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McCarty, Wright-Phillips lead Red Bulls’ rout of NYCFC

Photo by Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports
Photo by Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK — New York City FC may be winning the battle in the standings, but the New York Red Bulls showed on Saturday that the Big Apple is still red.

Behind braces from Bradley Wright-Phillips and Dax McCarty plus scores from substitutes Alex Muyl, Gonzalo Veron and Gideon Baah, the Red Bulls remained perfect against NYCFC with a 7-0 rout at Yankee Stadium. The score tied for the largest margin of victory in MLS history and Jesse Marsch’s squad has now won each of its four meetings against the second-year club.

McCarty fired the opening goal in the third minute with an aerial finish off a Sacha Kljestan corner. Wright-Phillips then doubled the lead in the 42nd minute with a header himself that squeezed past NYCFC goalkeeper Josh Saunders to the near post.

The 2014 MLS leading scorer made it 3-0 just before the half with a bicycle-kick finish that wrapped around defender R.J. Allen and into the bottom-right corner for his fifth goal of the season.

McCarty helped carry on the barrage from the visitors in the 52nd minute with another header off an assist from Kljestan. Muyl made the lead a handful in the 56th minute — three minutes after coming on as a sub for Mike Grella — with his first career goal. Wright-Phillips provided the assist after winning the ball just outside the NYCFC box.

Veron got on the scoresheet in the 83rd minute with setup from Felipe Martins and Baah put the finishing touches on the rout in the 89th minute with his first career goal.

The first overall pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft, Jack Harrison, made his professional debut shortly after Muyl’s goal, subbing on for Tommy McNamara. Harrison had been sidelined with a pelvic injury since preseason.

Frank Lampard also made his season debut for NYCFC in the 76th minute to replace Andrea Pirlo. Lampard had not played since last season’s finale on Oct. 15.

Four yellow cards were handed out in the physical contest, with three of them going to the home side players in the first half. Mikey Lopez, who was booked in the 16th minute, will be suspended for the next match.

Despite the loss, NYCFC remains a point up on the Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference standings at second place. The club will host Orlando City SC next Sunday at home while the Red Bulls will welcome Toronto FC on Saturday.

MAN OF THE MATCH

The 5-foot-9 Dax McCarty scored two headers to help pace the Red Bulls offense along Bradley Wright-Phillips and was one of the most active players in midfield on both sides of the ball.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Bradley Wright-Phillips‘ sensational finish for his second score got the crowd of 37,858 at Yankee Stadium on their feet. The 31-year-old forward continues to haunt NYCFC with his sixth goal against them in the four matches they’ve played.

MATCH TO FORGET

Ronald Matarrita and R.J. Allen struggled to keep the Red Bulls offense in check from the backline. Both fullbacks made mistakes in marking that led up to goals and were forced to play on their heels for most of the match.

Comments

  1. Rout? Surely the title of this article could use a more appropriate description. Perhaps pulvarization, mockery, obliteration, annihilation, gutting, disintegration, and even avada cadavering might be more fitting?

    Reply
  2. I would love to have been a fly on the wall in Manchester (er, actually Dubai, or UAE or wherever their owners actually live) and hear what they were saying. A 21 Million dollar payroll doesn’t mean squat when you have no desire to win. At least CFG is consistent!

    Reply
  3. Dax McCarty with a brace on headers. Probably never see that again. Although it was an embarrassing loss by NYCFC, the crowd was impressive. I keep saying that the soccer stadiums being built are too small and here’s another example. Even with a poor team in a stadium that isn’t very good for the sport, they still got 40,000.

    Reply
  4. Never would I have thought this was going to happen. Never been in the stands to watch such a shellacking.

    Red’s a good color on New York.

    Reply
      • Yep.

        They were fighting an uphill battle on a number of fronts but the drama of the previous game didn’t make this match any better as the follow-up.

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