HARRISON, NJ — Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored a second half brace as New York Red Bulls came from a goal down to beat Real Salt Lake 2-1 in a chaotic encounter at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Sunday evening.
Choupo-Moting scored a 98th-minute winner from the spot after missing an early penalty in a dramatic second half that saw both sides reduced to 10 men when Salt Lake’s Diego Luna and New York’s Kyle Duncan were dismissed in a three-minute spell late on.
Choupo-Moting, who has now scored 15 MLS goals since joining the Red Bulls in the offseason, had squared things up for the hosts early in the second half after Salt Lake took an early lead through Zavier Gozo.
The come-from-behind result was badly needed for Sandro Schwarz’s side, who had fallen to 10th in the Eastern Conference after winning just once in an eight-game run stretching back to May prior to Sunday’s three points.
Schwarz’s side remain 10th but move level on points with ninth-placed Chicago Fire in the hunt for the Eastern playoff spots.
Schwarz praised his side for taking control of the contest after a difficult opening 20 minutes, commending the mentality and energy of his players, particularly in the second half.
“The reaction, the mentality, the energy, the body language, that was top in the second half,” Schwarz said.
It took Salt Lake just three minutes to hit the front, with the American international Luna taking advantage of a chasm in the heart of the Red Bulls defense to slide through William Agada, who unselfishly squared for Gozo to finish through the legs of AJ Marcucci from close range.
The hosts labored to respond in the opening quarter, often struggling to trap the ball on the patchy and bobbly surface of Sports Illustrated Stadium after the venue hosted a Rufus Du Sol concert at the end of July.
Schwarz blasted the quality of the pitch in his postgame press conference, stating that it is “not possible” for a team to play “very clean” on the ragged surface.
“If we want to be successful, very professional, then we need 100% a better pitch for the opponent, for us, for everything. This was not good today,” Schwarz said.
Raheem Edwards added that the surface was “not the greatest” but insisted that the Red Bulls did not want to make excuses and would be “shooting themselves in the foot” by doing so.
Red Bulls did eventually work their way into the contest, however, and almost leveled on 21 minutes when Rafael Cabral tipped an Emil Forsberg freekick around the post.
Forsberg passed up a golden opportunity to equalize on 33 minutes when he whipped a first-time effort straight at Cabral from 10 yards out after being found in acres of space by a driven Kyle Duncan pass.
The Swede fluffed his lines again in first-half injury time after Duncan attempted an audacious bicycle kick from the edge of the area. The wayward shot found Forsberg on the edge of the six yard box, but the Red Bulls captain badly miscued his effort, allowing Salt Lake to take a slender lead in at the break.
Forsberg did make amends early in the second half when he teed up Choupo-Moting for a 52nd-minute equalizer, squaring for the Cameroonian forward to slot home from close range.
If the red-clad supporters inside the sparsely-populated Sports Illustrated Stadium thought Choupo-Moting’s equalizer would spur a second-half onslaught, they were mistaken.
Schwarz’s side struggled to test the Salt Lake defense for much of the second half but looked to have been handed a golden opportunity to clinch victory when referee Ricardo Fierro awarded a penalty after a lengthy VAR review.
Choupo-Moting, who won the penalty after fooling the Salt Lake defense with a delightful drag-back, dusted himself down to take the spot-kick himself but chipped his Panenka straight into the arms of Cabral, who bravely stood tall and anticipated the chip.
There was still time for plenty more VAR drama, with both sides reduced to ten men in the final ten minutes.
Luna was given his marching orders for a second yellow card after tripping Duncan on the right wing. Duncan, meanwhile, was shown a straight red after a lengthy VAR review for allegedly striking Luna in the back of the head prior to the foul.
VAR would intervene again in stoppage time to hand Red Bulls another opportunity to snatch a late victory, with Fierro awarding a second penalty to the hosts. Choupo-Moting was again involved, drawing a foul from Justen Glag after a delightful spin in the area. Fierro did not hesitate in pointing to the spot, but the penalty was originally overturned for an offside in the build-up.
VAR eventually overruled the offside and Choupo-Moting again stepped up from 12 yards, this time emphatically finding the top corner to hand Red Bulls what had looked like an unlikely victory.
Marcucci described Sunday’s come-from-behind win as “very important” in the context of the Red Bulls season, noting that the result leaves them on the brink of the play-off places.
Red Bulls next travel to Philadelphia for a rescheduled US Open Cup quarter-final before hosting Philadelphia in the MLS next Saturday.
