The New York Red Bulls reasserted their dominance over their "noisy neighbors" on Sunday, thumping New York City FC 4-1 as striker Bradley Wright-Phillips bagged a brace on a sultry afternoon at Red Bull Arena.
Sacha Kljestan set up BWP, who also struck twice in RBNY's 7-0 demolition of NYCFC in their first meeting of the year, for the game's opening goal 20 minutes in, then delivered the corner kick that Ronald Zubar headed home to double the advantage mere moments later.
Kljestan calmly netted a penalty kick to carve out a 3-0 lead, though Thomas McNamara quickly responded with a glittering long-distance rocket minutes afterward. But there would be no late rally for NYCFC, who saw coach Patrick Vieira ejected in the first half and defender Ethan White in the second after Wright-Phillips added an exclamation point down the stretch.
The victory means the crosstown rivals' season series has been won by the red half of New York for the second straight year, and it runs RBNY's all-time record vs. the Blues to 5-1. The Red Bulls have scored 11 goals vs. NYCFC this season, and allowed just 3.
Box Score
- 20’ — NY — Bradley Wright-Phillips (Sacha Kljestan, Felipe)
- 23’ — NY — Ronald Zubar (Sacha Kljestan)
- 41’ — NY — Sacha Kljestan (PK)
- 43’ — NYC — Thomas McNamara (RJ Allen, Andrea Pirlo)
- 70’ — NY — Bradley Wright-Phillips
- Full box score
- Stats
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Three Things
1. BIG BAD BRAD: Most know him as BWP, but you can also call him the NYCFC Killer. Bradley Wright-Phillips' Sunday double feature runs his career total vs. the Blues to a whopping eight goals in six games. The Red Bulls have consistently outworked and outhustled their Gotham rivals in their derby meetings to date, and no one gets more amped for these occasions than BWP.
2. SIDESHOW, OR HORROR SHOW? NYCFC have improved in many areas this season and the Eastern Conference standings prove it. Yet they seem to hark back to the generally woeful defending of 2015 whenever they meet the Red Bulls. On this occasion the back four were repeatedly pulled out of position (perhaps most egregiously on BWP's opener) and consistently struggled to provide the foundation for possession that their team's build-up play requires. To top it all off, they lost their cool towards the end and incurred some suspensions to boot.
3. TOMMY CONSOLATION: The only silver lining of another painful derby day for NYCFC? McNamara's glorious goal, struck wickedly from approximately the West Bank of the Hudson River. Tommy Mac just keeps amazing his growing legions of fans, and on Sunday showed a measure of pride and anger that was simply not reflected among all of his teammates.
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