Julian Hall recorded his fifth goal of the season, Emil Forsberg and Mohammed Sofo also scored and the New York Red Bulls ended a three-match winless rut with a 4-2 triumph over FC Cincinnati on Saturday in Harrison, N.J.
New York (3-2-1, 10 points) entered the game with five goals on the season, four of them courtesy of 18-year-old phenom Hall. The Red Bulls nearly doubled that total, though one was a critical own goal off Cincinnati.
Ethan Horvath made four saves for the Red Bulls, and Cade Cowell had a fine performance, recording one assist and making the play that induced the own goal.
Pavel Bucha and Kyle Smith scored for Cincinnati (2-4-0, 6 points). Evan Louro, making his second straight start in net for the injured Roman Celentano, made three stops.
Forsberg put the Red Bulls ahead 2-1 in the 48th minute when he expertly nailed his close-range free kick over the Cincinnati wall to score off the crossbar.
In the 66th, Cowell took the ball along the right side of the box and changed directions twice to elude his defender. He sent a low cross toward Hall, and Smith’s outstretched leg attempted to deflect the shot but instead directed it over the line.
Smith made amends six minutes later. Evander’s corner kick was headed down by a New York defender, but Smith slid to the ground to poke it under Horvath and trimmed the margin to 3-2.
Cincinnati, which took six corner kicks, had numerous chances in the closing stages before Sofo buried a New York insurance goal from the center of the box three minutes into stoppage time.
Two minutes later, Cincinnati defender Alvas Powell was shown red when he chased down Omar Valencia in the open field and pushed him to the ground, denying a scoring opportunity. Valencia appeared hurt on the play.
The Red Bulls and Cincinnati traded opening blows in the 12th and 17th minutes. Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty pushed ahead down the right sideline and passed to Cowell, who sped past his marker to the goal line and centered it for Hall for a grounder through Louro.
Cincinnati responded quickly on a counterattack. Samuel Gidi and Kevin Denkey shuttled the ball to Bucha, whose right-footed shot zipped past a jumbled New York defense and a frozen Horvath.
–Field Level Media
