For whatever reason Red Bull in 2022 has been allergic to winning games at RBA this season, earning a measly 13 points (3-5-4) at home previous to last Saturday’s game against surprise playoff team FC Cincinnati.
Cincinnati’s arrival at Red Bull arena also brought the return of former homegrown center back and Clifton, NJ native Matt Miazga. After two seasons for Red Bull, Miazga got a big money move at the age of 19 in 2016 to Chelsea FC for around $5.0M.
Miazga returns to MLS after 6 1/2 years and six loans later to put on a Cincinnati kit and help the 2018 expansion team make the playoffs for the first time in their existence.
Other than Miazga, Cincinnati boasts one of the deadliest front threes in MLS with the likes of USMNT hopeful Brandon Vazquez, a resurging Brenner & an elite MLS playmaker in Luciano Acosta.
Cincinnati in their past three games has put nine goals in the back of the net. It was going to be a huge test to see if the Red Bull backline was back to their form of the early season.
Onto Red Bull, coming off a win just days three prior on the road against Atlanta was a big boost to the team’s confidence. It was their first win in the last five competitive matches, and they looked to bring that momentum with them from Atlanta to RBA where they have struggled mightily.
Here’s how Gerhard Struber’s boys lined up against the team from Ohio.
Gerhard Struber put out a HEAVILY ROTATED XI coming off a grueling 90′ on turf down in Atlanta. The trio of Lewis Morgan, Luquinhas & Aaron Long all started on the bench to get some much need rest that Red Bull hasn’t been able to do up until this point in the season.
The likes of Cameron Harper & Caden Clark get a rare start in MLS while Andres Reyes gets a second start since returning from injury and Daniel Edelman gets a second consecutive start in defensive midfield.
The first big chance of the game came in the 11′ when a John Tolkin long ball found the head of Patryk Klimala and the ensuing flick header found the foot of Cameron Harper.
But FC Cincinnati would take the lead in the 13′ by way of a Matt Miazga header. Thoughts there may have been offsides on the play, but VAR deemed it a good goal, as the former Red Bull homegrown superstar defender scores his first goal back in MLS at RBA.
In the 20′ Red Bull got a lifeline when they were awarded a penalty when Andres Reyes got to a loose ball first and then was kicked: originally called a foul on Reyes.
Without Lewis Morgan on the field, it would be Patryk Klimala to step to the spot and for the first time since Chicago came to town all the way back on May 19th, the Pole saw the ball go into the back of the net. A sight all Red Bull supporters & Polish supporters around the world would like to see more of.
In the 38′, Red Bull was on the counterattack, and with one pass in behind the defense from Caden Clark, it looked like Patryk Klimala would have been 1v1 with the Cincinnati goalie. Matt Miazga had other plans though and brought down his Polski “brother”, earning him a yellow card.
On second look VAR probably should have intervened once again and handed out a red card to Miazaga for a “denial of a scoring opportunity”, but the situation room in Atlanta thought otherwise.
Cristian Casseres Jr. would kick the ensuing free kick into the Cincinnati wall with Miazaga and his team escaping a potential deficit.
As the halftime whistle rolled around, it was not the front three of Cincinnati that were creating the majority of the chances but the front four of Red Bull comprised of Klimala, Casseres, Caden Clark & Cameron Harper who were terrorizing the backline of Cincinnati causing them some major problems.
1st Half Stats
- Red Bull New York: 53% possession & 6 shots
- FC Cincinnati: 47% possession& 1 shot
Cincinnati came out looking a bit better in the second half and in the 50′ finally got another shot off, but thankfully for Red Bull Sean Nealis was able to recover and block the shot after Luciano Acosta was able to hold off his defender and play a ball to Alvaro Barreal in the box.
Red Bull by way of a Dru Yearwood over-the-top ball out to the right-wing, Cameron Harper was able to latch onto and create a half-decent chance once he cut onto his left foot. But it was partially deflected, and the Cincinnati goalie easily grabbed it to stop the danger.
After being transitioned to the bench to ease their load down the final stretch of the season, the trio of Lewis Morgan, Luquinhas & Aaron were subbed onto the field as Red Bull looked to grab a winner in the final half an hour of play.
Andres Reyes, Caden Clark & Cameron Harper would be the three players to make way for the oncoming substitutes.
Red Bull in the 70′ was on the counter with Yearwood & Casseres winning the ball in their own box and getting it to the feet of Luquinhas. Luqui then was able to find Klimala who was once again free in behind the Cincinnati defense. But as with most shots for Red Bull tonight, it was blocked by the last defender.
But Red Bull was back on the attack in the 74′ earning a corner. The corner delivery from John Tolkin was nothing special, but on the recycled ball, Kyle Duncan found Tolkin free behind the defense and was able to find him with a pass.
Tolkin on his inverted win picked his head up and saw a WIDE-OPEN Daniel Edelman at the top of the box. With the pass finding the 19-year-old, Edelman’s eyes lit up, and one-timed his shot over the crossbar as he collapsed in disbelief. That would have been his first career MLS goal.
Defensively throughout the match, other than the defensive set piece that saw Miazga open the scoring, Red Bull looked solid at the back. There weren’t as many mental breakdowns or tactical errors that the opposition was able to capitalize on.
The only problem was that they just couldn’t find that final ball once again in the final third to take get that second goal and take the lead.
Red Bull employed their final sub of the match with Tom Barlow entering the match for the final 10 or so minutes as they looked for one last goal. Patryk Klimala for the first time in a while sprinted off the field and look like he was very pleased with his performance in the 84′.
With Klimala & Harper now off the field, the two best creators from the game, Red Bull’s offense fell back into what we come to see from Struber’s team, lacking creativity.
Cincinnati for the remaining five minutes plus stoppage time sat back and absorbed Red Bull’s pressure and in the 95′ referee
It wasn’t a home loss for Red Bull, but it wasn’t a win. Only picking up one point in front of the home crowd and against this Cincinnati team was “unacceptable” according to manager Gerhard Struber.
“I think we have to look very clear critically this game. I would say 55 minutes, I am happy, yeah. But I think we have to be very critical in many distributions of the football. The output was not good.”
Struber did praise the team for how they played for the first 50′ but after that things started going downhill,
“In the end, yeah, I can absolutely not live with 1-1 today. This is very disappointing. I think we crashed ourselves today with not the performance over the whole game, and then in a direction what is necessary and also what we could do.”
Midfielder Dru Yearwood was in total agreement with his manager. “I think yeah, I completely agree. Feels a little bit like a loss. I think we don’t really have a positive feeling.”
Yearwood the 4-6 weeks has gotten more and more game time, seemly earning the trust of Struber once again, but the English native hasn’t been too impressed with himself recently.
“Yeah. I think the last sort of two games the really, really critical of myself actually, not too happy with my performances. I think also, I didn’t play as long as I wanted to, and I feel like that was literally on me. I blame myself. I don’t think I was good enough for the last two games. I felt like I was a bit better today. Felt more like myself.”
“And yeah, I guess the little run has been good for me. I was out for a while, out of the team. So it was good to show my teammates, the gaffer, go out there and I still want to be a part of this group.”
With Red Bull picking up just a point against Cincinnati means that with Orlando winning this weekend they are now only 5 points behind Red Bull.
Looking forward to next week Red Bull is staying at home to take on a resurging Inter Miami. David Beckham’s Miami is undefeated in their last five games with three wins & two draws getting themselves back into a crowded Eastern Conference title race.
Going to be a tough game for Red Bull who haven’t picked up three points at RBA since defeating Atlanta back on June 30th.
Match Stats
Final Score: NY 1, CIN 1
Possession: NY 52%, CIN 48%
Shots (On Goal): NY 14 (3), CIN 3 (2)
Fouls: NY 15, CIN 13
Corners: NY 3, CIN 1
Saves: NY 1, CIN 2
Next Game: August 27, @ Miami 7:00 PM EST