City rage after Red Bulls win controversial derby

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:21 am

Daniel Royer scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season in the New York Red Bulls' 2-1 win over New York City FC on Sunday in a game rocked by controversy.

Royer scored from the penalty spot before half-time to tie the match at one-all. He then scored quickly after a disputed throw-in in the 60th minute for his first multi-goal game of 2019. The win lifted the Red Bulls (9-7-4, 31 points) three spots to third in the Eastern Conference standings.

Royer headed the Red Bulls into the lead in the 60th minute on a sequence that left NYCFC protesting the decision to award the hosts a throw-in instead of a corner.

After the visitors cleared the ball, assistant referee Corey Rockwell appeared to point his flag downward toward the corner flag, the signal for a corner kick. Instead, the Red Bulls' Marc Rzatkowski took the throw-in quickly and Cristian Casseres Jr. crossed into the box, where Royer headed it beyond goalkeeper Sean Johnson.

Johnson and several of his teammates pleaded with referee Alan Kelly after the goal, and Kelly and Rockwell held a discussion, but the goal stood. According to the telecast on FS1, Rockwell had in fact ruled for a corner, but Kelly then overruled the decision.

Daniel Royer and Alex Muyl
Daniel Royer and Alex Muyl
Daniela Porcelli/Getty Images

Earlier, Royer's penalty kick leveled the match in the first minute of first-half stoppage time. Kelly immediately pointed to the spot as NYCFC's Maxime Chanot caught Brian White with an outstretched leg as White tried to take down Alex Muyl's cross from the right. Royer ripped his spot kick into the top left corner beyond Johnson's dive.

NYCFC had the lead after seven minutes. After a give-and-go with Heber, Maxi Moralez sprayed the ball wide right to Anton Tinnerholm, who curled in a cross toward goal with his first touch. Heber ran onto it, side-footing it with his first touch off the underside of the crossbar and over the goal line.

It was Heber's seventh goal for New York City FC (7-3-8, 29 points), which fell one spot to sixth in the East with their second consecutive defeat.

Before those losses, NYCFC had gone 12 games without a defeat, but they fell to 1-5-1 all-time in away matches against their Hudson River rivals.