New York City FC players surround Jack Harrison after he opened the scoring in the Hudson River Derby, the first goal of a 2-0 win over rivals New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, on Saturday, June 24. (Photo Credit: NYCFC)
New York City FC 2- New York Red Bulls 0
HARRISON —— A turf war between clubs on either side of the Hudson River over which color the city of New York is, the Hudson River Derby has always been a battle of football philosophy.
Jesse Marsch took over for club legend Mike Petke at the helm of the New York Red Bulls in the same year the rivalry was created, bringing along with him a suffocating style of play in which his players play fast and press high. Much maligned for his controversial placement as the club’s head coach, Marsch’s playing style soon eliminated the doubts of the fans as the Red Bulls pressed their way to winning their second Supporters Shield in three years.
A byproduct of equal significance to the supporters was the complete dominance the press had against New York City FC, a club who joined Major League Soccer in 2015 and quickly became a rival. First under Jason Kreis and now under Patrick Vieira, the Boys in Blue were just as stubborn with their identity — they liked to play out of the back, developing play slowly.
It wouldn’t mix well with the fast-paced press, resulting in the Red Bulls winning 6 of the first 7 derbies, including an iconic 7-0 victory at Yankee Stadium.
Tired of falling on the wrong side of the battle, NYCFC decided to go with something different — it came into Red Bull Arena Saturday for the eighth ever showdown and decided to play the Red Bulls at their own game. Not only did they succeed, they beat them convincingly.
NYCFC was easily the better side on the day, dominating in the first half and keeping the Red Bulls at bay in the second, leaving them with its second ever derby win, a 2-0 victory to take to the other side of the river.
Ben Sweat, the perennial starter at left-back as Ronald Matarrita recovered from injury, kept his spot in the line-up despite the Costa Rican fully recovering. Vieira opted for continuity in his starting XI, a bet that paid dividends.
The American put in his best ever shift as a Blue, scoring his first career goal in the second half to seal the win after assisting Jack Harrison in the match’s opener in the first half.
Harrison’s placement in his natural position alongside Sweat on the left wing was another great decision from Vieira, who opted instead to put Thomas McNamara centrally to replace the injured Maxi Moralez.
Having seen his team play both with and without Moralez against the Red Bulls when the sides faced off in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup fourth round 10 days prior, Vieira had plenty to work with when creating his game plan and he made the most of it.
“Today, it worked, (but) it didn’t work last week,” Vieira said, not looking to praise himself. “I think this is about the game and what is the beauty of our game is that they can be different from one game to the other one. Today I made the right decision but maybe next week, it will be the other side.”
The Boys in Blue were winning possession high up the pitch with some polished pressing, frustrating the hosts and forcing them into a plethora of uncharacteristic mistakes. And when it had the ball, NYCFC looked decent, forcing Luis Robles into three first half saves.
Robles was forced into his first save in the 18th minute, stretching his entire body on a flying dive to his right to deflect a curling effort from Jack Harrison. The strike was the end product of some lovely build-up play from the Boys in Blue, specifically David Villa, Rodney Wallace and Harrison.
A quarter of an hour later, Harrison would get a near identical opportunity from the opposite side of the 18. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice, first-timing a cross from Ben Sweat after some nice work from Rodney Wallace and swinging a beautiful curling effort over the fully stretched arm of Robles, this time coming up short of the save.
What a finish from @Harrison_Jack11 to give #NYCFC the lead at Red Bull Arena pic.twitter.com/n0E4VEdNBN
— New York City FC (@NYCFC) June 24, 2017
The final movement of the first half perfectly recaps the more dangerous moments of the opening 45 minutes — R.J. Allen recovers the ball at midfield due to his high press, starting an NYCFC counter-attack. He works with Villa and finds space to shoot at the top of the box, forcing Robles into yet another save.
Looking at the stats alone, one would assume the match was controlled by the home side, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“We played against a team that runs a lot for 90 minutes and presses really high and makes it really difficult for the opposition team, so again, if we wanted to give ourselves chances to take the three points, we needed to match with our competitiveness, our desire and how they compete during the game and I think we did it really well today,” Vieira said. “We make it really difficult for them, we force them to play long balls, we were present in second balls and I think this is one of the reasons as well that we were able to win the game, that we matched the desire and the competitiveness.”
The hosts began the second half reenergized as they looked for the equalizer, their press looking refined as they owned the first quarter-of-an-hour. But even during its best stretch of the match, the Red Bulls failed to create any real danger, failing to put any pressure on NYCFC goalkeeper Sean Johnson until their first and only shot on target in the 80th minute.
In the meantime, Sweat put a dagger in the match with a brilliant header, looping it perfectly over Robles and his defenders until it fell right into the side netting.
First career goal in the Hudson River Derby… NO SWEAT ? (cc: @22BenSweat) #NYCFC pic.twitter.com/ZmtvIS1mRo
— New York City FC (@NYCFC) June 24, 2017
“I think as a team, this was our best performance from back to front,” Sweat said. “I was happy to contribute with an assist and a goal of course but to be away against New York Red Bull in a derby match, no better feeling.”
Until that point, the match had lacked some of the edge of the previous encounters, but that would shortly change. When Alex Muyl fell in the NYCFC box in the 77th minute, he wasn’t awarded a penalty but given a yellow card for simulation. Upon seeing the decision, members of the South Ward began throwing objects onto the pitch, garbage and water bottles which thankfully didn’t hit any of the players.
The boiling point would be followed by a mellow final 10 minutes, the most noise coming from a ring of boos and whistles when Villa was subbed off for Sean Okoli. The club’s all-time leading goalscorer continued to struggle against its biggest rivals, but served as a way for many of the 25,219 at Red Bull Arena to release their frustrations nonetheless.
The final whistle would follow shortly after, signaling the end of the eighth chapter in the rivalry, the best thus far for those in blue.
Overall, the rivalry remains very much red, with the Red Bulls winning 6 of 8, but until the ninth installment in mid-July, New York will be blue for just the second time.
More importantly, at least in Vieira’s eyes, though — midway through the season, NYCFC is now seven points clear of third-placed Red Bulls and only five points behind the Chicago Fire for the Supporters’ Shield, all because of the three points they earned today.
“I think it’s not more sweeter than last weekend against Seattle,” Vieira said. “It was a game that we worked during the week, we came over with a good game plan and I’m really satisfied because of course we managed to win the game and I think we played quite really well. We create chances, we scored and it was a really good team performance. So it was good because it was a derby and that makes it a little more special but at the end of the day, it’s the three points that was the most important today.”
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Scoring Summary:
NYCFC 1-0 RBNY — Jack Harrison (assist Ben Sweat, 33′)
NYCFC 2-0 RBNY — Ben Sweat (assist Alex Ring, 65′)
Starting Line-Ups:
NYCFC: Sean Johnson, Ben Sweat, Alexander Callens, Maxime Chanot, R.J. Allen, Yangel Herrera, Alexander Ring, Thomas McNamara, Jack Harrison, Rodney Wallace (Ronald Matarrita, 74’), Jack Harrison, David Villa (Sean Okoli, 82’).
New York Red Bulls: Luis Robles, Amir Murillo (Sal Zizzo, 60’), Aurelien Collin, Aaron Long, Kemar Lawrence, Tyler Adams (Connor Lade, 82’), Sacha Kljestan, Felipe, Danny Royer (Gonzalo Veron, 60’), Alex Muyl, Bradley Wright-Phillips.
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NYCFC
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