New York Red Bulls 2, Atlanta United FC 1
Sunday, March 5, 2017 – 7:30 p.m. ET
Bobby Dodd Stadium – Atlanta, Ga.
Box Score
Scoring Summary:
ATL – Yamil Asad (Tyrone Mears) 25’
NY – Danny Royer 1 (Sacha Kljestan) 76’
ATL – Own Goal (Anton Walkes) 82’
Misconduct Summary:
NY – Sal Zizzo (caution, foul) 38’
ATL – Josef Martinez (caution, foul) 49’
NY – Damien Perrinelle (caution, foul) 65’
ATL – Carlos Carmona (ejection, foul) 88’
New York Red Bulls: Luis Robles; Kemar Lawrence, Aaron Long, Damien Perrinelle, Sal Zizzo, Sean Davis (Derrick Etienne, Jr., 69’), Felipe, Danny Royer, Sacha Kljestan ©, Alex Muyl (Mike Grella, 54’), Bradley Wright-Phillips
TOTAL SHOTS: 9; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDE: 2; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 3
Atlanta United FC: Alec Kann; Tyrone Mears, Michael Parkhurst, Greg Garza, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez (Anton Walkes, 81’), Miguel Almiron, Yamil Asad, Carlos Carmona, Hector Villalba (Kenwye Jones, 85’), Julian Gressel (Jeff Larentowicz, 81’), Josef Martinez
TOTAL SHOTS: 14; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 17; OFFSIDE: 5; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 4
Referee: Mark Geiger
Referee's Assistants: Charles Morgante, Matthew Nelson
4th Official: Ted Unkel
Attendance: 55,297
- The New York Red Bulls opened the MLS regular season with a win on Sunday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. New York earned a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Atlanta United FC in the club’s first game. Danny Royer tied the match in the 76th minute, and Bradley Wright-Phillips got a touch on a Kemar Lawrence cross for the game-winner.
- Bradley Wright-Phillips was not credited with the game-winner, but he did enough to cause a deflection of a Kemar Lawrence cross into the Atlanta net. The play started with a backheel pass from Mike Grella to Lawrence.
- Atlanta got the first goal in the 25th minute.
- New York is 8-9-5 in season openers and 4-7-4 in season openers on the road.
- New York wins its season-opener on the road for the first time since an April 3 win at Columbus in 2004.
- The match came just three days after New York’s Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League second leg in Vancouver. New York traveled overnight on Thursday and arrived in Atlanta Friday morning.
- New York’s lineup featured nine of the same starters from Thursday night. DamienPerrinelle and Alex Muyl entered the starting lineup, replacing Aurelien Collin and Gonzalo Veron.
- Danny Royer’s goal came off of a free header on a Sacha Kljestan corner kick. Kljestan has 35 assists in 66 regular season appearances as a Red Bull. The start was the 175th of Kljestan’s MLS career.
- Aaron Long made his MLS debut in the match. Long played a full 90 minutes in both of the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions league matches over the last two weeks.
- New York is 12-13-8 all-time in the month of March. New York has scored 44 goals in March and allowed 48.
- Dan Metzger and Michael Amir Murillo made the MLS game-day roster for the first time. Metzger, a Red Bulls Academy product, was signed this offseason, while Murillo is currently with New York on loan from San Francisco FC in Panama.
- Luis Robles continued his iron-man run with his 141st consecutive league start. He made three saves, including a point-blank stop on Josef Martinez and also snagged a chip attempt out of the air to preserve the victory.
- The Red Bulls return home to open the eighth season of soccer at Red Bull Arena next Saturday, March 11, when the Colorado Rapids visit for a 4 p.m. ET kickoff. Coverage will be on Univision Deportes and Red Bulls Radio.
