Red Bulls Run By Atlanta, Coronel Notches Another Clean Sheet

 

The Red Bulls celebrate after Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting made it 2-0. Photo by Jason Schott.

The Red Bulls, backed by a pair of early, excellent goals, shutout Atlanta United FC, 2-0, on Saturday night in front of a near-capacity crowd of 20,187 at Sports Illustrated Stadium.

This win, along with the midweek 4-2 win over Charlotte, has catapulted the Red Bulls into sixth place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings. They are now 8-3-6, with 27 points, just three points out of second place, behind Cincinnati (9-3-5, 30 points).

The Red Bulls jumped out to a very early lead when they took advantage of an early Atlanta miscue.

Atlanta had the ball on the right side trying to move up the field when three Red Bulls - Emil Forsberg, Wiki Carmona, and Peter Stroud converged on Miguel Almiron, forcing him to send a risky pass clear across the field.

Cameron Harper swooped in and got it, and he was able to get around the Atlanta defender Luis Abram toward the center of the box and fired it past goalkeeper Brad Guzan to make it 1-0 Red Bulls in the third minute.

Cameron Harper slid toward the corner after his thrilling goal. Photo by Jason Schott.

The goal came at 2:38 to be exact, which was the quickest for the Red Bulls this season. It was the fastest goal in nearly three years, since Lewis Morgan scored just 1:50 in against Toronto on June 18, 2022.

This was Harper's third goal of the MLS season, and 12th of his league career. Harper now has goal contributions in his last six MLS matches.

The Red Bulls doubled their lead in the 29th minute on a dazzling sequence.

Alexander Hack was at the center circle, and he fired a pass to the right side, where Harper took it, slipped in behind an Atlanta defender just inside the box, and sent it to the center of the box, where Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting was waiting for it, and he buried it to make it 2-0 Red Bulls.

Choupo-Moting now has 10 MLS goals this season, third-highest in the league. He now has five MLS goals in his last three matches at Sports Illustrated Stadium.

The Cameroon native is now the fifth different player in franchise history to score at least 10 goals in their first 17 games, and the first since Bradley Wright-Phillips in 2018.

Harper and Hack earned the assists on the goal. It was Harper's first multi-goal contribution match in MLS, and it was the second MLS assist of the season, and seventh of his MLS career. For Hack, and the first career MLS assist for Hack, and second across all competitions.

Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel earned his seventh MLS shutout of the season, which ranks second in the league. He now has 42 clean sheets in his career, and four against Atlanta.

Carlos Coronel making a save on an Atlanta free kick in the 57th minute. Photo by Jason Schott.