For the first time this season, Real Salt Lake hosts an Eastern Conference opponent at Rio Tinto Stadium as the New York Red Bulls come to town. Here are three things to know about the defending Supporters’ Shield winners.
BWP Among the Best
Few in the league have scored at a greater clip since 2014 than Bradley Wright-Phillips. The English forward came to the Red Bulls midway through the 2013 season and, once he found his footing, exploded up the scoring charts. He has 52 goals in 81 matches since the start of 2014, including four hat tricks. Against Toronto FC on May 28, he scored the fastest hat trick in MLS history, scoring three goals in the first 27 minutes of the match as the Red Bulls stormed to a 3-0 win. He has a franchise record with 15 career game-winning goals and four hat tricks, along with 12 multi-goal games to his credit. He trails only Juan Pablo Angel on the club’s all-time scoring list.
Streaky Defense
The Red Bulls have a 407-minute shutout streak, posting four straight shutouts in MLS play. That has propelled them to a 6-1-1 record in the last eight matches, but prior to that, New York was just 1-6-0 and had allowed 15 goals. So while it has taken the team a while to find its consistency, the play over the last four games in particular has Head Coach Jesse Marsch excited about the direction of his club.
Finally Champions
In the 20 years of the Red Bulls (and Metrostars) history, the club had gone without a major trophy until winning the Supporters’ Shield in 2013. Now they have won that title for the league’s best regular season record in two of the last three years. The list of managers includes the likes of former national team managers for Portugal (Carlos Quieroz), Brazil (Carlos Parreira), the U.S. (Bora Milutinovic, Bob Bradley and Bruce Arena) and Mexico (Juan Carlos Osorio).
