Mijahir Jiménez Scores Twice in First MLS Start as Red Bulls Edge Orlando City 3-2

Mijahir Jiménez arrived at Sports Illustrated Stadium on a short-term call-up from the second team. He left as the answer to a Red Bulls trivia question. On Saturday night, the 19-year-old striker made his first MLS start, scored twice and sent Antoine Griezmann and Orlando City SC home with nothing.

Red Bull New York beat Orlando City 3-2 in Harrison in front of 22,104, with Jiménez scoring in the 23rd and 60th minutes and Emil Forsberg adding a goal in between. Orlando twice cut the lead to one and hit the woodwork three times, but the kid had already done enough. According to the AP, Jiménez, who came up from Red Bull New York II, became the second player in Red Bulls history to score twice in his first career MLS start, joining Cornell Glen on May 8, 2004.

The Kid Strikes First

Orlando had the first real scare when Eduard Atuesta smashed a shot off the bar from the middle of the box after a corner in the 13th minute. That was the warning shot. New York answered by laying siege for the next 10 minutes: Justin Che shot wide, Julian Hall forced a save out of Maxime Crépeau, and Cade Cowell dragged one wide from the right side of the box.

In the 23rd minute, it clicked. The Red Bulls said Forsberg slipped the ball through to Gustav Berggren, whose first-time cross found Jiménez in front of goal. Jiménez finished left-footed from close range into the bottom left corner, and Berggren got the assist.

The second goal arrived in the 43rd minute and was all Cowell. His through ball released Forsberg on the right side of the six-yard box, and Forsberg slotted a right-footed finish past Crépeau. Orlando nearly answered right before the break when Griezmann bent a direct free kick from outside the box off the left post. New York led 2-0 at the half.

Orlando Wakes Up

Interim head coach Martín Perelman made two changes at halftime, sending on Bernardo Rhein and Tyrese Spicer. It took Spicer seven minutes to matter. Off a corner in the 52nd, Braian Ojeda headed the ball back across, and Spicer nodded it in from point-blank range.

The comeback had momentum for about eight minutes. Then Cowell found Jiménez in the middle of the box, and the teenager calmly placed a right-footed shot into the top right corner for a 3-1 lead in the 60th. Orlando refused to go quietly. Three minutes later, Griffin Dorsey finished from close range into the top right corner. ESPN credited Griezmann with the assist, while Orlando's own scoring summary credited Spicer and captain Robin Jansson.

Horvath Holds the Line

The last half hour belonged to Orlando's attack and New York's goalkeeper. Ethan Horvath stopped Spicer in the 66th, then made two more saves in the 83rd, from Spicer and Iván Angulo. Spicer hit the left post from the left side of the box in the 86th, with Griezmann setting him up.

The seven minutes of stoppage time were pure chaos. In the fourth added minute alone, Horvath saved Spicer, Rhein had a shot blocked from close range, Horvath denied Jansson from close range and Luis Otávio had another effort blocked. Crépeau kept his side alive at the other end with saves on Berggren and Hall, but the equalizer never came.

The Stars

Mijahir Jiménez scored twice on four shots, with both of his on-target attempts going in. Not a bad first night at the office.

Cade Cowell set up both of the last two New York goals and was dangerous all night. "It's all of us playing really well together," he said, per the club. "But it was all there tonight, and we really could have scored five or six goals."

Emil Forsberg scored for the second time this season. The Red Bulls said his 22 career MLS goals are the third-most by a midfielder in club history.

Ethan Horvath made five saves, several of them under heavy late pressure. Head coach Michael Bradley praised him afterward: "He has a really steady way about him every single day."

Tyrese Spicer was Orlando's most dangerous player off the bench, with a goal, five shots, four on target and a shot off the post.

The Turning Point

Jiménez's second goal. Orlando had just scored, had all the momentum and was pressing for an equalizer. Perelman pinpointed that moment afterward. "When we were pushing, we conceded the third goal, and then everything became tough," he said, per Orlando City.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Orlando 20, New York 19.
• Shots on target: New York 8, Orlando 7.
• Saves: Horvath 5, Crépeau 5.
• Possession: Orlando 59.6 percent, New York 40.4 percent.
• Passes: Orlando 599, New York 399.

What It Means

New York improved to 7-4-7 with 25 points and snapped a two-match losing skid. The Red Bulls are unbeaten in their last six meetings with Orlando across all competitions, per the club, and they beat Orlando 2-1 on Feb. 21 as well. New York visits Atlanta United on Aug. 15.

Orlando fell to 6-2-10 with 20 points. The loss ended a two-game winning streak that included a 1-0 win over Nashville SC, and mlssoccer.com called it a speed bump for Orlando's Griezmann-inspired renaissance. Orlando turns to Leagues Cup against C.F. Monterrey at home on Wednesday before hosting FC Cincinnati on Aug. 15.

Write Your Own Script

Bradley made the night about more than one player. "We're really happy for Mijahir and it's also the reason that we as a club believe so strongly in the pathway and connection between the first team and the second team and the Academy," he said. Fair enough. A second-team kid gets his first start against Griezmann's Orlando and scores twice. If a streaming service pitched it, you would call it too neat. New York will happily take the corny ending.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by Red Bull New York (newyorkredbulls.com) and Orlando City SC (orlandocitysc.com). Match details from the AP via ESPN and mlssoccer.com.