New York City FC beat Red Bulls 3-2 to complete Hudson River Derby sweep
Courtesy: New York City FC
By Chris Tsakonas
New York City FC completed the season sweep of the Hudson River Derby with a 3-2 win over the New York Red Bulls at Sports Illustrated Stadium tonight. With the win, New York City has returned to the top three of the Eastern Conference with three matches remaining.
Here are three observations from New York City’s derby win.
New York City gains early edge in tit-for-tat first half
New York City wasted no time creating in the final third. After winning the ball at midfield, Justin Haak delivered a through ball into the are to set up a finish in space for Nico Fernandez Mercau in the 2nd minute. It was New York City’s earliest goal in the match, and it set the tone for the rest of the derby.
The next shot on goal wouldn’t come until the 23rd minute - but it ended up being a pivotal one for the Red Bulls. On the counterattack, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting squared the ball into the middle to set up an equalizer from Julian Hall.
Three minutes later, New York City would catch a break. Raul Gustavo floated a ball into the edge of the area. Andres Perea got his head on the end of it, and the high-arcing ball dropped past Carlos Coronel - and into the back of the net. Just three minutes after equalizing, New York City retook the lead.
Back line closes it out on both sides
After conceding a 47th minute equalizer to Emil Forsberg, New York City finally retook the lead for the final time in the 65th minute. Maxi Moralez delivered an initial cross into the middle that was headed across the face of goal - and Thiago Martins nodded the second ball in to give New York City the 3-2 lead.
On the other end, New York City received two key defensive blocks as the Red Bulls pushed for a third goal. In the 78th minute, a powerful Forsberg shot off a cross from Kyle Duncan took just enough of a deflection from Tayvon Gray to go safely over the bar.
In the sixth minute of stoppage time, the Red Bulls had one final chance to equalize off a free kick on the left side. Forsberg delivered a cross into the middle - only for Kevin O’Toole to deliver the pivotal clearance off the line to clinch the three points for New York City.
Matt Freese injury status
While New York City came away with the win tonight, the big question moving forward is what will happen to Freese after suffering an apparent head injury from a collision with Choupo-Moting in the final seconds of the first half. Freese remained on until Martins’ go-ahead goal, when he was replaced by Tomas Romero.
After the match, Jansen was asked about Freese’s injury status.
“At the moment he’s being checked by the doctors and the medical guys, and we’ll just wait to see what the results will be,” Jansen said.
Next Up
After playing 4 matches in 14 days, New York City will have a full week to prepare for a road trip to take on the Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park next Saturday. The Union will enter that match on a high note after a 6-0 road win over DC United earlier tonight. Live radio commentary will get underway at 7:15 p.m., with Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence on the call at newyorkcityfc.com/radio