BRADENTON, FL (Feb. 7, 2013) – Thierry Henry tallied his first goal of the preseason and the Red Bulls erased a 2-1 deficit with less than five minutes to play, as New York defeated Swedish First Division side Malmo FF, 3-2, Thursday afternoon at the IMG Academy.
New York, which also received goals from forward Amando Moreno and guest player Rafhael Domingues, improved their 2013 preseason record to 2-0-0 with the win.
The Swedish side took the lead in the third minute. Matias Concha had the ball on the right wing and played a low pass into the penalty box. Midfielder and former Seattle Sounder Erik Friberg got it first and hit it first time into the back of the net.
New York controlled most of the first half following Friberg’s strike and its pressing game paid off less than 25 minutes later when it tied the match. Fabian Espindola disposed a Malmo defender and drove into the box before sliding it to Henry, who guided it home for his first goal of the preseason.
With Thursday’s match being New York’s second preseason contest of the year, the Red Bulls made eight substitutions at halftime. Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles was called upon four minutes into the second interval, blocking Jiloan Hamad’s shot aside. Malmo though, did go ahead in the 53rd minute when Dardan Rexhepi had enough space on the top of the box to shoot it in past Robles.
The Red Bulls exerted pressure to find an equalizer and tied the game again with four minutes to play. Ruben Izquierdo had possession and found an open Moreno. The Red Bulls Academy product was able to chest it down and knock it in. Less than two minutes later, New York earned the eventual game-winner. Marius Obekop hit a well-weighted through ball to an on-rushing Domingues. With only the goalkeeper to beat, Domingues tucked it into the lower right hand corner.
The Red Bulls return to preseason play on Wednesday, Feb. 13, taking on Real Salt Lake at Kino Sports Complex as part of the 2013 Desert Diamond Cup in Tucson, AZ. Kickoff is set for 9:00 PM ET. Red Bulls ticket plans for the 2013 season are on sale now by calling 1.877.RBSOCCER or logging onto www.newyorkredbulls.com.
New York Red Bulls 3, Malmo FF 2
Feb. 7, 2013 – IMG Academy – Bradenton, FL
Preseason Match
Scoring Summary:
MAL: Erik Friberg 1 (Matias Concha 1) 3’
NY: Thierry Henry 1 (Fabian Espindola 1) 27’
MAL: Dardan Rexhepi 1 (Emil Forsberg 1) 53’
NY: Amando Moreno 1 (Ruben Izquierdo 1) 86’
NY: Rafhael Domingues 1 (Marius Obekop 1) 88’
Disciplinary Summary:
MAL: Ricardo Ferreira (caution) 28’
New York Red Bulls (First Half) – Luis Robles, Kosuke Kimura, Markus Holgersson, Jamison Olave, Heath Pearce, Dax McCarty, Tim Cahill, Lloyd Sam, Juninho (Ruben Izquierdo* 36’), Fabian Espindola, Thierry Henry
New York Red Bulls (Second Half) – Luis Robles, Kosuke Kimura (Rafhael Domingues* 79’), Markus Holgersson, Tyler Ruthven* (Andrew Ribeiro* 79’), Connor Lade, Marius Obekop, Michael Bustamante, Ian Christanson, Ruben Izquierdo, Brandon Barklage, Josue Martinez, (Amando Moreno 83’)
Malmo FF – 27-Johan Dahlin (25-Robin Olsen 46’), 34 Alexander Blomqvist, 3-Matias Concha (35-Pawel Cibicki 64’), 20-Ricardo Ferreira, 21-Erik Johansson, 8-Erik Friberg, 6-Markus Halsti (17-Ivo Pekalski 46’), 10-Jiloan Hamad, 11-Simon Thern (33-Emil Forsberg 46’), 7-Magnus Eriksson, 9-Dardan Rexhepi (19-Benjamin Fadi 64’)
* - Guest/Un-Signed Player
