Jorge Ruvalcaba's Brace Lifts Red Bulls Past Sporting KC 2-1 as Ethan Horvath Makes Seven Saves

Sporting Kansas City had the ball, the shots and most of the chances at Sporting Park on Saturday night. The New York Red Bulls had Jorge Ruvalcaba and Ethan Horvath, and that turned out to be the better hand.

Ruvalcaba scored in the third minute and again in first-half stoppage time, Horvath made seven saves, and the Red Bulls held on through a long second-half siege to beat Sporting KC 2-1. Calvin Harris pulled one back in the 64th minute, but the equalizer never came.

A Fast Start and a Gut Punch

The Red Bulls struck in the third minute. According to the club, Julian Hall picked off a pass and found Gustav Berggren, whose through ball sent Ruvalcaba in on the left. Ruvalcaba took a touch past a defender and finished left-footed past Stefan Cleveland. 1-0, almost before the match had settled.

Sporting responded with real intent. Horvath stopped a Taylor Calheira header in the eighth minute and a Harris shot a minute later, and Dejan Joveljic dragged an effort just wide in the 18th. The Red Bulls also had to reshuffle early: Cade Cowell was replaced by Rafael Mosquera in the 19th minute, a change ESPN's feed lists as because of an injury.

Kansas City kept probing for the rest of the half, with Lasse Berg Johnsen missing a free kick and Calheira forcing another save from Horvath in the 41st. Then, in the third minute of stoppage time, the hosts got caught. Per the Red Bulls, Mosquera pounced on a loose ball and sent Hall through, and Hall squared it to Ruvalcaba, who smashed a right-footed shot into the top right corner. 2-0 at the half.

Sporting coach Raphael Wicky was blunt about how that one happened. "The second goal is a mistake in playing out," he said. "The wrong decision in this moment and then we got punished there in a really bad moment of the game."

Horvath Stands Tall

Sporting pushed hard after the break. Horvath saved Ian James' header from a cross in the 50th minute and Zorhan Bassong's header in the 54th, then denied Capita from the middle of the box in the 60th. Kansas City were also caught offside six times on the night.

Wicky's bench finally cracked it. Manu García came on in the 58th minute, and six minutes later he lofted a ball over the top for Harris, who finished right-footed from the center of the box. Harris described the pass vividly afterward: "He plays that ball perfectly over the top into a gap that I didn't even think was possible, to be honest."

"Manu was really good when he came in today," Wicky said of García, who finished with the assist. That set up a tense final half hour, one Harris summed up honestly: "I think both teams were knackered by the end of it, to be honest." Stephen Afrifa, another substitute, just missed in the 78th minute, and Horvath made his last big stop in the 86th, saving a Joveljic shot from outside the box in the top left corner. The Red Bulls had their chances to put it away, with Cameron Harper and Hall both going close late, but Cleveland made the save on Hall in the 83rd.

Star Turns

Ruvalcaba's line: two goals, three shots on target from four attempts, both goals in the first half. The club said they were his sixth and seventh MLS goals of the season, that he is tied for first among MLS newcomers in goals and that he has four goals in his last four MLS appearances. "I think every game, us as a team, we feel a lot better," Ruvalcaba said. Red Bulls head coach Michael Bradley sounded like a proud coach: "He has unique qualities in terms of his ability to play off the left, move inside, shoot, dribble, slip little passes, and he's a guy that does an incredible amount of work against the ball for us."

Horvath's seven saves were his single-game high this season, according to the club, and they were the reason the lead survived. Hall chipped in the assist on the second goal and three shots of his own.

The Turning Point

The stoppage-time goal before halftime changed everything. Instead of 1-0 with momentum swinging toward the hosts, Sporting walked into the locker room down two and needed two goals in the second half. They got one.

"We conceded these two goals in the worst moments of the game," Wicky said.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Sporting KC 15, Red Bulls 10.
• Shots on target: Sporting KC 8, Red Bulls 4.
• Saves: Horvath 7, Cleveland 2.
• Possession: Sporting KC 61.2 percent.
• Fouls: Red Bulls 15, Sporting KC 5.

What It Means

The Red Bulls move to 6-4-5 with 22 points, and the club said they took 10 of a possible 12 points heading into the World Cup pause. They also fielded a starting lineup with an average age of 22.8, which the club called the youngest in MLS this season, and Julián Bazán made his MLS debut off the bench. "To finish the first half of the season with three points like this, you couldn't ask for a better way to cap off these first 15 games," Bradley said. New York return on July 22 at Philadelphia.

Sporting KC fall to 3-2-9 with 11 points after back-to-back wins coming into the night. Wicky kept the focus on the process: "I'm happy about the performance, not happy about the result." He also credited the visitors for slowing the game down: "At the end of the day, I have to say that Red Bulls were very smart in breaking the rhythm of the game."

Closing Take

This was a classic rope-a-dope. Kansas City threw the punches, the Red Bulls took them on the gloves, and Ruvalcaba landed two counters that decided the fight. Bradley summed it up neatly: "The best teams find different ways to win."

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by newyorkredbulls.com and sportingkc.com.