{"id":803024,"date":"2026-05-17T14:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T14:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/803024\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T14:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T14:31:08","slug":"red-bull-new-york-and-nycfc-share-the-spoils-in-topsy-turvy-hudson-river-derby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/803024\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Bull New York and NYCFC share the spoils in topsy-turvy Hudson River Derby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Bull New York and New York City FC (NYCFC)<\/a> played out a 1-1 draw in an entertaining \u2013 and often feisty \u2013 Hudson River Derby at Sports Illustrutated Stadium Saturday evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In what was the definition of a game of two halves, the Red Bulls hit the front on the stroke of half time when Jorge Ruvalcaba slammed home from close range to cap off a dominant first half. Andr\u00e9s Perea leveled up for the visitors early in the second half when he headed home from a Nico Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau free kick, with set pieces once again proving the Red Bulls\u2019 undoing in the derby.<\/p>\n

A draw is hardly surprising considering the teams sit side-by-side in the Eastern Conference and came into Saturday\u2019s clash with almost identical records over their last six games. And, in the end, a draw was just about fair in a topsy-turvy clash that saw both sides spurn golden opportunities.<\/p>\n

There was worrying signs for NYCFC<\/a>, however, who lost veteran midfielder Maxi Moralez to a non-contact injury midway through the first half. The 39-year-old, who ruptured his ACL in 2023, was stretchered from the field after a long stoppage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all praying for him,\u201d NYCFC coach Pascal Jansen said. \u201cHopefully it\u2019s something that turns out not as bad. We\u2019ll have to wait and see.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The Red Bulls were much the better team in an abrasive first half, relentlessly pressing the NYCFC defense to hem the visitors in their own half. But the addition of Malachi Jones after the restart changed the game for Jansen\u2019s Jansen\u2019s side, adding much-needed pace that allowed NYCFC to exploit the Red Bulls high line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest threat of ours is the movement in behind, and there was none of that (in the first half),\u201d Jansen said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Bradley, meanwhile, praised an \u201cexcellent\u201d first-half performance but rued his side\u2019s defending from set pieces for Perea\u2019s equalizer.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to continue to work on is our ability to defend set pieces,\u201d Bradley said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Bradley added that he was proud of the performance Saturday night, describing it as a \u201cgood step forward.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

It was the Red Bulls who started much the brighter in a half full of flash points, often pinning NYCFC inside their own half throughout a dominant 45 minutes that had everything but clear-cut chances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emil Forsberg had the game\u2019s first chance after eight minutes when Cade Cowell picked out the Red Bulls captain in space in the NYCFC area, but Forsberg\u2019s timid effort was deflected behind for a corner by NYCFC captain Thiago Martins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jansen\u2019s side could not deal with the intensity of the Red Bull press in the early stages and was often forced to go long to an attack that struggled to contest aerial duels. The Red Bulls, on the other hand, probed down the flanks during the opening period, in particular through Cowell, who posed a continuous threat to Nico Cavallo down the right hand side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But for all of the Red Bulls pressure and territory, Bradley\u2019s side struggled to create any meaningful chances \u2013 until the 32nd minute when Forsberg split the NYCFC defense with a clinical pass to set Ronald Donkor through on goal. Matt Freese spread himself to superbly smother the close-range effort, but Donkor will likely rue the heavy touch that allowed the NYCFC \u2018keeper to close the distance between them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The visitors\u2019 struggles continued when Moralez was left writhing in agony after a seemingly inocuous challenge in midfielder. The NYCFC midfielder, who suffered a ruptured ACL in 2023, was eventually stretchered from the field after replays appeared to show that he had caught his leg in the turf.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The long pause did nothing to abate the one-sided nature of the half, however, and NYCFC\u2019s resolve was finally broken on 44 minutes when Cowell again got to the byline and fizzed a cross into the NYCFC six-yard box. Martins\u2019 desperate clearance came back off the post, with Ruvalcaba on hand to slam home from the goal line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But NYCFC was a team transformed after the restart thanks, in large part, to the introduction of Malachi Jones as a half-time substitute for the ineffectual Hannes Wolf.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Jones almost made an immediate impact when he cut in from the left within 60 seconds of coming on and fired an effort just over the Red Bulls crossbar, but his ability to stretch the home defense completely changed the shape of the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suddenly, the visitors were able to exploit the space behind the Red Bulls backline, with Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau winning a free kick near the touchline seven minutes into the half. The Argentine dusted himself down to take the set piece, with Perea glancing home the inch-perfect delivery to bring the sides level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was now Jansen\u2019s side doing all of the running as Jones and Ojeda continued to exploit the gaping space behind the Red Bulls defense.\n<\/p>\n

The visitors should have hit the front on 56 minutes when Perea escaped down the right and played what seemed to be a harmless ball across the Red Bull area, only for Ethan Horvath to spill what should have been a routine claim into the path of Jones. Off balance, the NYCFC winger could only muster a tame effort, allowing Justin Che to clear off the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Red Bulls continued to play a high line as the half wore on and NYCFC continued to exploit it. Jones, who played on the shoulder of the last defender throughout the half, beat the offside trap again on 66 minutes to bear down on Horvath\u2019s goal, but he rushed his shot, allowing the Red Bulls \u2018keeper to beat the effort away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Horvath narrowly avoided catastrophe moments later when he came to punch a Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau freekick and missed the ball entirely, only to see the cross cannon off the post and away from danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chances kept coming for the visitors as Jansen\u2019s side turned the screw late on, with the contest resembling a basketball game in the final ten minutes.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Jones spurned another opportunity when he volleyed wide from close range on 82 minutes after Cavallo scampered clear down the left. With the goal gaping, it seemed easier to score than miss.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Ojeda spurned an almost equally good chance two minutes later when Fern\u00e1ndez teed him up in space in the Red Bull area. The winger\u2019s touch was too heavy, however, allowing the Red Bulls defense to close him down and force him to snatch at the effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll credit to Malachi,\u201d Jansen said. \u201cHe alone could have scored two or three goals and killed the game, but he was a major difference in the second half.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Bull New York and New York City FC (NYCFC) played out a 1-1 draw in an entertaining…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":803025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,326976,222792,6656,405,403,5226,5225,326977,5228,5227,94089,87602,211720,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-803024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-hudson-river-derby","10":"tag-michael-bradley","11":"tag-mls","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-nicolu00e1s-fernu00e1ndez-mercau","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-nycfc","20":"tag-pascal-jansen","21":"tag-red-bull-new-york","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}