HARRISON, N.J. (February 20, 2017) – The New York Red Bulls open the 2017 campaign on Wednesday night at Red Bull Arena, hosting the first leg of a home-and-home quarterfinals series in the CONCACAF Champions League. The Red Bulls and Vancouver Whitecaps FC square off at 8 p.m. ET.
The match will be broadcast on Univision in Spanish, with an English language broadcast available through the CONCACAF Facebook page. Red Bulls Radio will also carry the game in English with Matt Harmon.
The Red Bulls finished the 2016 MLS season with a 16-9-9 record. New York capped off the regular season with a 20-game unbeaten streak that included 16 league games and all four group-stage games in the Champions League. The Red Bulls recorded three shutouts as the club advanced to the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals for the first round.
New York is 1-3-3 all-time against Whitecaps FC in MLS play. Last season, the Red Bulls claimed a 1-0 road win in Vancouver on the strength of a Bradley Wright-Phillips goal.
Sacha Kljestan, now New York’s captain, led the Red Bulls in Champions League with two goals and an assist in the group stage. Kljestan led the league with 20 assists in the regular season last year, just the second MLS player to reach the 20-assist mark. Kljestan was often setting up Wright-Phillips, who became the first MLS player to record multiple 20-goal seasons, nabbing his second Golden Boot in three years with 24 tallies.
After Wednesday, the Red Bulls travel to Vancouver for the second leg on Thursday, March 2, before opening the MLS season in Atlanta against expansion side Atlanta United FC on Sunday, March 5.
New York returns home on Saturday, March 11, to host the Colorado Rapids.
