Red Bulls Fall In Home Opener To Sporting KC
The New York Red Bulls lost 1-2 to Sporting Kansas City in Saturday’s MLS home opener.
New York grabbed a lead early in the second half, thanks to an incredible goal from 17-year-old Caden Clark.
But New York would let the lead slip away, with a handball in the box from Andrew Gutman leading to a converted penalty and, just moments later, a breakdown leading to Sporting Kansas City going on top for good.
New York drops its first season-opening match at Red Bull Arena since 2016 against Toronto FC.
Head Coach Gerhard Struber and Clark both said in postgame interviews that they were proud of the team’s play for 87 minutes, but can’t turn off for moments during the match.
“We had good moments, but I think the biggest let down is that we played a good game for 87-88 minutes and they scored two quick goals like that is pretty disappointing and frustrating from our end,” Clark said. “I think there are a lot of positives to take away from today, though. I think we rose to the challenge today, much better than we did in our final preseason scrimmage against D.C. last weekend, where our level was much higher tonight. The intensity was at a high tonight and you could see that from everyone that stepped on the pitch. Again, from one standpoint we were very disappointed in the result, especially with our lack of focus for a 2-minute stretch.”
New York started four newcomers: Carlos Coronel, goalkeeper, Andrew Gutman, defender, Youba Diarra, midfielder, and Fábio, a forward. Wiki Carmona later made his MLS debut, subbing on late in the match.
Caden Clark. That's the tweet. pic.twitter.com/D1biJyT3Yg
— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) April 18, 2021
“The good thing is I can see a team that never gave up, we created some chances, some moments for us and in the end, a disappointing game with this result,” Struber said.
Clark scored his fourth goal in his brief MLS career, his first at Red Bull Arena.
“In the end, we missed three minutes of focus and in this three minutes Kansas used their chances, and some luck with the hand[ball] penalty,” Struber said. “In the end, I can see our process, this is for me important, but from the result we are very disappointed. We expected victory today and in the end we lose this game, this is not our standard or our expectation. In the end we are very disappointed about the result, but the performance gives us good confidence for the next time.”
New York heads to California to take on the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday, April 25 at 5:30 PM ET on FS1 and FOX Deportes.