Charlotte Beat Red Bulls 2-0 for First-Ever Win at Sports Illustrated Stadium as Biel, Westwood Score

Twelve minutes. That is how long it took Charlotte FC to score twice, and how long it took Red Bull New York to fall into a hole it spent the next 80-plus minutes trying and failing to climb out of.

Charlotte won 2-0 at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Saturday night, with Pep Biel and Ashley Westwood scoring early and Kristijan Kahlina making six saves to protect the lead. MLSsoccer.com called it the club's first-ever win at the stadium. The Red Bulls took 24 shots and owned 65.2 percent of the ball, and none of it mattered.

A Fast Start and a Long Siege

The Red Bulls actually had the first look, with Cade Cowell heading wide from a corner in the sixth minute. Charlotte answered almost immediately. In the seventh minute Liel Abada set up Biel, who hit a first-time, right-footed shot from the centre of the box past Ethan Horvath. Five minutes later Kerwin Vargas teed up Westwood outside the area, and the midfielder struck first time again, this time into the bottom right corner for 2-0.

From there, it became a siege. Cowell had a shot blocked in the 24th minute, Emil Forsberg missed and then had one blocked in a two-minute span, and Kahlina made his first save on Adri Mehmeti in the 31st. In the 36th minute Kahlina stopped Cowell from outside the box and then Jorge Ruvalcaba from the left side of the area. Julian Hall dragged a shot just wide a minute later, and Kahlina saved Cowell again in first-half stoppage time.

The second half followed the same script. Hall headed wide from close range in the 49th minute, Ruvalcaba had shots blocked, sent high and pulled wide, and Charlotte's lone shot of the half before stoppage time came when Horvath saved Idan Toklomati's shot in the 59th. The Red Bulls' best spell came in the 64th and 65th minutes, when Forsberg forced two more saves from Kahlina, the second from very close range.

The night soured further for the hosts after that. Dylan Nealis went off injured in the 70th minute, and the cards started piling up. Mehmeti, Omar Valencia and Justin Che were all booked late, and Mehmeti picked up a second yellow in the third minute of stoppage time to finish the match with 10 men. Charlotte's Morrison Agyemang even had a late header from a set piece that flew over.

The Charlotte All-Stars Showed Up

Biel needed one shot to make his mark. MLSsoccer.com said the strike took him to a club-best 15 goal contributions (eight goals, seven assists), and he and Westwood are two of Charlotte's three selections for Wednesday's MLS All-Star Game.

Westwood also scored on his only shot, and MLSsoccer.com put him at two goals and six assists on the season.

Kahlina was the reason the scoreline never got uncomfortable. Six saves, a clean sheet and a constant stream of traffic in his box. His double stop in the 36th minute and the two Forsberg saves after the hour were the difference between a comfortable road win and a nervy one.

Abada and Vargas each picked up an assist, and Vargas drew four fouls on the night. For the Red Bulls, Forsberg and Ruvalcaba each took five shots, and Cowell took four. That is a lot of volume and very little reward.

The Turning Point

Call it the 64th and 65th minutes. Down 2-0 but dominating the ball, the Red Bulls finally carved out back-to-back chances for Forsberg, first from a tight angle on the left and then from point-blank range. Kahlina stopped both. A goal there and Sports Illustrated Stadium is rocking for the final 25 minutes. Instead, the Red Bulls' frustration showed up in the card count rather than on the scoreboard.

Head coach Michael Bradley summed it up bluntly. "We missed the last pass, the last cross, the last shot and the last dribble," he said, per the Red Bulls. "We got into really good spots, but we weren't quite able to find the decisive bit of quality, speed or execution."

Stats That Matter

• Shots: 24 to 4 for the Red Bulls, with six on target to Charlotte's three. Charlotte scored on two of their three.
• Saves: six for Kahlina, one for Horvath.
• Possession: 65.2 percent for New York, who completed 575 passes to Charlotte's 271.
• Blocked shots: seven Red Bulls attempts never even reached the goalkeeper.
• Fouls: 14 to 5, with the Red Bulls also collecting a red card.

What It Means

Charlotte moved to 7-4-6 with 25 points and stretched their unbeaten run to four games, three wins and a draw, according to MLSsoccer.com, which had them sixth in the Eastern Conference heading into the All-Star break. They have now beaten the Red Bulls twice this season, after a 6-1 rout in Charlotte on March 21. Next up is a trip to the Chicago Fire on Saturday, Aug. 1.

The Red Bulls slipped to 6-4-7 with 22 points and have now lost back-to-back matches, this one following Wednesday's 3-1 defeat at Philadelphia. It gets harder before it gets easier: the club said Mehmeti will be suspended for the next match, and Ruvalcaba and Valencia will also miss it through yellow-card accumulation. That next match is at home against Orlando City SC on Saturday, Aug. 1. There were small positives, with the club noting that Julián Bazán made his first MLS start and Mijahir Jiménez made his MLS debut off the bench.

The Takeaway

This was the basketball equivalent of jacking up 24 threes and bricking every one while the other team calmly hit two layups. The Red Bulls had the ball, the territory and the shot volume. Charlotte had a two-goal head start and a goalkeeper who refused to blink. Bradley's own line said it best: "That's certainly something we have to continue working on." Charlotte, meanwhile, head into All-Star week with their stars shining.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and team notes as reported by Red Bull New York; additional details from MLSsoccer.com.