New York Red Bulls rout Atlanta United 3-0 behind Marshall-Rutty free kick

Adri Mehmeti opened the scoring in the 30th minute with a point-blank finish from the center of the box, and what looked like an even match quickly turned sour for Atlanta United. In the end it was New York Red Bulls 3, Atlanta United 0 at Sports Illustrated Stadium, with the MLS table on the line and a dominance that grew as the minutes ticked by.

The first half had started evenly enough: Julian Hall and Jorge Ruvalcaba tested the keeper from outside the box for the home side, while Miguel Almiron rattled the left post as early as the 7th minute and Giuliano Galoppo had another good look that drifted just wide. But New York Red Bulls kept pressing down the flanks and created several headed chances off corner kicks through Devin Padelford, until the persistence finally paid off. In the 30th minute, Mehmeti finished with his right foot from the right side into the middle of the goal to make it 1-0, the score at halftime.

The second half put the game out of reach

The second half opened with Atlanta searching for a quick response, Breel Embolo squandering a cross from Aleksey Miranchuk, but it was New York Red Bulls who struck again. In the 53rd minute, Cade Cowell finished with his left foot from the center of the box after a through ball from Sekou Kone to make it 2-0, a goal confirmed after a VAR review.

Atlanta tried to respond with substitutions, bringing on Cooper Sanchez and later Jay Fortune and Matt Edwards, but could not seriously trouble the goal guarded by Ethan Horvath. And the play that finally put the game away came in the least common fashion. In the 80th minute, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty converted a direct free kick, curling it into the top right corner to make it 3-0, a finish that left the visitors with no way back.

The numbers backed up the dominance

Possession ended up almost evenly split, but the rest of the numbers made clear who controlled the game.

With 14 shots to 8 and 4 big chances against just 1 for Atlanta, the home side's control also shows up in the expected goals estimate calculated after the match based on the shots taken: 2.81 for New York Red Bulls against 0.61 for Atlanta United, a gap that confirms the 3-0 scoreline was no fluke.

Beforehand we had projected a much more even contest: 47% odds of a home win, 26% for a draw and 27% for Atlanta United, with expected goals of 1.75 for the home side and 1.3 for the visitors, a combined total of 3.04. The final score tilted far more heavily toward New York Red Bulls than that projection suggested, both in the result and in the overall balance of play.

What the result means in the standings

In the MLS Eastern Conference, New York Red Bulls came into the match in 10th place with 42 points from 34 games played, while Atlanta United sat 13th with 33 points also from 34 matches, a gap of 9 points between the two sides. The win lets New York Red Bulls collect three points against a direct rival in the lower-middle part of the table, in a season that is already nearing the end of the regular phase.

For Atlanta United, the 3-0 defeat adds to a season that had already been an uphill climb, and the level shown against a clearly superior opponent in nearly every aspect of the game leaves little room for nuance.