The New York Red Bulls looked like their old selves after falling short to FC Cincinnati 3-0 in the first match of a best-of-three series for the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs. Miscommunication while on the defensive side of the ball, as well as not being able to capitalize on certain chances gave an advantage to the home side at TQL Stadium.
New York came into the match as arguably the hottest team in the MLS in recent weeks. The Red Bulls were 4-0-0 in their last four matches most recently beating Charlotte FC 5-2 in the wild-card round. But heading into one of the loudest and most energized arenas in the MLS brought New York back to reality after the Supporters’ Shield winners got two goals in the first half.
New York had the upper hand in shots with 16 (five on goal,) but was unable to capitalize on any of the opportunities. Cincinnati’s Alvaro Barreal opened up the scoring in the 23rd minute after burying the ball in the bottom right from a through ball courtesy of Junior Moreno.
Shortly after, Luciano Acosta sent one in from near half-field. Goalkeeper Carlos Coronel was forced to come outside the box and attempt to clear the ball after a defensive mishap, where the ball landed perfectly at Acosta’s feet.
Coming off the match against Charlotte less than a week ago, head coach Troy Lesesne spoke on The Red Bulls’ energy and physicality against Cincinnati.
“I can’t say that the preparation time was something that the timeline affected,” Lesesne said. “But the physical part of it, clearly that’s a component right now of trying to rest and recover in a shorter window of time given that we played that midweek match versus Charlotte… Credit to Cincinnati, I think that they come out and the first goal was a really nice goal from them. That doesn’t change anything for us though, everybody’s optimistic in the locker room.”
Fatigue definitely played a factor in this match as well as caution. New York made three substitutions to start the second half. With Peter Stroud coming in for Dru Yearwood, Dylan Nealis for his brother Sean, and Cameron Harper for Omir Fernandez. The Red Bulls got fresh legs on midfield and defense to start the second half. The Red Bulls were able to keep the pressure on and force turnovers, but Cincinnati was able to net one as Barreal got his second goal of the match in the 89th minute.
“The first half wasn’t good enough from us,” Lesesne said. “You’re down 2-0, one change we had to make was because Sean [Nealis] had a little bit of a knock and we wanted to be smart about that so that’s one change we didn’t really have much of a choice. We needed to have a little bit more energy injected into the group and that’s exactly what Cam and Pete do and did in the second half. We look at this and say, ‘We’re down 2-0 and we need to have a little bit of a spark.’”
With Cincinnati up one game in the series, New York heads into the week in another must-win situation. The Red Bulls are 3-0-1 in their last four home matches and look to bring the same type of energy that Cincinnati had into Red Bull Arena.
“We know what’s on the line, it’s a World Cup final for us on Saturday,” Stroud said. “We’ve kind of been in these situations before… I think the boys are going to show they can handle it, though it’s about demonstrating that again and when the time comes on Saturday. It’s an interesting format obviously but I think it benefits us and we get to have another crack at this and keep our hopes alive just a little longer.”
The Red Bulls come back home to Harrison and prepare for a must-win game on Saturday against Cincinnati in the second game of the series.
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