New York Red Bulls 2 DC United 2

Match 24/16/1332 - Sunday, 11th September 2016 - MLS Eastern Conference

New York Red Bulls (1) 2 Veron 33 B. Wright-Phillips 54
DC United (0) 2 Birnbaum 89 Neagle 90+5
Attendance: 20,086

Entrance: $8.95
Programme: None
Mileage: 41/2,348 (from hotel)

Match Report

Our visit to New York was primarily for the US Open Tennis. Of course, with the wife in tow, there had to be a little (a lot) shopping, a bit of sightseeing but there has to be time made available to see the Red Bulls.

This was our second visit to the Red Bull Arena and, once again, the club are chasing the end-of-season play-offs and the Eastern Conference championship. They are challenged by their city rivals, New York City and the present league leaders, Toronto, who following the weekend results are two points clear with a game in hand. Red Bulls are second by virtue of their superior goal difference to New York City.

Wherever you are in the world, and whatever level you are watching, one thing never changes, it's goals that win matches and if you don't take your chances then, invariably, it will come back to bite you.

Red Bulls should have sewn this game up long before an 89th minute goal gave DC United a little bit of hope. It was almost inevitable that in the last seconds of the five added minutes with the DC goalkeeper in the Red Bulls penalty area for a corner that the ball was bundled into the net to give the Washington side an unlikely point.

Nothing comes cheap in New York, I won't bore you with the tale of an Indian meal that left us feeling mugged at gunpoint, so the tickets for the match at Harrison came as a bonus. The night previous to the match I had tried to book the seats online and, for whatever reason, the site just kept kicking me out until I lost patience and decided I would just buy from the ground knowing that there would not be anything like a full stadium.

On the day of the game, we were due to fly home the next day, I went to the hotel's laptop station to run out my boarding passes and noticed one of the bellboys trying to book tickets for a show. I told him my tale of woe from the previous evening and he asked me if I would like him to try StubHub, a site I have always thought was strictly for over-inflated price tickets. He asked me what I wanted to pay and I said that I had been trying for the $41 tickets in the top tier. You can imagine my delight when he secured those tickets for the princely sum of $8.95 including all the charges!

On my first visit to the Red Bulls, the lack of visiting supporters was very obvious, there was none at all travelling from Chicago. So, albeit the trip from Washington is a good deal shorter, it was good to see the knot of DC supporters there to support their club and credit to them, even at 2-0 down into the dying embers of the game they were still banging the drum.

Once again, the weekend marked the anniversary of 9/11 with the unfurling of the giant stars and stripes and a moving rendition of the national anthem, although the moment's silence was literally that, ten seconds tops.

The game looked plain sailing for the Red Bulls, who were buoyed by the previous night's defeat of their City rivals at New England Revolution. They huffed and puffed a little through a first half that lacked a bit of quality until a strong run from Sacha Kljestan took him to the bye-line; his cross was deflected upwards and Gonzalo Veron dived in to head home from close range.

Kljestan nearly doubled the Red Bulls advantage just before the break when he hit a post.

That lead should have been wiped out within three minutes of the second period when ex-Red Bulls Lloyd Sam (also ex of Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday) was through on goal but Louis Roubles came out on top in the one-on-one.

The Red Bulls lead was doubled, however, nine minutes into the half when Bradley Wright-Phillips emphatically finished after being sent clear by Danny Royer.

Almost immediately Wright-Phillips might have put the game beyond DC when his shot was parried to safety by the goalkeeper as the Red Bulls embarked on a create and waste period.

Kljestan, best player on the pitch, hit the inside of a post and Royer had a couple of chances in the space of a minute.

When DC pulled a goal back in the last minute, Birnbaum rifling home from an unmarked position on the right side of the box, and the board was held aloft showing five minutes added time, the sense of inevitability heightened.

Red Bulls lived dangerously, but just had one last corner to defend. The ball wasn't cleared and it fell to Neagle to stab it home from a yard leaving the Red Bulls players flat out on the ground and those DC fans wildly celebrating.

The final whistle was greeted with boos from the home support, more than a little harsh I felt.

This ended up very good entertainment for the small price paid. I'm disappointed the Americans haven't adopted the British passion for a matchday programme, they give away hats and posters and are very family friendly but the programme doesn't feature although at the tennis there was a new issue every day.

We had intended taking in the New York Cosmos on this trip, but an awkward journey for an evening game knocked it on the head, perhaps next time.