The first Hudson River Derby of the season delivered on what people tend to expect to see from a derby between the New York Red Bulls and their counterparts from across the river, New York City FC. Fans at Red Bull Arena witnessed goals, rash challenges, three red cards and plenty of emotion from both sets of players on the pitch and both sets of fans off of it.
Expectations were raised to a new level for this derby as the winner would earn a birth in the Semifinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.
This was the third meeting between the two rivals in US Open Cup play with the Red Bulls winning both previous meetings — also both played at Red Bull Arena — by shutout in 2017 and 2018.
This year, followed a similar script with the Red Bulls blanking NYCFC 3-0. With goals from Lewis Morgan, Luquinhas, and Omir Fernandez, the Red Bulls advanced to the Semifinals for the sixth time, and the first since 2017. With the win, the men in red took another step toward lifting their first Open Cup trophy and being the first New Jersey-based club to win the tournament since 1972 (Elizabeth SC).
They will face the winner of Nashville SC and Orlando City SC who will play on June 29. The host of that Semifinal game will be announced on June 23.
This year’s matchup was by far the most competitive with both teams entering the match first (NYCFC) and second (NYRB) in the Eastern Conference standings with just one point between them. The game was set to be a slugfest between two of the giants in MLS and that’s what the fans got from the moment the two teams stepped onto the pitch.
Here’s how both Gerhard Struber & Nick Cushing lined up their boys in the rivalry that crosses the Hudson River.
This match was tense from the jump, with both sets of fans singing back and forth at each other and that bad blood translated onto the pitch early and often.
The Red Bulls from both wings created some scary moments in the box for Luis Barraza, but the back NYC goalkeeper was up to the task, clearing the danger on both occasions in the opening 10 minutes.
In the 15th minute, things got a bit testy when NYC’s Keaton Parks went into a challenge very recklessly against Luquinhas, gathering a big commotion at midfield as the players from both sides were going at the referee.
The Red Bull players were demanding a red card to be shown, while in NYC’s eyes, there should not have been a foul called. In the end, a yellow card was shown to Parks.
Just minutes later, Malte Amundsen tackled Luquinhas very recklessly to stop a counterattack. He also received a yellow card in the 19th minute for his actions.
From that point on in the match, things turned into a fouling match in midfield which limited each team from creating anything offensively.
That was until Red Bull was awarded a free kick in the 40th minute, just on the edge of the box after Luquinhas was brought down by Gabriel Pereira.
It would be Lewis Morgan to take the free kick and with everyone holding their breath, the Scotsman blasted one just past the NYC post.
Just two minutes later, chaos broke out in the NYCFC box which produced the Red Bulls’ best chance of the half.
After Luquinhas and Morgan beat the defense and then with the tip of his toe, Morgan rolled the ball to Christian Casseres Jr.
Casseres Jr. surely thought he would put Red Bull up 1-0 with the outside-of-his-foot attempt on goal, but once again Barraza was up to the task, making a huge save to keep it scoreless going into halftime.
In the second half, NYCFC came out on the front foot, getting their first shot on target of the game in the 47th minute from Castellanos, as the Argentine beat both Sean Nealis and Tom Edwards for the shot, but Carlos Coronel easily made the save.
But Red Bull would quickly take all the momentum back as they would find the first goal of the game in the 52nd minute.
On a free kick, Tom Edwards crossed one straight onto the head of Aaron Long, who proceeded to head the ball into the path of Lewis Morgan, who poked the ball past a helpless Barraza to set the roof on fire at Red Bull Arena.
Things would start to really get ugly in the 61st minute when NYCFC’s Thiago Andrade threw a headbutt at Red Bull’s John Tolkin during a skirmish, drawing a straight red card from referee Matthew Thompson.
Tolkin described the who situation post-game saying, “All I said was ‘what’s up bro?’ and then he came at me, dug his head into mine and pushed off,” said Tolkin after the match. “I guess I egged him on too much.”
With Thiago being sent off, New York City would have to play the last 30 minutes with 10 men.
After things calmed down, both managers turned to some familiar faces off the bench. Gerhard Struber brought on Polish striker Patryk Klimala while Nick Cushing looked to South American’s Talles Magno and Maxi Moralez for a spark in the attacking third.
Struber would be the one who got his substitution right as Klimala made an instant impact leading to the Red Bulls’ second goal.
Just coming onto the field, Morgan fed Klimala with a beautiful cross as the Polish striker timed his run perfectly and was all alone in the box, 1-v-1 with Barraza.
The keeper would make the initial save on Klimala, but the rebound fell to a lurking Luquinhas, who rounded the keeper and fired the ball past the two defenders on the line to double the home team’s lead in the 70th minute.
The only thing the NYC supporters could do up in the upper balcony was chant “Campeones”, referring to their 2021 MLS Cup title and the empty trophy case at Red Bull Arena.
Red Bull would continue their attacking ways with Tom Edwards crossing the ball straight by everyone to find a wide-open Omir Fernandez after Barraza completely misjudged the ball.
Unfortunately for the Bronx native, he did not anticipate the ball landing at his feet as it just bounced off his shin with the closest defender just booting the ball out of bounds.
Red Bull continued to be on the front foot of play, attacking NYCFC and racking up corner kicks. They even came close to grabbing a third in the 86th minute when Omir Fernandez beat his defender down the left wing, finding Klimala open in the box, and with his first touch off his left foot, just narrowly hit the outside of the post.
The Red Bulls continued to put on the pressure into stoppage time, adding a third goal to seal the game.
Steven Sserwadda, just promoted from Red Bull II, played a ball down the right wing and with his pure pace, Cameron Harper won the race to the ball, crossing a ball to a wide-open Fernandez in the box as he beat the NYC keeper.
Sean Nealis gave a good ole wave to the traveling NYC supporters as he returned to his position after the goal. Most of the NYC fans started to head for the exits so they could catch the PATH back down into the City.
Tolkin when recollecting that walk back to midfield, he described it as a “ha-ha, in your face moment,” and then added “you need a little banter in these moments.”
But Tolkin did say that the NYC fans will remember that and will bring the noise when they see each other in the Bronx next time.
The referee Matthew Thompson blew the final whistles after five added minutes and Red Bull Arena erupted done last time.
But the game was not over for some, as the bad blood spilled over past the final whistle.
Tom Edwards, Taty Castellanos and Maxi Moralez got into a scum at midfield that drew the attention of everyone as players and coaches sprinted to intervene. Both Tom Edwards and Maxi Moralez received red cards for their actions in the melee.
“We are right now of course very happy to go onto the next round,” said Red Bulls head coach Gerhard Struber, who expressed his disappointment to lose Edwards for the next match. “The Open Cup, for us, is a big point for our season and my boys, especially in this game, wanted the victory more than New York City. Now we are in the semifinal, and yeah, this was the big goal today.”
When asked about what it meant to beat NYC, being a Red Bull “through & through”, Red Bull’s defender John Tolkin said, “being from around here, it’s pretty cool”.
“Being from around here , it’s pretty cool,” said Tolkin about beating NYCFC. “Especially in the Open Cup, this is my first year in the tournament. It’s massive obviously, the atmosphere and the emotions that go into it, it’s an amazing feeling”
For Omir Fernandez, the emotions of this derby are a bit more special to him based on where he grew up.
“For all of us, this is a big game, but for me it’s a bit different because of where I’m from and I have a special connection with the Red Bulls,” said Fernandez. “So for somebody to come in and try to claim that they’re better than us, for me it always hits different to play against this team.”
When Fernandez entered the game as a sub, he really wanted to make an impact.
“We were killing them 2-0, and I came in and I knew I wanted to score,” said Fernandez. “I knew that opportunity was going to present itself and for me to score in front of my family and to run to that corner to see them, a lot of emotions”.
Fernandez, also a homegrown Red Bulls player, was asked what it meant to see all those NYCFC fans heading for the exits after he made it 3-0 in the 91st minute.
“I have a different emotion to this matchup just because of so many things. Old Red Bull fans turned into NYC fans, so when I see these people in our stadium trying to make noise and at the end of the day it’s 3-0 and I look up and they’re all gone.”
Fernandez added: “Get them out of our stadium and out of this conversation that they are better than us and for me it was satisfying to see them leave and that whole team … get out.”