HARRISON, NJ — The New York Red Bulls erased a pair of one-goal deficits to salvage a 1-1 draw against Orlando City on Saturday at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Matchweek 4 action.
Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting scored his first goal for the club from the penalty spot in the 29th minute and Dennis Gjengaar picked up his first of the season just two minutes into the second half, canceling out a pair of Orlando first-half goals from Martin Ojeda and Marco Pasalic.
Goalkeeper Carlos Coronel preserved the point for the Red Bulls (1-1-2, 5 points), with two key saves in second-half stoppage time to bail the hosts out of a dismal final 10 minutes.
“It’s simple to say, OK, one point against Orlando, that’s a great team,” Red Bulls head coach Sandro Schwarz said. “… But now, it’s more the feeling that we lost two points.”
Ojeda put Orlando ahead in the 18th minute after catching New York’s transitional defense asleep. Gaining possession at midfield, the Orlando striker managed to streak down the left wing, meander toward the center of the pitch with little resistance, and bean a right-footed effort into the top-right corner of the goal.
The Red Bulls found an equalizer via the penalty spot after Choupo-Moting was taken down in the box by Orlando defender Robin Jansson in the 25th, which was initially not called by referee Armando Villarreal.
One minute later — just seconds after New York midfielder Peter Stroud was taken down in the box for another penalty shout — play was stopped for a video-assisted review (VAR), which deemed Jansson’s takedown of Choupo-Moting was a penalty.
The Red Bulls’ big offseason signing slotted his chance from the spot in the bottom-left corner of the goal in the 29th minute, his first goal with the club and his first since Nov. 11, 2023 when he helped lead German giants Bayern Munich to a 4-2 victory over Heidenheim.
“Choupo was great today,” Schwarz said. “How he worked for the team in holding the ball and keeping the ball in a lot of moments, it was a top performance.”
Just 10 minutes later, though, the Red Bulls’ defense were caught snoozing again, specifically left-back Raheem Edwards, who kept Pasalic onside for a ball over the top that sent him in alone on Coronel, leading to the go-ahead goal just before the half.
“We stayed too deep in this moment with our left-wing back,” Schwarz said. “We also had some moments in the first half with their attack, where they attacked on our left side… We had some moments where we were too deep in some situations.. It’s difficulty to make high pressure on the ball against an opponent.”
Gjengaar tied it up in the 47th minute when he kneed a left-wing Peter Stroud cross from point-blank range past the diving Orlando keeper, Pedro Gallese.
“It was somewhere in between [my knee and thigh],” Gjengaar said of his goal. “You’re just trying to get something, some contact on the ball, and steer it in the right direction. And it worked.”
Edwards had a pair of golden opportunities to put the Red Bulls in front in the 52nd minute when a Ivan Angulo was scuffed right into his path at the left post. His first touch sent the ball wide of the left post. A minute later, he could not wrangle in a rebound off a save by Gallese right in front of goal.
Gjengaar should have had a second, too, when he pounced on a turnover at midfield and had no one but Gallese in front of him in the 62nd minute. At first, it appeared as though he pulled his shot well wide of the left post, but Gallese got the slightest of touches of to keep the score level.
He came within inches of giving the Red Bulls the win in the 85th minute when his left-footed shot from the right of the box curled its way off the left post.
“A lot of curse words [were going through my mind when I missed],” Gjengaar admitted.”
Coronel saved the Red Bulls from defeat in the third minute of second-half stoppage time when he pushed away a Ramiro Enrique shot after the Orlando attacker was able to walk in alone from the right side of the box.
One minute later, he made a sprawling kick save to stop Rafael Santos. The rebound followed up on by Duncan McGuire was blocked.
“This is what I didn’t like today,” Schwarz said. “You have to be lucky for this point because Carlos saved us. I don’t like to have this feeling.”
