RECAP New York Red Bulls 2-1 New York City FC

The New York Red Bulls were victorious in the first Hudson River Derby, 2-1, over New York City FC. It was a tightly contested match with plenty of back and forth play between the two squads.

Bradley Wright-Phillips scored in the 4th and 52nd minutes off assists by Lloyd Sam and Sacha Klejstan. Sam was credited with an additional assist on the second goal. Patrick Mullins scored for NYCFC in the 76th minute off an assist by R.J. Allen and Kwadwo Poku.

Center back and U.S. U-20 call-up Matt Miazga was sent off in the 36th minute after receiving his second yellow. It was admittedly a bad mistake by the youngster, although the referee certainly could have been more lenient.

Anyway, here's what we learned.

Bradley Wright-Phillips is the god

Please keep telling me about how he needs Thierry Henry to be successful. Two goals. God damn. Great match for the man who should have won the league's MVP award last year. However, he also shot when he should have made an easy pass for an assist that would have put the match out of reach. I understand the scorer's instinct, but when you're 2 v. keeper, the best option is to pass the ball.

Lloyd Sam is a MVP candidate

He had two assists and was unlucky not to score. BWP smashed home Sam's cross to set the tone early and Sam had a shot cleared off the goal line. How many times does he have to put in a standout performance before he gets noticed by the league? Is a Ghana national team call-up on the horizon? I imagine it would have to be. Sam had his way with R.J. Allen who was making his first start for NYCFC.

Darn it, Miazga

Matt Miazga got two yellow cards. Now he's suspended for a match. Granted, he was going to be missing time with the US U-20 team, but this was not the way to do it. He was sent off in the first half and certainly made things more difficult for his team. Youthful inexperience, for sure, but one would hope it would stop appearing during big matches. Thankfully Damien Perrinelle, Karl Ouimette, Chris Duvall, and Kemar Lawrence stepped up in Miazga's absence.

Other thoughts

- Jurgen Klinsmann was in attendance. Hopefully he watched Luis Robles, Dax McCarty, and Sacha Kljestan. It's been a while since the Red Bulls had a player called up to the U.S. national team.

- Big match for the back line. Huge. Really huge.

- It wasn't easy (credit to New York City FC), but the Red Bulls got the job done. Sometimes it's easier playing down a man because your players are forced to be more compact.

- Kemar Lawrence had a huge match. A lot of people are telling me he is their Player of the Game. I'll allow it.

- The match was announced as a sellout and is the 15th regular season sellout in Red Bull Arena history per Jason Baum.

- Luis Robles was, again, stellar. He's amazing. Seriously, call him up, Klinsmann.

- Kljestan played well. Good for Kljestan.

- R.J. Allen started for NYCFC. His brother, Brandon, is a former #RBNY Academy player and is currently tearing it up at Georgetown. Hopefully Brandon will sign a Homegrown contract next season.

- This was awesome. I'm going to get some ice cream.

What did you think of the match? Sound off in the comment section.