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Red Bulls swarm Xolos to seal blowout CCL win

The New York Red Bulls made history on the back of Bradley Wright-Phillips on their way to defeating Club Tijuana in the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinals.

Wright-Phillips had a pair assists on the night to push the match out of reach for the Xolos after the Red Bulls defeated the visitors in the first leg of the series.

The Red Bulls all-time leading goal scorer took a decidedly unselfish approach to the match, and powered the Red Bulls to a decisive 3-1 victory on the night, and 5-1 on aggregate.

The victory puts the Red Bulls into the CCL semifinals for the first time in team history.

Coming into the match, the Xolos were down 2-0 on away goals, and needed a quick strike to help gain some traction in the series. With the Red Bulls playing three central defenders, it opened space in the middle of the field for the Xolos to exploit, and they used the space well.

The Xolos opened the scoring in the 10th minute after pulling the Red Bulls out of position. Luis Angel Mendoza provided the tap in finish after a low cross found him in front of an empty net. It certainly wasn’t the start the Red Bulls had dreamed up, and it immediately put pressure on the home team to respond.

While it took nearly 20 minutes of chasing the game, the Red Bulls once again struck against the Xolos on a counter attack. Following a corner kick, Bradley Wright-Phillips carried the ball up the field, finding Michael Murillo on the right wing. Murillo sent in a low cross to the streaking Adams who easily finished returning the Red Bulls to a two goal advantage.

Luis Robles was once again a key figure in what went right for the Red Bulls. Throughout the first half he was called upon to make decisive saves, even pushing a shot off the crossbar with a beauty of a fingertip save.

The game remained evenly contested through the second half, with the Red Bulls gaining inches with each passing minute as the Xolos looked to climb back from the two goal deficit they found themselves in. Marc Rzatkowski iced the match with a well placed finish at the far post on a feed from Wright-Phillips in the 70th minute. Despite getting a hand on the shot, Gilbran Lajud could not keep it out of the net.

Wright-Phillips played provider once again in the 75th minute, finding Alejandro “Kaku” Romero Gamarra making a run at the back post. Gamarra finished low first time to the far post past Lajud.

Just as the first leg had ended with a scrum, the second leg had a number of scuffles that saw players from both sides giving into the emotion of the match and earning yellow cards including Michael Murillo, Kemar Lawrence, Damian Musto, and Pablo Aguilar.

Man of the Match

Bradley Wright-Phillips played the role of provider for the Red Bulls on the night, with a hand in all three goals the Red Bulls scored, and directly assisting the two second half strikes. While Wright-Phillips is usually the one putting the ball in the net for the Red Bulls, he used his size and feet to beat a Xolos backline that was too fast for him to beat on the run.

Moment of the Match

Tyler Adams goal signaled a shift in the match. After absorbing a lot of pressure through the first 20 minutes, a counter attack goal was just what the Red Bulls needed to turn the tides back in their favor.

Match to Forget

Alex Muyl, the oft maligned midfielder, had a very poor night. While he was particularly egregious while wasting a finishing opportunity at the end of the first half, but he did not seem up for the match and never looked settled. He was removed at the half.

 

Comments

  1. Media please address the elephant in the room. Concacaf refs giving yellows to players being stomped on hit molested and slammed. Really tijuana classles red bulls was up by four goals!!!

    Reply
  2. i used to compare amado guevara to allen iverson (nba): two very talented players who are totally selfish and won’t pass to team mates, ever (basically screwing over their whole teams). but i like the new face of red bull, bwp. he’s got the talent and he sets team mates up. sounds like this was a real team effort. thumbs up.

    Reply
  3. While a great win for NY, this is not the same TJ team from few years when they were at their peak and won the Liga MX. TJ were on another level under Antonio Mohamed, and had guys like Dario Benedetto, Dayro Moreno, Fidel Martinez, and Duvier Riascos. They sold them and did not restock with players of the same level.

    This is why they suck now.

    Reply
    • Are you talking league wide stinking? TJ is in 7th.

      Just be happy for NYRB fans….they have stayed true through some pretty bad seasons and many non winning ones. For a day I was a Red Bull fan.

      Tonight I am a Sounders fan. And every night that has past and for eternity too. Goooo Sounders.

      Reply
    • Well Toronto did go through, despite a terrible penalty kick call against them. Sometimes the best effort of referees is not enough!

      Reply
  4. NYRB!!!!! REPRESENT!!!!! They played really good technical and tactical football…….wow, the first time, in a long time, an MLS team put a hurting on a Liga MX team. Tijuana simply got out played and out classed…..wow. Congrats!!!!

    Reply
    • Well, I certainly can’t remember an MLS team beating a Mexican team so decisively in a home and home series. And if one of the other MLS teams go through, there will be much gnashing of teeth in Mexico.

      Reply
      • That’s because an MLS team has never won both legs vs. a Liga MX team in CCL before. It’s never happened until last night

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