Red Bulls play to scoreless tie in home opener against Nashville

HARRISON, N.J. — For the second consecutive game the Red Bulls had their chances, but just couldn’t capitalize. This time against Nashville, though, they still managed to pick up a point in the standings.

The Red Bulls and Nashville SC played to a scoreless tie Saturday night in New York’s home opener at Red Bull Arena. The tie wasn’t for a lack of chances as the Red Bulls outshot Nashville 8-5 and put three shots on goal while the visitors from Tennessee failed to get any on keeper Carlos Coronel.

New York controlled the play for most of the 90-minute affair, holding a 57.7-42.3 edge in possession percentage.

However, even with a number of chances and an energized crowd inside a chilly RBA, the Red Bulls were held without a goal. It was the second straight game that it had happened.

The Red Bulls had come into Saturday’s game with a 1-0-1 record and this was only New York’s third matchup against Nashville, which entered the league in 2020 as an expansion franchise. The Red Bulls were 16-6-5 in home openers in franchise history entering the game and they had been 8-3-2 in their first home game of the year since moving to Red Bull Arena.

New York’s best chance of the opening half came in the 12th minute of the match when the Red Bulls had numbers. With a chance inside the box, defender John Tolkin fired a shot from the left side of the net, but had his attempt turned away by Nashville keeper Joe Willis.

It was the Red Bulls’ second shot attempt of the game and the second chance that they couldn’t capitalize on in the opening 45 minutes.

Nashville missed on an opportunity of their own in the 24th minute when former Red Bulls midfielder Dax McCarty had a shot sail just over the crossbar. Nashville also had two corners cleared without incident in the first half.

Tolkin had another opportunity in the box late in the first half. Instead of putting the ball on the net he sent a pass just out of reach of a charging Tom Barlow.

The Red Bulls were almost dealt a devastating blow in the 69th minute when another former Red Bull player, Alex Muyl, found the back of the net. However, the play was ruled offside and the game remained scoreless.

Elias Manoel gave New York their third scoring chance of the night when he fired one on net that forced Willis to make a big kick save in the 76th minute. New York came oh so close again in the 85th minute, but a free kick by Dante Venzier couldn’t connect with any Red Bulls in the box and went casually out of play.

Venzier made his Red Bulls debut when he was subbed into the game in the 76th minute. The Belgian was New York’s major offseason addition, who was added weeks before the start of the season.

He appeared in 14 minutes of the Red Bulls tie with Nashville.