HARRISON, N.J. (March 13, 2018) – While drawing Liga MX sides used to be a death sentence for MLS teams in CONCACAF Champions League, New York Red Bulls have initiated a new trend. Their defeat of Club Tijuana by the score of 3-1 on the night, and 5-1 overall on aggregate, booked their place in the CONCACAF Champions League Semi-Finals.
New York Red Bulls Advance to CCL Semi-Finals
Bradley Wright-Phillips stole the show in this quarterfinal tie. His brace down in Tijuana, combined with three assists in tonight’s second leg, gave him a hand in all five goals RBNY scored in this tie. His final contribution was easily the best of them all on the night.
After an RBNY won the ball in the midfield in the 76th minute, Florian Valot sent BWP down into the corner. RBNY newcomer, Alejandro “Kaku” Gamarra made a perfect run into space and the ball from BWP matched in perfection. Gamarra passed the ball into the lower corner to truly finish off Tijuana. But 66 minutes before then, the tie looked a little nervy.
After RBNY walked out of Tijuana with a 2-0 win in the first leg, Los Xolos were looking to get off to a good start early. They accomplished that in the 10th minute, when Rubio Rubin played provider to Luis Mendoza, giving Tijuana an away goal and cutting the aggregate deficit in half.
18 minutes later, A blazing fast counter attack had BWP sending another perfect pass to Tyler Adams, who slammed the ball into the empty net making it 3-1 on aggregate and one all on the night.
After a nervy 25 minutes or so in the second half, with Tijuana coming close a few times, BWP again sent a pass across to the back-post, where Marc Rzatkowski slammed the ball home to give RBNY a 2-1 lead on the night, and a 4-1 lead on aggregate. Tijuana never truly threatened after that and Red Bull Arena celebrated as the referee blew the final whistle.
RBNY will likely advance to face Club America in the Semi-Finals, as the second leg of their series will come to a close tomorrow night. America are up 5-0 on aggregate against Panamanian side, Tauro FC. The first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Semi-Finals will take place on April 3rd.
