MLS - May 17 - Red Bulls (CF)

[ZYanksRule]

From the infamous Red Wedding to last year's playoff showdown, the battle for New York has turned red more often than not.

But the blue side of this rivalry has the ultimate bragging rights, with NYCFC winning MLS Cup 2021 on penalty kicks. Conversely, RBNY have twice come painstakingly close to lifting the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy – falling in MLS Cup 2024 and MLS Cup 2008.

Before trophies get awarded this season, it's all about capturing momentum. RBNY lean on their one-two punch of Bundesliga veterans Emil Forsberg and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, while Costa Rican international Alonso Martínez spearheads the NYCFC attack as a Golden Boot presented by Audi contender.

Series record: New York Red Bulls lead 16W-10L-4D

This definitely feels like it was written with some Red Bulls bias. Why bring up that we won the MLS Cup on Penalty kicks? And "painstakingly close", really?

If you remove the non-MLS regular season games (1 playoff game, 3 U.S. Open Cup games, and 1 Leagues Cup game; 4 of 5 were away), the record is Red Bulls 11W, NYCFC 10W, 4D.

And if you remove the 7-0 game from that, it's 10-10-4.

Unfortunately, you can't just remove all the games we've lost to them because it fits your narrative. They have pantsed us more often than not in games that matter most. They've eliminated us from knockout competitions, they've embarrassed us in our home field, and the only thing we have over them is MLS Cup, which we did win in penalties.

The rivalry hasn't been as one-sided in recent years -- we had our blowout win, we've won a few times at their place, and we had the regular-season series sweep in 2022. But the Red Bulls have unquestionably had the better moments in the rivalry over the years.

 

[LionNYC]

And if you remove the 7-0 game from that, it's 10-10-4.

Unfortunately, you can't just remove all the games we've lost to them because it fits your narrative. They have pantsed us more often than not in games that matter most. They've eliminated us from knockout competitions, they've embarrassed us in our home field, and the only thing we have over them is MLS Cup, which we did win in penalties.

The rivalry hasn't been as one-sided in recent years -- we had our blowout win, we've won a few times at their place, and we had the regular-season series sweep in 2022. But the Red Bulls have unquestionably had the better moments in the rivalry over the years.

The 5-1 win at RBA maybe approaches the 0-7 status since we got to lift the Hudson River Derby Cup on their field.

 

[FootyLovin]

The 5-1 win at RBA maybe approaches the 0-7 status since we got to lift the Hudson River Derby Cup on their field.

I mostly agree with ZYanksRule . But I also think it is not cherry picking to start the clock sometime into our expansion. After year 1 kicks 3 regular season losses off the record. Start after 18 months and you kick off the Red Wedding. Maybe the 18 month mark is cherry picking. But I’ve always felt it was pretty fair to ignore our expansion year in comparing records. That said, while it closes the W/L gap to 13-10, it still leaves the comparison of Red Wedding and multiple knockouts against our MLS Cup win that bypassed them.

 

[joe]

I mostly agree with ZYanksRule . But I also think it is not cherry picking to start the clock sometime into our expansion. After year 1 kicks 3 regular season losses off the record. Start after 18 months and you kick off the Red Wedding. Maybe the 18 month mark is cherry picking. But I’ve always felt it was pretty fair to ignore our expansion year in comparing records. That said, while it closes the W/L gap to 13-10, it still leaves the comparison of Red Wedding and multiple knockouts against our MLS Cup win that bypassed them.

Anything after the expansion season is cherry picking. Aside from excluding year one as a general principal, NYCFC finished second in the east in 2016.

There are definitely times when looking at non-regular season only makes sense, but of course we come out worse on that end.

My opinion is correct and no reasonable person can possibly disagree

 

[FootyLovin]

Anything after the expansion season is cherry picking. Aside from excluding year one as a general principal, NYCFC finished second in the east in 2016.

There are definitely times when looking at non-regular season only makes sense, but of course we come out worse on that end.

My opinion is correct and no reasonable person can possibly disagree

Ultimately, even though I think skipping expansion year makes sense, all of these rivalry reviews will simply count from the start because why not? Beyond that they'll look for storylines - Red Wedding, record in elimination games, trophy comparison, any recent trend. All fair game.