NYCFC breaks Red Bull Arena drought with big derby win.
Even the Red Bulls’ recent U.S. Open Cup victory over NYCFC on this same field offered signs that things were changing.
On Saturday, NYCFC put together its best performance in the history of the series, and although that may not be saying much given the lone win in seven prior meetings, it was the thoroughness of the victory that has to leave Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch at least a little concerned about just how big the gap in class is between the teams now.
"When we look at all the games that we played against the Red Bulls previous to this year, they always wanted it more than us and that is unacceptable at this level," Vieira said.
Realistically, the match played out exactly how you would expect based on how these teams have looked this year.
There was no sense of panic for the Red Bulls, with Marsch doing his best to try and downplay how thoroughly his team was outplayed on Saturday.
"We were now managing to control certain moments.
Marsch’s recollection of the match may have been a bit generous.
Instead, they are treading water, and have hit the midway point in the season with more losses than wins, and only one victory against a winning team so far this season.
As for the New York rivalry, Saturday’s win isn’t on the level of the Red Bulls’ 7-0 thrashing of NYCFC last year at Yankee Stadium but, if anything, it did show how much things have changed in the year since then.