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New York is Red: New York Red Bulls shock New York City FC 4-0 with hot start

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HARRISON, NJ. – New York Red Bulls won the first Hudson River Derby match of 2018, making sure New York is red. They defeated New York City FC by a score of 3-0 with an aggressive high press and some good early game finishing.

New York is Red: New York Red Bulls shock New York City FC 4-0 with hot start

The Red Bulls got off to a hot start in just the second minute. After winning a ball in midfield, Bradley Wright-Philips ghosted into space into the box to receive a long ball. He went in on goal to shoot. Goalkeeper Sean Johnson made the save but Alejandro Romero Gamarra, known colloquially as Kaku, ran onto the ball and buried the rebound into the net.

RBNY doubled their advantage just two minutes later. Wright-Philips won the ball after some high pressure at midfield. He got the ball to Kaku, who made a great run and delivered a slicing pass through several NYCFC defenders to Florian Valot. Valot hit the ball first time as it was deflected past Johnson and into the net.

The blowout was on in the 35th minute. The home side were pinging the ball around in the final third when Kaku sent a cross into the six-yard box. Wright-Philips went up for a header unchallenged and scored. The half ended 3-0.

A pensive NYCFC Manager Patrick Vieira made two halftime substitutions to try and spark his team. Yangel Herrera and David Villa both had looks early on in the second half, but could not make anything of them.

Scoring his first goal at Red Bull Arena to put the icing on the cake, Derrick Etienne Jr. scored in the 79th minute making an aggressive run onto a Valot header that no City player made a play on. The match ended 4-0.

Three Takeaways:

The high press gets it done: The first 40 minutes of this game was a master class by Jesse Marsch’s side in high pressing the opponent and taking advantage of turnovers. The first two goals came directly off turnovers. The Red Bulls overwhelmed City in their build-up. Vieira’s side looked borderline unprepared to pass themselves out of trouble and did not react well defensively once the ball turned over.

Kaku causes shellshock: Kaku was the Man of the Match if you ask me. He had a goal and two fabulous passes on both of his assists. He was directly involved in the first three goals. Red Bulls supporters have to be feeling good after his performance. On the other side, City looked shellshocked. Must of the final 60 minutes was lethargic and almost defeated.

Vieira sending a message: Vieira sent several messages about the poor performances, lack of urgency, and lack of adjustments throughout the game. He subbed out Anton Tinnerholm and Maxime Chanot, who’ve both been good defensively this year. That and whatever was said at halftime led to maybe 10 minutes of NYCFC trying to claw back into the game. Vieira then subbed Captain Villa off at the 66th minute. For as well as they have played all year, they fundamentally didn’t show up in this derby match. For an organization with NYCFC’s financial backing, talent investments, and expectations, this performance and result were unacceptable.

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