Saturday’s meeting between Red Bull New York and Seattle Sounders FC turned into a battle of goalkeeping wits between New York’s Ethan Horvath and Seattle’s Andrew Thomas.
Horvath made crucial save after crucial save as Seattle put six shots on target compared to New York’s four.
The 31-year-old netminder made six saves to earn his second shutout of the season.
“When you come here and you play against a team like Seattle in their stadium, in this environment, you’re going to need some big plays from your goalkeeper,” head coach Michael Bradley said during his post-match press conference. “Ethan was there for us when we needed him.”
Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Mohammed Sofo Start Against Seattle
Bradley made two changes to the starting XI from last Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to the Philadelphia Union by inserting forward Mohammed Sofo and right-back Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty in place of midfielder Emil Forsberg and defender Dylan Nealis.
“Sofo and Jahkeele have trained really well in this last period,” Bradley explained. “We’ve worked with Sofo a lot over the last few weeks in his ability to play in the midfield. He’s still a guy that in the first part of the season, we were thinking about more as an attacking player. But in this last period, we felt like he has qualities that can mean good things in there. So that part, that work has been really good. He has responded in a really positive way.
“He is open and has such a positive attitude mentality every day. So he deserved a chance to start and obviously his qualities in terms of how dynamic he is, his energy, his ability to get to loose balls, his ability to step up and close down and chase and press. That part really helped us tonight. So we were really happy for him. Jahkeele obviously is a guy who’s played a lot of games for us this year.”
Bradley said that part of his rationale for starting Sofo and Marshall-Rutty is fixture congestion and ensuring that he isn’t “running them into the ground.”
Justin Che Takes Captain’s Armband With Forsberg Summoned Later in Draw
Defender Justin Che was handed the captain’s armband. Horvath credited a strong teamwide defensive showing in earning a clean sheet.
“On a personal level, obviously very happy with the performance tonight in the clean sheet,” Horvath said. “Then on the team level, was a fantastic performance as a group and as a team. We defended well today. We were strong on set pieces. So from personal level, team level, yes, of course, we want to win the games. But I think on a collective level, we can be very happy with tonight’s performance.”
The Red Bulls’ best chance came in the 91st minute when Thomas denied a first-time shot from substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who had entered the match in the 67th minute.
David Ruiz, Devin Padelford Make Red Bull New York Debuts
Recently acquired midfielder David Ruiz made his Red Bull debut. He came on in the 74th minute to replace Adri Mehmeti.
Fellow new signing Devin Padelford entered the action in the 82nd minute. He replaced left-back Matthew Dos Santos.
“It’s a credit to coming into a new team in a new club and being ready and open to throw yourself into it,” Bradley said. “David had three training sessions with us. Devin had one. That’s not a lot of time for either, but they have both in a short amount of time showed their personality. They’ve shown how excited they are to be here. They’ve fit in in really good ways on the field and off the field. We’re excited to have them both.”
Ronald Donkor received a 48th-minute yellow card, meaning he will miss Wednesday’s road match against Los Angeles FC due to card accumulation.
Wednesday’s contest at BMO Stadium is scheduled to kick off at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
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