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By the Transitive Property of Equality, the New York Red Bulls became the kings of English soccer on Wednesday night when they beat visiting Chelsea 4-2 in the 2015 International Champions Cup.
Of course the first part didn't really happen but the Red Bulls did defeat Chelsea in the ICC. The question going into the night would be who would line up for the Red Bulls given most of the senior players were involved in a US Open Cup match just over 24 hours before. The roster had a lot of relatively unknown NYRB II and academy players that even the ICC site couldn't list them, and left blanks instead.
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Don't worry the Red Bulls had us covered.
STARTING XI vs @ChelseaFC: Reynish, Miller, McLaws, Stolz, Obekop, Ouimette, Davis, Plewa, Tsonis, Adams, Bedoya #ICC2015 #RBNY
— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) July 22, 2015
The first 26 minutes were fairly uneventful, but Chelsea struck first in the 27th minute when Loic Remy put on in from inside the box past an outstretched Kyle Reynish. It looked like Chelsea would dominate the rest of the match as expected when the teams went into halftime up 1-0.
In the 51st minute, the course of the game changed. John Terry put in a weak back pass, and Franklin Casetllanos beat the keeper to the ball, and slotted in the Red Bulls first goal of the game. In the 70th minute, Tyler Adams put the team into the lead with a header off of a cross. Sean Davis tacked on a third in the 73rd minute.
Chelsea would get another one back a minute later with Eden Hazard scoring off of a free kick. Davis scored again in the 77th minute to make it 4-2 Red Bulls, and that's how the game would end.
Chelsea would pick up the pace after the Red Bulls 3rd goal, looking not to be embarrassed in their first preseason match, but the Baby Bulls held on for the victory.
The Red Bulls are now 2-0-1 with 7 points, and first place in the ICC, due to a win over San Jose Earthquakes in April and a draw to the LA Galaxy in May. Their final match in the friendly tournament is Sunday when they host SL Benefica at Red Bull Arena.