Lewis Morgan’s 2023 year was certainly a tough one for the 27-year-old attacker, but Saturday’s Man of the Match showing against his former club Inter Miami was the latest example that Morgan is back to his best.
Morgan led the way at a wet and soggy Red Bulls Arena on Saturday afternoon, scoring a hat trick in a 4-0 romp over the visiting Herons. The Scottish international slotted home a trio of Dante Vanzeir assists, continuing what has been a major bounce-back campaign after only five appearances all of last year.
Morgan is two years removed from a career-best 14 tallies in 2022, but already has five goals in five league appearances this year. Most importantly, the Red Bulls have three wins and are excelling under new head coach Sandro Schwarz.
“I’m always confident, confident in front of the goal. I think today was more about the players around me,” Morgan said postmatch. “They made everything possible. I think it was a great team effort and my goals were just a combination of what the guys did and the hard work they put in. So as a team, we’re going to take a lot of confidence knowing that we played against a good side today in tough conditions and we got a massive victory.”
It was the Red Bulls counter attack that delivered on multiple occasions against Inter Miami, with Morgan setting the tone with the opening goal in the third minute. The Herons could not deal with the versatility of both Morgan and Vanzeir, watching the pair connect twice more in the second half and also seeing Wikelman Carmona net his first MLS goal.
Morgan though was the standout performer of the day, getting revenge on his former club that traded him in 2021. Although he is now a consistent performer with the Red Bulls, Morgan had no hard feelings against his former club after two seasons in Florida.
“It’s a little bittersweet for me,” Morgan said. “I’ve played and represented that club and have a lot of love for them. Every single goal, for me, is as sweet as the next one.”
Schwarz and the Red Bulls will definitely need Morgan’s final-third productivity if New York wants to be a contender for trophies this season. The Red Bulls have failed to get past the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs in each of the last three years and overall haven’t lifted a trophy since 2018.
Morgan’s strong start to 2024 is a positive sign though and ultimately that could grow confidence throughout the entire squad as the season pushes onward.
“It’s very important and not only for the result, also to have these emotions, this feeling with these young guys, and then also very important for us, every player, the whole season is a very long season, and they showed today a great performance, all players as a group and it’s also not so easy then when you miss some players and you don’t know how the opponents will play with which structure, who will play, and what we said in the press conference two days before,” Schwarz said.
“The first step is in the defense, we have to stay close [Sergio] Busquets, and also to have a good connection in the transitions, and yeah, Dante [Vanzeir] assisted four goals, I think he is the first player in club history who assisted on four goals in a single game, and Lewis [Morgan] scored three times,” he added. “But the whole team, very good connection, and the whole team was very well. The whole training days were good, the behavior, the atmosphere was good, also, in the hotel today. It’s good that you have then also this feeling on match day.”