Vancouver Whitecaps 2-New York Red Bulls 2

Anytime there is a transition in manager midway through the season for a side at the top of the table there are always questions. Can the new manager continue the club’s winning ways? How will chemistry be affected? How will they handle the road? Just seven games into his tenure with the New York Red Bulls manager Chris Armas has answered all of those questions so far with an emphatic yes. Despite going down a player on Saturday night against the Vancouver Whitecaps, Armas’ side pulled themselves together to walk away from BC Place with a 2-2 draw.

A match featuring two of the league’s brightest (and soon to be departing) stars in Red Bulls midfielder Tyler Adams and Whitecaps midfielder Alphonso Davies, this game had all of the makings of a classic. It delivered on that promise getting the first goal thanks to a Daniel Royer strike in the fifth minute of the match. The goal was set up by Adams feeding Bradley Wright-Phillips a pass down the left flank. Wright-Phillips then delivered a scintillating pass into Royer who put the shot away.

After a difficult week which saw the Whitecaps once again fall short at the Canadian Championships one might have expected Vancouver to call it a day. But the side from Cascadia have a shown a knack all season at getting back into games and this match was no different. Using their advantage in speed on the outside the Caps outside midfielders worked towards cracking open the Red Bulls defense, particularly their center-backs. They were finally successful in the 42nd minute when Yordy Reyna delivered a cross into the box that center-back Kendall Waston headed home to make it 1-1.

Waston would make it two in the second half with another header, this time off of a corner kick from Felipe. His two goals puts him at three on the season.

The Whitecaps looked as if they might get all three points on the day after Red Bulls midfielder Michael Murrilo was sent off for his second yellow card on a dubious challenge on Davies. But the moment actually emboldened the Red Bulls to continue to push forward, with nothing else to lose. In the 90th minute they were awarded for their efforts when Adams laced in a high curling free kick towards the far right post. Despite facing a number of defenders, Royer got enough separation to hit home the equalizer. The goal was his tenth of the season.

With the draw the Red Bulls (15-6-3, 48 points) move into a tie for first place with Atlanta United FC (14-4-6, 48 points) in the Eastern Conference. New York hold the tiebreaker in wins, although Atlanta will be playing later today. Nonetheless the draw was important as the Red Bulls will have a difficult week ahead as they have two derby matches this week. They will travel across the Hudson River on Wednesday to face NYCFC (8/22, 7PM EST/4PM PST, FS1) and then host their I-95 rivals D.C. United on Sunday (8/26, 7PM EST/4PM PST, FS1).

As for the Whitecaps (9-9-7. 34 points) while the draw wasn’t ideal they were helped out a bit by the Portland Timbers losing to Sporting Kansas City. They currently stand in eighth place in the Western Conference, just three points behind the Timbers (10-6-7, 37 points) and a point behind the Seattle Sounders (10-9-5, 35 points). They will travel to California on Saturday to take on the San Jose Earthquakes (10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST, TSN2, MLS +).

On hand to cover the match was Prost Amerika photographer Gerrit te Hennepe. You can check out his shots from the match below and all of his Whitecaps photos from the 2018 season on SmugMug.