Red Bulls, MLS, NYC FC

Early Casserers goal, gives Red Bulls a Derby win

The New York Red Bulls on a rare Sunday afternoon on National Television faced their Hudson River foes for the third and final time at Red Bull Arena, and once again they came up big with an early goal and tough defense to psych out NYCFC as they proved once again that New York is red with a one goal to nil victory.

The early tally came in the third minute as Venezuelan international Midfielder Cristian Casserers JR. got on the scoresheet after returning from International Duty with Venezuela smashed the ball home. After earning the free-kick, Sean Davis delivered a great ball into the NYCFC area.

As the ball was headed down by Fabio, Casserers remained onside, and when he saw the ball left alone, he pounced on it and drove it inside the back post to open the scoring, running all the way to the corner and celebrated with some of the Red Bull fans waiting for him and his teammates.

All match long the Red Bulls defense found ways to frustrate and psych out NYCFC every time they had the ball. There were moments when NYCFC couldn't pull the trigger when the final pass came into a solid scoring opportunity.

But Coronel made a huge save towards the end of the first half when a fantastic ball came towards his area and the shot from Santiago Rodriguez came from point-blank range, all Coronel had to do was stand his ground and used his legs to stop the shot.

"Carlos [Coronel] was great. I think we limited them in a lot of ways, and I think the chances, the big chances that you saw were arguably offside, but still, we know Carlos is always there ready to make a big play and I think that we really limited them in terms of build-out for the most part, they tried to bypass our press and go long." said Sean Davis,  "I am really happy with the team performance, you know, from the backline to the forwards. I just think we did a really good job of adjusting during the game. I have said this before, but they are a really good team and I think that we should be proud of the performances that we put in against them and it is just a huge moment for us, for our fans, and for our club. You know, that is the standard, and just really proud of the group now."

The man who is smiling and proud of this side is Head Coach Gerhard Struber, as he continues to enjoy the play from his young roster who is now on a seven-match unbeaten streak and has taken seven out of nine points in the three games this season against NYCFC.

"First of all, New York is red; it makes us, everyone, very, very happy. I think we deserve the win, when we look back on the 90 minutes, I think my boys, with our staggering, with our behavior, in our pressing moments, we kill I think from the first second every hope that they can create something." said Struber, "In some moments, especially remember in the first half in the end and also with the shoot on the crossbar, they have I think two possibilities to score. But in the end, over the whole game, I think we have so much control with our pressing. We have so many good moments with transition. We have very good moments in defending and also I think some good moments with buildups. 

"I think in all phases, we make the necessary steps to create in the end a win against a team like New York City. We know, I think in the whole league, this other team, they celebrate their position on a very good level, and today, I think they have many, many to-dos and many stress in these moments. My boys make, yeah, from the match plan side, everything in this direction what we want. We expect exactly that what come and my boys I think, yeah, make a brilliant job in every direction, and I think we deserve the win. 

Yeah, one more time, New York is red, and this make us happy and give us a very good feeling and confidence for the next big game away."

For NYCFC they are on a tailspin and haven't scored a goal within the last four games. Their scoreless minute streak has reached over 415 minutes, and this side that was poised to go to the MLS Cup Finals is right now on the outside looking in, tied on points with the Red Bulls with 40, and there looks to be no relief in sight for them.

But for the Red Bulls, this seven-match unbeaten streak with five wins and two draws and only concerning two goals, has been a bit stressful, but fun to match. Now they must head back to Ohio and face the Columbus Crew again for revenge and extending this unbeaten streak to continue to move up the standings in the Eastern Conference.