The Red Bulls defeated Club America of Mexico’s Liga MX, 2-0, in an international friendly on Wednesday night at Red Bull Arena.
Shaun Wright-Phillips and Dan Metzger both scored for New York, while Kyle Reynish kept the clean sheet.
Wright-Phillips got things started in just the third minute, connecting on a bicycle kick from close range to finish off a Sean Davis corner that was headed on by Damien Perrinelle and Gideon Baah.
Metzger, a Red Bulls Academy product, scored from the right side of the top of the box in the 53rd minute to give them a 2-0 lead.
The Red Bulls used a mix of first team players, like Gideon Baah and Damien Perrinelle, throughout the first half. Call ups from the USL team, Red Bulls II, such as Florian Valot, Konrad Plewa, and Brandon Allen, closed out the game.
Kyle Reynish was in goal for the Red Bulls, and he made six saves to preserve the shutout, including several diving saves in the late stages.
“Yeah, I mean you just knew that it was so hot that they were possessing a lot and they were going to be able to get some chances and stuff,” Reynish said of the push Club America made in the second half. “You knew if we were kind of able to keep them from getting those times, once they get one, they seem to kind of start pouring in and stuff so it was really important for us to just keep the clean sheet and the guys did well, they were alert on corner kicks and all the plays, and really made it difficult for them.”
The clean sheet was nothing new for the New York Red Bulls II players that closed out the match, as they have had shutouts in 10 of 16 league games.
“First of all, that’s a really good team,” Red Bulls Head Coach Jesse Marsch said of beating one of the top sides in Mexico. “I know that they’re early in their preseason, but regardless, there [were] a lot of really good players on the field, and their coach went out of his way to keep the good players on the field and to continue to put more good players on in the second half. So they went after it, and they wanted to get a result. They didn’t want to lose the game today. So, you know, really proud of our guys, really proud to be part of this club.
“It’s always been a dream, I think, for any footballer or any coach to be a part of something that’s special and that’s bigger than any one person. And I think that, you know, we’ve been able to achieve that here as a group. No one guy can take credit for that. And I think it’s really started from (Red Bulls general manager) Marc de Grandpre to (Red Bulls sporting director) Ali Curtis all the way down, that everyone truly cares about this, works together, and tries to build something that is uniform and complete and about unity and togetherness.
“So sometimes I get to use Marc de Grandpre’s slogan, which is ‘One Team, One Voice,’ and certainly tonight we see the performance of different guys and it didn’t matter what name was on the jersey, they played like we wanted them to play and it looked like us. So, really proud of our club tonight.”