Photo Credit NYRB
Last year the New York Red Bulls went out of the US Open Cup by the hands of the New York Cosmos. This year the Red Bulls made sure history didn’t repeat itself, beating their other New York rivals convincingly by the score of 4-1 to advance to the quarter finals of the competition.
The US Open Cup competition may very well have it’s own section in Ali Curtis’s road map report, it’s no surprise the Red Bulls are taking it very serious this year. Despite adding mid-week games to a busy schedule, the Red Bulls are approaching it just like they would any fixture, with intentions of winning, not just participating.
After win against NYCFC in the previous round, the NY Cosmos came into Red Bull Arena hoping the Red Bull’s would underestimate them, and they could pull another upset, but that wasn’t the case as the Red Bulls, with some changes to their regular line up took the game to the Cosmos. Chris Duvall put across a serve that found Sal Zizzo in the back post free of marking for the Red Bulls’ first goal of the game, the game was just inside the five minute mark.
The push by the Red Bulls after the Cosmos equalizer paid off, and scoring the go ahead goal right before the half, not only dictated the momentum, but it also set the tone for the second half. The Cosmos played bravely in the first half, but the quality difference between the two teams was noticeable yet, there’s been teams in the MLS that have played worst at Red Bull Arena this season.
To start the second half Savarese introduced Spanish legend Raul into the game. Jesse Marsch didn’t operate any changes at the half, but did make a few tweaks to the way his team was playing. The Red Bulls increased their ball press with numbers, and shut down the Cosmos’ ability to circulate the ball freely. Even on the defensive end of the Cosmos the Red Bulls were pressing, and it was from one of those pressing situations that the Red Bulls reached their 3rd goal. Gorskie retrieved a ball deep in his own half, following a Red Bulls set piece, Duvall, and Perrinelle chased and pressed, Gorskie only saw Perrinelle and lost the ball to Duvall on his blind side. The Red Bulls right back stole the ball and entered the box, Gorskie had to bring Duvall down. Kljestan stepped up to the spot, and put the Red Bulls up 3-1 with a bit more than a half hour yet to play.
The Cosmos refused to go away, as Raul hit the crossbar with a header, and Mkosana saw the post deny his rebound in the 63rd minute. It was the Cosmo’s best chance of the second half, as the Red Bulls moved swiftly to put the game on ice following that play. The home team’s dominance was more evident as the minutes ticked by, Marsch refreshed his team with Mike Grella on for Lloyd Sam in the 65th minute, and Felipe for Kljestan in the 73rd.
It was easy to see the Red Bulls were playing to put the game away, as they dominated most of the second half, and had put a choke hold on the Cosmos in the last 20 minutes of the game. The 11,442 in attendance would see the Red Bulls get their fourth in the 89th minute from Mike Grella, but not before seeing Chris Duvall being stretchered off in the 85th minute, following a dangerous studs up tackle by Gorksie, a tackle we would later find broke Duvall’s tibia.
