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Lewis Morgan and Red Bulls shut out Inter Miami FC

New York Red Bulls, Featured, Professional, Soccer

March 24, 2024

When it rains, it pours—another New York Red Bulls home match in a torrential downpour. However, the conditions did not slow Lewis Morgan and New York as they rained down goals on Inter Miami CF in a 4-0 victory.

While Miami was missing their star player and face of the franchise, Lionel Messi, who is away on international duty with Argentina, the Red Bulls were also missing a few key players due to the international break. John Tolkin (USA U-23), Daniel Edelman (USA U-23), Cory Burke (Jamaica), Noah Eile (Sweden U-21), Emil Forsberg (Sweden), and Carlos Coronel (Paraguay) were all out of Saturday's match representing their countries. Miami missed Messi, while New York had no issues with their thin roster.

It was a full squad display for the Red Bulls, recording four goals, while the defense held up their end, shutting down Luis Suarez and Miami's offense, and goalkeeper Ryan Meara posted the clean sheet.

New York wasted no time scoring their first goal of the match in the third minute, credit to Lewis Morgan. Dante Vanzeir played a perfect pass to Morgan, setting him up for a far-post goal. This was Morgan's first goal of his eventual three.

Things settled down weather-wise at the start of the second half, but the Red Bulls kept scoring more goals. Morgan got his second goal in the 51st minute, as Vanzeri again found Morgan for a quick shot.

Morgan kept things going. In the 66th minute, he dribbled through the box and played the ball to Vanzeir, who one-touch passed to Wiki Carmona, who scored the third goal. Vanzeir found the ball again and played a beautiful pass to Morgan, who then completed his hat trick.

Coach Sandro Schwarz spoke on the offense's performance.

“Both strikers, it’s very important in our principles that they have a good connection,” Schwarz said. “This was great. In most of the situations after transitions, good movement, and one player made a steep run in deep space and the other player was there between the lines. Both strikers had a good connection and were the main part this week in training."

Morgan now leads the MLS with five goals and three game-winning goals. But how about Dante Vanzeir, who had four assists in the match? This is the most in franchise history for a single game and only the eighth time it has happened in the MLS.

“Dante [Vanzeir] was amazing,” Morgan said. “Like myself, he’s had a couple of injury issues. To see him back out there, and really that’s probably the first time me and him have been able to play together as a partnership. He was amazing today so, got to thank him for the assists.”

The Red Bulls' defense played just as well as the offense. Miami was held to just two shots on goal (eight shots total) and was unable to find the back of the net. The center-back duo of Sean Nealis and Andres Reyes were able to clear the ball well, while fullbacks Dylan Nealis and Kyle Duncan shut down potential runs for Miami.

“Back four, or when you play with three center backs when they defend very strong, and when you have this connection, that gives the whole team confidence,” Schwarz said. “When you have strong center backs, full backs, and they can defend. The back four was very good. The back four is very very important for the development.”

Backup keeper Meara stepped up when called, saving both Miami’s shots on goal and getting the clean sheet. This was the keeper’s eighth career shutout in the MLS and his first start since May 2022

“We had a lot of guys, especially in the line on the same page,” Meara said. “Sean [Nealis] and Andres [Reyes] are absolute monsters back there. Dylan [Nealis] and Kyle [Duncan] are monsters as well. Not many times [Miami] got through us. I think we just had a determined group today overall and we wanted to win today.”

The Red Bulls will return to the road for their next match, facing Orlando City. New York looks to keep its winning ways going in Inter & Co Stadium on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.