Red Bulls beat FC Dallas for first road win

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:23 am

Sean Nealis scored the tiebreaking goal in the 58th minute as the New York Red Bulls recorded their first road win of the season by beating FC Dallas 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.

The Red Bulls (4-5-2, 14 points) won for the third time in four games and improved their road record to 1-2-2 thanks to Nealis positioning himself near the net to deflect Michael Murillo's shot.

Murillo set up high in the box and gained possession after Alejandro Romero Gamarra warded off a defender. Murillo then blasted a right-footed shot that deflected off Nealis in front and headed into the net past the diving attempt of goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez.

Murillo was originally credited with the goal but it was changed to Nealis a few minutes later. It was the first career goal for Nealis, who was playing his second career MLS match.

Cristian Casseres Jr. scored in the 12th minute and Brian White sealed it in the 85th minute for New York, which is 5-0-2 in the last seven meetings with FC Dallas.

Jesus Ferreira scored late in the first half after entering the game in the 29th minute as an injury replacement. His goal was not enough as FC Dallas (5-4-2, 17 points) lost consecutive games for the first time this season and fell to 3-1-2 at home despite attempting 15 shots and maintaining possession for 65.2 percent of the match.

New York's Ryan Meara made his first start in nearly a year and made five saves. He highlighted his appearance in place of Luis Robles with a diving stop on Zdenek Ondrasek in the 71st minute.

Gonzalez made one save for FC Dallas.

FC Dallas played without midfielders Paxton Pomykal (hamstring) and Michael Berrios (suspension). Their absences led to numerous changes to the starting lineup with Ryan Hollingshead in for Berrios.

The Red Bulls were without forward Bradley Wright-Phillips (groin) who missed his fourth straight game. Wright-Phillips was joined on the sidelines by defender Aaron Long (hamstring), who was injured in Wednesday's loss to the Montreal Impact.

New York went ahead when Casseres' right-footed shot sailed past to right of a diving Gonzalez. FC Dallas scored two minutes into first-half stoppage time when Jacori Hays made a nice cross to the center of the box over the defense to Ferreira, who finished the play by lifting a header into the left side of the net.

The Red Bulls clinched it on White's shot from close range. White's goal occurred moments after Santiago Mosquera nearly tied the game but hit the left post.