Recap: New York Red Bulls Draw CF Montreal 2-2

Published: Thursday, July 18, 2024

by Kyle Ferreira

“Star Wars Night” at Red Bull Arena took an interesting turn. 

The New York Red Bulls came into Wednesday night’s matchup against CF Montreal looking to continue their six game unbeaten streak. Right from the start, they showed the potential to accomplish that mission. 

Their immediate high pressure was something the Montreal backline could not handle. This allowed New York to create numerous attacking chances in the box. Red Bulls’ attacker Dante Vanzeir had an incredible number of opportunities to convert, but was not able to score in the first half.  

Even with the Red Bulls controlling the ball, possession heavily favored Montreal early on, with a whopping 70% to New York’s 30% through the first 15 minutes. Despite that, the Red Bulls used the Force in the 18th minute, when midfielder Wikelman Carmona blasted a shot from outside the box. This elevated the Red Bulls to a 1-0 lead. 

Throughout the remainder of the first half, the Red Bulls had plenty of opportunities from both set pieces and open play to score. But whether it be mistiming them, or their inability to combat the physical style of Montreal, New York could not add on.

As halftime concluded, Mother Nature had to be an undercover Sith. Severe thunderstorms and torrential rain paused the game for more than an hour. When play had finally resumed at 10:30 p.m, the second half was poised to be eventful.  

With assistance from the fans, the Red Bulls continued their momentum from the first half. However, their ability to convert their shots was lacking, and ended up seriously hurting them as the game went on. Montreal then made a crucial substitution in the 56th minute, with former MLS MVP Josef Martinez coming on to bring life to his offense.  

While he might not be the same player he used to be, Martinez showed clear signs of it as the second half progressed. In the 66th minute, Martinez scored on a free kick, which was initially ruled as an own goal. 
The Red Bulls did not give up, and in the 75th minute, retook the lead off a corner kick that deflected off a Montreal player into the goal. But shortly after momentum flipped again, as a red card was given to their captain Sean Nealis. 

With the foul taking place in the Red Bulls’ penalty box, Montreal was awarded a penalty kick. Like he has done many times before, Martinez successfully nailed the kick, and the score was tied at two apiece. After eight minutes of stoppage time, the Red Bulls came away with just a point.  

Head coach Sandro Schwarz was frustrated with his team's missed opportunities, and emphasized he does not want to see those mistakes again this Saturday against FC Cincinnati, one of the league’s best teams.

“We need to focus on our performance, our behavior, our mentality... we lose too easy at some points.” 

Defender Dylan Nealis also expressed his concerns in the postgame interview. 

“Offensively we need to put our chances away early.” 

As for CF Montreal, they will be back up north against their rivals Toronto FC on Saturday.

Kyle Ferreira can be reached at kyle.ferreira@student.shu.edu

 

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