It was the kind of result that was reminiscent of the best New York Red Bulls teams which could vanquish any road venue on their day.
In Week 13 they handed expansion Inter Miami CF their first ever loss at home and it was decisive: a 4-1 final result that sees RBNY smack in the middle of the East standings and level with rivals NYCFC on 17 points.
“Very excited. Overjoyed by the win, the three points. The guys more than earned it,” said RBNY interim head coach Bradley Carnell.
“We had a game plan in mind and worked hard at it knowing that we just had to be us on the day. And being us means being on the right areas of the field, according to the opposition. We did a good account of that on the day,” Carnell continued. “We thought we had some success in turning over the ball in certain areas. But again, a really professional performance from the boys.”
Before exploding for four goals against Miami, the Red Bulls had only scored three goals in their previous six league matches and they were coming off an especially galling 1-0 shutout defeat at home to FC Cincinnati, losing the match on a goal scored directly off a corner kick. In Miami it was a different story: The Red Bulls had four different goal scorers and they’re hoping the goals will continue to flow.
“I think we got a lot more guys attacking the final third, guys in and around the box,” said Brian White, who scored his first goal of the season in the match. “You saw the last goal was a 3-v-2 and when I scored there were 3-4 guys around the box. We emphasized getting numbers in the box and getting the ball into the box and that led to more goals.
“I think you can tell from the reactions to the goals that the guys were excited. We’re scoring goals again,” White said. “There’s been a lot of pressure on us to score more goals and really finish games off. So I think that pressure kind of exploded a little bit and guys were really enjoying the win tonight. Hopefully we can build off that and keep winning games.”
Highlights: Inter Miami 1, NY Red Bulls 4
Right back Mandela Egbo, who scored his first goal in a Red Bulls jersey, called it “very important win today for the team” and “almost the perfect away performance.” He netted the opening goal of the match on a 14th minute penalty kick, and with regular PK taker Daniel Royer on the bench, Egbo just grabbed the ball and said “let me see if anyone takes it off me.”
Although Miami equalized before the break, the Red Bulls came back with three goals in the second half for the most total goals they’ve scored in a game all year. It’s with good reason that Carnell said the locker room was buzzing.
“Seeing the team together.” Carnell said when asked for his personal highlight of the game. “People on the bench, the players on the bench. Even Kaku, who didn’t get minutes tonight. We had a lot of minutes planned for Kaku, but the game progresses in a different way. And Kaku is so happy, he’s overjoyed with everybody. So sometimes you can feel when the team is not so cohesive some guys might not be happy they played less minutes, more minutes or didn’t score that goal. But the energy in the locker room gave me goosebumps. Everybody’s all in. … This is what it’s all about. It’s about gaining momentum as a team and as a group.”
“We’re burning hot, ready to go. Raring to go,” Egbo said when asked to give the temperature of the team. “We’ve got a lot of young lads that are in critical parts of our career and we’re just raring to go. I guess if you’ve got goosebumps, I’d suggest you’re cold. But I’m definitely hot and raring to go.
“We just have to keep trying to build. It’s the start of a process at the moment,” Egbo said. “It’s a rebuild. We’re going, we’re going, we’re going. We’ll keep moving and we’ll keep progressing, hopefully. I know we will.”
The Red Bulls next take the field on Sunday, Sept. 27 for a Week 14 match against the Montreal Impact (7 pm ET | TV & streaming).
