BRONX | New York City FC’s four-match unbeaten streak came to an end on Sunday afternoon as the Club suffered a 3-1 loss to the Red Bulls in front of a season-high sellout crowd of 48,047 at Yankee Stadium.
Tommy McNamara’s early goal -- the fastest in Club history -- gave the supporters something to cheer about, but the visitors answered with a trio of goals in the second half to leave with all three points.
New York City FC are now 4-8-5 (17 points), while the Red Bulls improve to 6-5-5 (23 points).
"First off, I definitely want to thank all of the fans that came out and supported us – how many people were in the stadium, how loud they were, how supportive of us they were was truly amazing," McNamara said. "Myself and the rest of the team are very thankful for that.
"As for the game, we started off very well from the kickoff, but over the course of the game we started to lose more and more momentum. They came out at halftime and got the two quick goals and it was tough to get the momentum back into our hands."
New York City FC couldn’t have asked for a better start in front their largest ever crowd in the Bronx. David Villa played a short corner to Mehdi Ballouchy who teed it back up for the captain. Villa’s cross was headed away by the defense, but not out of harm’s way. Mix Diskerud latched onto the ball on the right side and chipped it into the danger zone. Andrew Jacobson headed it on toward McNamara, who showed lovely control in bringing it down from his chest to his feet before firing home the go-ahead goal to the low far corner in the sixth minute.
New York City FC continued to press, especially off of set pieces. In the 17th minute, Villa worked a short corner kick with Mix. Villa’s cross landed at the feet of defender Chris Wingert at the far post, but his backheel attempt deflected off his other foot and was pounced on by Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles.
Both teams had other opportunities in the first half, but the score remained in favor of the home side.
Just as New York City FC came out firing early in the first half, the Red Bulls did the same in the second interval needing just two minutes to equalize.
Bradley Wright-Phillips’ cross from the left side was deflected by a defender and ended up with Sacha Kljestan, who ran back out that way. His looping effort into the center of the box was met by Wright-Phillips, who one-timed his volley into the back of the net.
The Red Bulls took the lead six minutes later.
Kljestan’s free kick near the far sideline went into the box but wasn’t fully cleared. Mike Grella ran onto it and chipped it toward Anatole Abang, who headed it down to Chris Duvall at the near post, who blasted it home from close range for a 2-1 lead.
"I think the second half was a continuation of the end of the fist half," New York City FC head coach Jason Kreis said. "We did a nice job with how we started the game, it was real good, but after that it was real poor. We got away from everything we’ve tried to do the last several weeks and months."
The Red Bulls weren’t done though, sealing all of the spoils on a goal by defender Matt Miazga in the 73rd.
Again Kljestan was instrumental in the finish, lofting a ball from the right that was headed in at the far post by the defender.
New York City FC return to action on July 4 against the Montreal Impact. Kickoff is 8 p.m. EDT from Stade Saputo (YES Network, WFAN).
"We have to go back to work, there’s no question about it," midfielder Ned Grabavoy said. "We have to keep doing the things that made us successful the last four matches."
