The New York Red Bulls II came into Sunday’s MLS NEXT Pro tilt looking to get new manager Michael Bradley started on the right foot at their home field and for revenge for the loss FC Cincinnati 2 handed them on April 20. Instead, the Baby Bulls fell 5:3 in a penalty shootout.
Coach Bradley was given five first team players ahead of this match including Julian Hall, Dennis Gjengaar, Wiktor Bogacz, Marcelo Morales and Red Bulls Academy product and Montclair, New Jersey native Roald Mitchell, who returned to MLS NEXT Pro Sunday after missing 14 months due to an ACL tear.
The Baby Bulls started off on the right foot generating pressure on FC Cincinnati 2’s goal, but it would be the visitors who would get on the scoreboard first. In the 21st minute, NYRB II defender Jair Collahuazo clipped a FC Cincinnati 2 player inside the 18-yard box and a penalty was awarded. Peter Mangione took the kick sending it towards the left side of the net where it was saved by Baby Bulls goalkeeper, Aidan Stokes. However, the rebound fell to Tega Ikoba who smashed it into the back of the net.
However, the Baby Bulls kept maintaining a majority of the possession and made their breakthrough in the 34th minute. Bogacz ran onto a through ball by muscling past a Cincinnati defender near the 18 yard box, cut it back and made a short pass to the center of the edge of the box for Nehuen Benedetti. The Argentine then curled a nifty left-footed shot off the post and in to tie the game.
Two minutes later the Baby Bulls took their first lead of the match. Julian Hall took a shot that hit the cross bar and Bogacz was there to volley the ball into the back of the net.
Right before halftime, the visitors generated a goal out of nothing. A throw in from the left sideline found its way to Andres Davila, who juggled once before turning and shooting. His left-footed shot beat Stokes into the bottom right corner of the net and tied the game at two.
Just four minutes inside the second half, substitute Mijahir Jimenez was taken down inside the 18 yard box by FC Cincinnati 2 defender Andrei Chirila. A penalty was given right away by the referee and Hall confidently slotted it on the ground into the bottom left corner of the net to give the Red Bulls II their second lead of the match.
FC Cincinnati 2 came close to tying it in the 65th minute when a pass found Ikoba wide open inside the 18. Ikoba shot quickly but Stokes rushed off his line and smothered the shot.
The visitors weren’t done there. In the 67th minute, Davila found himself on a breakaway but when Stokes rushed out to meet him, he chipped the ball wide of the net. In the 68th minute, Red Bulls Academy product Roald Mitchell was subbed on for forward Mijahir Jimenez.
A defensive breakdown by the Baby Bulls led to a FC Cincinnati 2 player earning a corner kick. The visitors would capitalize on the corner when Mangione swerved in a hard cross to the near-post that NYRB II midfielder Aiden Jarvis accidentally headed into his own net. This leveled the score at three in the 78th minute.
In the 81st minute, Michael Bradley brought on Curtis Ofori to replace Morales at left-back and Nathan Worth to replace Jarvis in the midfield. Shortly thereafter, the Baby Bulls nearly went ahead. Curtis Ofori ran on to a through ball inside the 18 before playing a hard pass across the face of goal to the back post where it found Dennis Gjengaar, but he couldn’t sort his feet out to connect with the ball and instead he accidentally kicked the ball tamely out of play.
In the 91st minute, a turnover by Worth led to FC Cincinnati 2 getting a scoring chance and Kenji Mboma Dem’s left-footed shot was saved by Stokes. After neither side was able to break the tie after 90 minutes, the game went to a penalty shootout.
Cincinnati scored the first penalty then Rafael Mosquera scored NYRB II’s first penalty. The second penalty was where things went awry for the Baby Bulls and it was Gjengaar missing a chance once again. Gjengaar’s penalty hit the crossbar and bounced down in front of the goal line. Despite appeals from the crowd and the Baby Bulls’ bench, the referree made the ‘x’ signal and the penalty officially went down as a miss.
This was the only opening that the visitors would need as they went on to win the penalty shootout 5:3 and take home an extra point on top of the point that each team gained from the draw.
The Baby Bulls snapped their six-game winning streak despite having 20 shot attempts to Cincinnati’s 13 and having eight shots on goal to Cincy’s seven.
Overall thoughts are that there’s a lot of positives for long stretches of the game. We do everything that we would want in terms of making the game fast, playing forward, making chances, pressing, counterpressing. The game is on our terms and we’re disappointed that on a night now between a penalty and a second ball on a long throw and then a corner kick that we let a team walk away with points in that way, but again, so many positives, so many guys going in good directions and now it’s just understanding how to take the next step. – NYRB II head coach Michael Bradley
A day after a controversial New York Red Bulls match, the first team decided to send down five players for this match. Bradley was asked how that impacted the chemistry of his team and had this to say.
There’s a great feeling and connection inside the club so every single one of the first team guys that came to play tonight had an excellent attitude. They walked into the locker room before the match with big smiles, personality, ready to go and we always understand that, inside a club, the connection and the alignment from top to bottom is really important and so, we continue to move forward in every way.
One of two New Jerseyans on this Red Bulls II team, Roald Mitchell came on as a substitute and played 22 minutes in his first game back after suffering a torn ACL in April 2024. He described what it was like to play in front of some family who came to watch him play in his hometown.
It means a lot, I got to show out for people. My family was here and my friends were here too, so just glad to be back and playing in front of them.
Despite missing out on the extra point tonight, the Baby Bulls remain first place in the MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference, clear of the second place team Chattanooga FC by four points.
The Baby Bulls will look to shrug this draw off and get back in the win column when they take on Huntsville FC at home on July 6.
