I know that the title is a bit dramatic but that was how the game felt. With a goal scored by Yuya Kubo in the third minute, felt like the drubbing in Red Bull Arena against the Messi-less Inter Miami. However in a move that unlike the previous years, the Red Bulls fought back.
The first strike was in the 19th minute when Frankie Amaya scored a screamer against the team that made him a professional player. He had boo birds against him the entire day.
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The other instance that there was an impactful moment was near the end of the first half. Though the home crowd thought that there was no horseplay by Matt Miazga, Drew Fischer and the VAR thought otherwise. He then got a yellow due to the penalty. This was later negated by Lewis Morgan missing the pen when Evan Louro on his debut night stopped it. He shot it at the same place where he shot it last game against Orlando.
In the second half both teams were more about managing the ball. When Cincinnati grew the Red Bulls started to play more pressure. To the point where Dante Vanzier got the ball to score what turned out to be the game winner he eluded the entire back line of the Cinncinati defense in the 60th minute.
The last third of the game was more about the desperation and the pressure of being the home team. Cincinnati was trying to attack at all cost to gain the equalizer goal which came to no avail.
The phrase that is in the title is because of the last couple of seasons, Cincinnati has been the monkey on the Red Bulls' back. This was the first time they've beaten them since October of 2023 when ironically it was in the same venue and even more weird, it was the same scoreline.