Red Bulls Draw again in Tucson, against the Crew

For the second match in their VisitTucson Sub Cup, the New York Red Bulls played another 90 minutes of pre-season action ending the contest against the Columbus Crew in a one-all draw, on Wednesday night at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona.

With a makeshift lineup that showed some old faces with a few new faces, the Rad Bulls got out of the gate a bit haphazard as they quickly got behind in the opening minute of the match.

It was former teammate Derrick Etienne Jr. who opened the scoring within 30 seconds as he buried a quick sidefoot challenge to beet David Jensen who got the start in goal. After getting scored on, the Red Bulls were looking to even things up with an equalizer of their own.

In the 63rd minute, the Red Bulls got their equalizer as Brian White was in the perfect place to convert his chance as a 2nd half substitute. = The ball was delivered from the near side and hit a Crew defender off his arm without seeing it, then the ball found it’s way to White who properly buried it to get the team on the scoreboard

But a price was paid to get that equalizer a few minutes earlier as the Crew was down to ten men in the 60th minute. After the Crew lost possession, one of their players who wore the #18 fouled Omir Fernandez very hard and went studs up into his left leg.

The referee issued a yellow card but in this tournament, Video Review is allowed, so after a minute or two the referee returned, signaled the use of VAR and then showed that player the red card that put the Crew down to ten men.

Fernandez was helped off the field by the trainers as he couldn’t put any weight on his left leg, hopefully, the injury isn’t too serious. But after another 90 minutes of pre-season in the books for the team in red, the Red Bulls earned another draw and will face Sporting Kansas City in their final tuneup before getting ready to open the new season at home against FC Cincinnati.