On a fabulous Saturday night in the Queen City of Cincinnati, the New York Red Bulls came over to show that they wouldn’t be bullied, beaten, or embarrassed again facing a tough FC Cincinnati side at their home in TQL Stadium. They came in with a game plan to show what they were made of and wanted to inform the entire league that they wanted to be considered back at the top of the mountain in the Eastern Conference and the entire league. Even though their start wasn’t great conceding the opening goal in the 3rd minute, they never wavered a single moment and stuck to their game plan.
What we saw was a team that was hungry, and focused on the task at hand. They knew they had to give no quarter, and take advantage when the moments were presented to them. They never wavered and got the full three points after the entire ninety minutes were up. It was a brilliant performance once again from Frankie Amaya who continues to be the center of attention to all the FC Cincinnati fans on his departure from their club, toward the New York Red Bulls. Once again he responded for his second consecutive visit in the regular season with a highlight reel goal that silenced the ruckus crowd with a stunning equalizer after stealing the ball and receiving it from his teammates.
Then you saw the club working well together attacking, passing, and defending every inch of grass on the field to make sure all of Cincinnati knew they were coming to knock down their fortress and take the full three points. After a brilliant job by Emil Forsberg to bring the ball up the field, and finding Dante Vanzeir, the assist man with five, finally got on the scoresheet to deliver the big blow past former New York Red Bulls 2 keeper Evan Louro toward the inside of the far post and then it became a big defensive effort. The one man that you feared was Luciano Acosta, and boy did the defense do their job frustrating him all match long.
The back line never wavered and they got some help from the midfielders making sure he wouldn’t be the factor of the match. Anytime it looked like he was going to break free for a run or put himself into position to create a scoring chance, the Red Bulls defenders as a group stopped him and frustrated Acosta where it looked like he kicked Dylan Nealis in the stomach. I thought VAR was gonna take a look at it and send Referee Drew Fisher to the monitor, but it looked like the check was complete. But once the final whistle blew, the Red Bulls celebrated on the pitch of TQL Stadium, and the celebration was on.
Currently, they are at the top of the Eastern Conference, and at this moment, they are at the top of the Supporters Shield standings. Yes, it’s early, and it’s easy to get very giddy right now, but we are seeing the pieces of Sandro Schwarz’s puzzle starting to unfold and the club currently constructed is looking better, faster, and technically sound. After their first seven games of the season, they faced the top three sides that were at this moment penciled in to win the East and, the league. Right now they have a two point lead over Philadelphia, Miami, Columbus, and Cincinnati. There is still plenty of time for something to go wrong, but now things are going right.
There are so many positives the Red Bulls are showing at this point, and they must continue it. It will be difficult to lose some players to the Copa America and the upcoming Summer Olympic games in Paris, France, but until we get toward the middle of June and late July, you as a Red Bulls fan should be savoring this moment and feel proud that this club currently is back and roaring to where they should be. Top of the Eastern Conference Mountain and the penthouse of the Supporters Shield.