Red Bulls Shutout Atlanta

The Red Bulls celebrate their goal. Photo by Jason Schott.

The Red Bulls shutout Atlanta United FC, 1-0, on Sunday at Red Bull Arena for their fourth win in five games.

They have moved into sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 5-5-2 with 17 points. Atlanta is in fourth with 20 points (6-2-4).


The Red Bulls won this one despite being down a man for the final 65-plus minutes after defender Tim Parker was given a red card in the 35th minute.

In the 65th minute, Barlow was on the doorstep of the net by the left post when he received a a perfectly-placed cross from Daniel Royer, and he headed it past Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan for his first MLS goal.

Barlow's goal snapped Atlanta's scoreless streak of 521 minutes and five-straight clean sheets.
Barlow became the 13th different Red Bulls player to score a goal in league player this season. They had 14 different goal scorers in league play all of 2018.

Royer raised his team-leading league assist total to four. The Austrian winger has recorded an assist in three of his last four matches.

Red Bulls Head Coach Chris Armas said of Royer's assist on the decisive goal, "Yeah, at halftime, we talked about a few of the ways that we'll score. We knew we could create a few chances, whether it's a set piece or a foul, because we are going to be in transition from us being organized and catch them, or it could be from some football where we are going to have courage to play -- Cornelius (ph) drives on the ball, our center back, and he makes a really good pass just to give us an out, and then Danny puts a perfect pass -- listen, Danny Royer, what he's meant for our team in these years, is he's very inspiring, his play. He's intelligent and he's always up for it, and he's intelligent both sides of the ball and tactically, he's always connected. So yeah, I think it showed tonight the demand, it's not just get guys behind the ball. There's a lot more to it. So he did a big job."

Red Bulls Captain and goalkeeper Luis Robles tallied two saves for his 65th career clean sheet to move into sole possession of eighth all-time in MLS. Robles recorded his 105th career league win.

Armas said of winning in this fashion, "It feels great. It feels great to win. It feels great to win at home in the fashion that we did. It's great to see our guys commit the way that they did on every play for the entire game. Set pieces in tough moments, and so I'm really proud of the guys, the guys that started the game and the guys that came into the game, the guys at halftime that weren't even playing, supporting each other. So it's really, really a great win."

Massapequa, New York, native Sean Nealis, who scored his first career MLS goal against Dallas last Saturday, recorded his first career MLS assist.

The Red Bulls will have a quick turnaround as they host Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Wednesday, May 22 at 8 p.m. at Red Bull Arena.