Red Bull New York failed to meet the moment in the last 16 of the U.S. Open Cup against bitter rivals New York City FC.
It was a tough night for the home supporters who had to witness a 3-1 elimination defeat at the hands of their bitter Hudson River Derby foes.
There wasn’t very much that backup goalkeeper John McCarthy could do when the lackadaisical marking and defensive breakdowns in front of him were frequent and astoundingly poor.
Bradley: ‘We’re Going to Continue to Work’
“We certainly apologize to our fans for losing a big derby cup game,” head coach Michael Bradley said during his postgame press conference. “But every single guy left everything they had on the field, and we’re going to continue to work and work until we can give them a team that they want and be really proud of.”
You would expect the Red Bulls to be ready with a laser focus with a quarterfinal place on the line in front of home fans at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Instead, they were a complete mess defensively on Wednesday and defended set pieces as if they had never played together.
It was too easy for NYCFC to pick apart a Red Bulls team that has been far too defensively feeble and exploitable throughout their first season under Bradley. All three NYCFC goals were scored off corner routines that looked far too easy for the visitors, with too little resistance.
Defensive Errors Cost Red Bull New York Once Again
NYCFC gained an upper hand when Kai Trewin scored a header from an early corner opportunity. It was an ideal start for the visitors who went up 1-0 within the first nine minutes.
It only took five minutes for the Red Bulls to respond. Cade Cowell put a brilliant ball into the box, which red-hot Julian Hall had no problem slotting into the lower right corner to even the contest at 1-1.
However, another set-piece calamity led to Raul Gustavo heading NYCFC back ahead in the 39th minute. The Red Bulls went into halftime trailing 2-1, but it felt like the match could swing in either direction.
Yet, there was only one team that had the necessary belief and focus, and that was the visitors. NYCFC captain Thiago Martins would extend the Pigeons‘ advantage to 3-1 on another easy header in the 57th minute.
Even though the Red Bull attack has been exciting and fast-paced, their shambolic defending will continue to doom them unless something changes soon.
Though Bradley has been handed a very young and inexperienced team, there’s no excuse for the Red Bulls to be this bad defensively.
Saturday’s home match against FC Dallas will bring a fresh opportunity for the Red Bulls to get things right.
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