and we try everything to work on it in training, and then in a match.”

Forsberg gets his second goal of the match when Julian Hall was grabbed and taken down in an NFL Tackle by Keegan Hughes inside the area. Hughes would get booked in the 87th minute, and then Forsberg took the spot kick in the next minute, as he calmly directed the ball inside the far post, and made Ivacic dive toward the near post.

“I said in the locker room directly after the game, I am responsible for the first half, that’s clear. That’s not a tactical point. It was not a tactical point the first half, but everyone could feel it; that we were not free from the mental side, and we were not aggressive enough and we dropped back. Didn’t find the right words, that’s clear. Yes, in halftime, only to give the guys confidence to believe in that what we want to do, how we want to play, was also not directly at the second half but then we changed a lot.” said Head Coach Sandro Schwarz, “We changed only the position from the winger. Then one goal was Danny Edelman, we talked before the game, maybe that he has a chance today to score, and it was a good moment for us. And then great, great, the response from the guys, the behavior of them always to believe in the second half, and this was for the whole group, very, very important.

“We can learn a lot and now everyone is talking maybe from the second half. But me, too, we can learn a lot from the first half and when we feel free and we are from the mental side ready, we have the quality, it’s good. And then also that today we had this feeling to come back like we did in the second half, it was great. But the first half, my responsibility, clear.”

New England Revolution head coach Caleb Porter was stunned and mystified after having an excellent opening half against the Red Bulls, to see his side have a complete meltdown in the closing half once Daniel Edelman’s goal woke up the Red Bulls and put the Revolution on their heels for the entire closing half.

“Honestly, in a lot of ways, I’m trying to figure out what just happened in that second half. The first
half was clear. The first 30 [minutes], we were excellent – the way we started the game, the way we
defended, the way we attacked. Everything was going as planned. We get two goals, unfortunate to not get a third with the goal called back. We get into the break 2-0.

I did feel at the end of the half, we started sitting in too much and we weren’t able to keep the ball. Those were things we talked about at halftime, those were things we addressed, and those are things we showed them on the clips that we had. That was the main point: we need to engage higher, we need to not sag in as deep. We can’t sit in and start protecting the lead. Those are all things that were talked about and addressed.

“I honestly thought at the start of the second half, we were fine until the goal. The first goal is a tough one. It’s a direct ball that we head right into the middle of the field and then they’re driving at us, and then we mis-clear another ball right in the top of the box for a deflected shot. So, it wasn’t like it was a goal that came from them pinning us back. It’s the worst time to give away a goal, when you’re up 2-0. We talked about it at halftime, we needed to get through the first 15-20 [minutes] up 2-0. So, that’s unfortunate, and now it’s 2-1.

“Then, we had to sub off Brayan [Ceballos]. We already had to sub off Peyton Miller at halftime because
his ankle flared up again. Then, we already have Mamadou [Fofana] out, as well. So, maybe that had
something to do with it. Maybe all the games we have been playing had something to do with it. But at 2-1, we unraveled.

We were never able to get a grip on the game at 2-1. It seemed like every time they were in
our defensive third that it was a goal. Obviously, we have some guys playing that haven’t played a ton.
Maybe again, that had something to do with it, but it’s not good enough. At 2-1, we have to snap out of it, we have to communicate, we have to reset. Even though we gave up a goal, we should refocus and keep doing what we did to go 2-0. That didn’t happen and we gave up five goals from there.”

Even though Campana got his second goal of the match in second half stoppage time, the Red Bulls did enough to earn a comeback victory. They broke their five-game winless streak, and they will continue to remain at home this coming weekend, facing Inter Miami, after falling to FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium by a final score of three goals to nil.

FIVE SPOT: The Red Bulls scored five goals in the second half of a regular-season match for the second time in club history since August 26th, 2006.

EMIL FORSBERG: Scored Two Goals, one was a penalty, his 8th & 9th of the season, and earned his 6th Assist. His 17th & 18th MLS Career Goals.

ERIC MAXIM CHOUPO-MOTING: Scored Two Goals, his 12th and 13th of the season

RONALD DONKOR: Earned Three Assists in this match, the first multiple assists in his MLS Career, and became the 12th player in the club’s history to record multiple assists in one game.

DANIEL EDELMAN: Scored his first goal of the season, and his first goal in two years.

DENNIS GJENGAAR: Earned his first assist of the season, second career MLS assist.

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