Red Bull Champions League Meltdown

Fun and exciting while it lasted, the New York Red Bulls fell apart starting in the 72nd minutes of their Leg 2 Concacaf Champions League match against a quality opponent, Santos Laguna, in Torreon, Mexico. As a result, New York is knocked out of the competition by a 6-2 aggregate goal advantage owned by Santos.

Technically the Mexican side was clearly the better of the two teams, dominated more of the play, and towards the end of the match, several of the Red Bulls simply didn't cover their marks and were punished for their lack of concentration..

New York Red Bulls 2, Santos Laguna 4
Concacaf Champions League | Quarterfinals
Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 9 p.m. ET
Estadio Corona | Torreon, Mexico
Aggregate: Santos Laguna 6 - 2 New York



Scoring Summary:
NY - Omir Fernandez 1 (Royer, Kaku) 4'
NY - Daniel Royer 3 (Wright-Phillips) 9'
SAN - Jose Abella (Quinones) 72'
SAN - Brian Lozano (Angulo) 76'
SAN - Diego Valdes (Quinones) 79'
SAN - Brian Lozano (unassisted) 81'

Misconduct Summary:
SAN - Julio Furch (caution, unsporting behavior) 41'
NY - Connor Lade (caution, unsporting behavior) 49'
NY - Bradley Wright-Phillips (caution, unsporting behavior) 88'


New York Red Bulls: Luis Robles ©; Aaron Long, Michael Amir Murillo, Tim Parker, Connor Lade, Sean Davis, Omir Fernandez (Derrick Etienne, Jr., 65'), Kaku (Andreas Ivan, 82'), Florian Valot (Mathias Jørgensen, 65'), Danny Royer, Bradley Wright-Phillips

TOTAL SHOTS: 5; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 17; OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 2

Santos Laguna: Jonathan Orozco; Hugo Rodriguez, Hugo Nervo, Jesus Angulo, Jose Abella, Brian Lozano (Gerardo Arteaga, 86'), Diego Valdes, Jose Vazquez, Marlos Moreno (Deinner Quinones, 69'), Javier Correa, Julio Furch (Ulises Rivas, 85')

TOTAL SHOTS: 19; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 13; OFFSIDE: 0; CORNER KICKS: 11; SAVES: 2


A late scoring parade leads Santos Laguna past the New York Red Bulls, 4-2, in Leg 2 of the Concacaf Champions League Quarterfinals on Tuesday at Estadio Corona. Santos advanced to the SCCL Semifinals on aggregate, 6-2.

New York will host its MLS home opener against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday at Red Bull Arena. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET with coverage on Univision and New York Red Bulls Radio on TuneIn.

The Red Bulls lost back-to-back matches for the first time since March 31-April 4, 2018 when they dropped a road match to Orlando City SC then at Chivas four days later.

New York quickly jumped on the board first as Kaku connected with Daniel Royer, who found Omir Fernandez at the near post to finish in the fourth minute.

Minutes later, Bradley Wright-Phillips fed a pass across the face of the net for Royer to finish with a low-liner to double the lead in the ninth minute.

Holding onto a 2-0 lead late in the second half, Santos Laguna took control of the match with four consecutive goals in a nine-minute span to advance on aggregate.

Fernandez tallied his first professional goal in just 109 minutes of action this season.

Royer scored his third goal of SCCL tournament and fourth SCCL goal of his career. The Austrian winger finished the tournament with three goals and one assist.

Wright-Phillips and Kaku both finished the match with an assist.

Recently acquired 18-year-old Danish striker Mathias Jørgensen made his New York debut in the 65th minute as he subbed on for Florian Valot.
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