MLS: New York Red Bulls Slip Past Orlando City

The New York Red Bulls defeated Orlando City in an entertaining and controversy match on Saturday night at Red Bull Arena.

After falling to Orlando City in April, the Red Bulls got the better of their Eastern Conference opponents on Saturday night. The win gave the home side their fourth victory in their last five matches. For City, their three-match road trip comes to a disappointing end as they only managed to pick up a point.

Key Moments

It was the away side that struck first in the 18th minute. Carlos Rivas fired home a well-driven shot, which was too much to handle for Luis Robles.

Just 11 minutes later the Red Bulls would equalize as Tyler Adams cross into the box would be directed home by City defender Léo Pereira and would go down as an own-goal.

Both sides entered the dressing room deadlocked at 1-1 at halftime. However, it wouldn’t stay that way for long in the second half. Bradley Wright-Phillips slotted home his 14th goal of the season in the 60th minute. Alex Muyl provided the assist on the cross.

The Red Bulls were far from safety in the remaining minutes of the second half. Yoshimar Yotún would smash a shot off the crossbar in the 79th minute as Orlando saw a golden opportunity to level the match barely stay out of the back of the net.

Thirty seconds later, Sean Davis would produce the goal of the match as he curled home a beautiful goal from outside the 18.

With the Red Bulls leading 3-1 late in the match things began to get chippy on the pitch. A set of altercations in stoppage time resulted in an incident that led to a red card for Kaka. The sending off was controversy as he grabbed the face of Aurélien Collin. It was technically the right call to send off Kaka. But there’s another twist to it.

The two players appeared to be doing so in a more joking manner and the referee was obviously not aware of the manner in which the altercation was intended. This is a great talking point for video review as this may be one of its imperfections. It doesn’t take into consideration the human element factor sometimes and this was one of those cases.

Have a look at the incident below.

Wright-Phillips On the Move

What proved to be the match-winning goal was also a big goal for Wright-Phillips in terms of the all-time Major League Soccer scoring list. The Englishman moved up to tie Robbie Keane with 83 total goals scored in the MLS. He passed Brian Ching and Raul Diaz Arce in doing so.

Up Next

The Red Bulls have a big match on Tuesday as they face FC Cincinnati in the United States Open Cup championship match.

Orlando returns home for a two-match homestand as they look to regain some form after a dismal last few weeks in the MLS. It will be the Columbus Crew who await them next Saturday at Orlando City Stadium.