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On Sunday afternoon, the Red Bulls won in Philadelphia, 1-0, over the Union, while New York City Football Club lost to DC United, 3-1.
The Red Bulls improved to 21-5-7, with 68 points, just one point behind Atlanta United (21-6-6, 69 points) for first place in the Eastern Conference and the Supporters' Shield for best overall record with one game remaining in the regular season.
In the post-shootout era (since 2000), Atlanta and New York surpassed MLS' single-season wins record with their 21st wins on Sunday. The record was previously held by the 2014 Seattle Sounders and 2018 Toronto.
NYCFC dropped to 15-8-10, 53 points, just three points ahead of Philadelphia (15-5-13, 50 points) and DC (14-8-11, 50 points), who are tied for fourth.
Red Bulls 1, Philadelphia 0:
This game remained scoreless well into the second half, and the Red Bulls were awarded a penalty kick in the 69th minute off their corner kick as a Philadelphia player was called for a hand ball inside the box.
Kaku tallied his second penalty-kick goal of the season in the 69th minute to give the Red Bulls a 1-0 lead, and that would turn out to be the game-winner.
Kaku converted not only his second penalty-kick attempt but tallied his sixth game-winning goal of 2018.
The Red Bulls' four-game winning streak is the longest active winning streak in MLS. They are now unbeaten in 11 of their last 12 matches and have outscored opponents, 19-11.
This was their fourth 1-0 road shutout and eighth road victory overall this season. Their eight road wins tied the franchise's single-season record, previously set back in 2000.
The Red Bulls have now set a franchise single-season best 14th team clean sheet in their 1-0 win over Philadelphia.
Captain Luis Robles recorded two saves for his 13th league shutout and 62nd of his career. Robles moved into a tie with Tony Meola with 62 clean sheets for ninth in league history.
Robles also tallied his 100th league win as a goalkeeper. He became the eighth MLS goalkeeper to reach the 100-win plateau.
Bradley Wright-Phillips moved into sole possession in franchise history with his 170th match played as a Red Bull.
Red Bulls Head coach Chris Armas tallied his 11th win as their manager in just his 18th match at the helm. Armas has guided them to a 11-3-3 mark since taken over on July 8.
In the season finale on Sunday, the Red Bulls will aim for their third Supporters' Shield in franchise history on Supporters' Day against Orlando City SC. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. at Red Bull Arena.
DC United 3, NYCFC 1:
Wayne Rooney led the way for DC United, as he scored two goals.
Rooney scored in the eighth and 74th minutes (on a penalty kick), and his second goal gave DC a commanding 3-0
Luciano Acosta assisted on Rooney's first goal and got one of his own in the 24th minute.
NYCFC got a late goal, in the 78th minute, from David Villa, his 13th of the season.
In the regular season finale on Sunday afternoon, NYCFC needs to beat Philadelphia to clinch third place in the East and home-field in the first round of the playoffs.
NYCFC Head Coach Domenec Torrent said of the final result, “My feeling after the game is we gave away 20 minutes in the first half. I don’t understand what happened the first 20 minutes. We have a big, big problem when we play away because I say to them they have to play with confidence because they are maybe much better than what they think they are.”
Torrent said of his team’s attitude in the match, “I can accept [not playing well]. But I can’t accept about the attitude. And they have attitude because they’ve shown me many, many games. You have to play with confidence, if not it’s impossible to win in MLS and they are much, much better.”
On his message to the team before the second half, Torrent said, “In the second half I said ‘you can play much better because you played much better than them at Yankee Stadium. Explain me the reason why you play different here.’ It’s about confidence, sometimes I don’t understand this because it’s the same players.”
Torrent said of the importance of the next match against Philadelphia, “It’s very important for our confidence to win that next game against Philadelphia. It’s not about just the one point, if you are able to win the game, you play the first game at home. And at home we are stronger than away, this is clear at least this year.”
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