New York City FC vs New York Red Bulls. American MLS League.
Yankee StadiumAttendance37,858.
Sunday 22 May 2016 12:58, UK
New York City crashed to a humiliating 7-0 defeat against New York Red Bulls on Saturday, equalling the record for the heaviest loss in Major League Soccer history.
City, an affiliate of English Premier League side Manchester City, have invested heavily in a squad featuring several veteran European stars including Andrea Pirlo, David Villa and Frank Lampard.
Pirlo and Villa - who last week, with Lampard, were revealed to be among the top 10 highest paid players in the league - were anonymous as the Red Bulls ran riot before City's home fans at Yankee Stadium.
The Red Bulls seized the initiative after only three minutes with a goal from Dax McCarty.
Veteran English striker Bradley Wright-Phillips made it 2-0 three minutes before half-time, heading home at close range after superb work on the left flank by Mike Grella.
Wright-Phillips then grabbed an opportunistic second in first-half stoppage time, scoring with an overhead kick from eight yards out after City failed to clear a Grella cross.
Shell-shocked City manager Patrick Vieira described the opening 45 minutes as "a disaster" in comments at half-time.
"We didn't play at all," the French World Cup winner told Fox television.
But the second half continued in similar vein, McCarty making it 4-0 after 51 minutes, punishing slack marking in the City area to head home.
It got worse for City five minutes later when Alex Muyl blasted home from just inside the area after a deft lay-off from Wright-Phillips.
Not even the introduction of former Chelsea and England star Lampard from the City bench could stem the tide.
Gonzalo Veron headed in No 6 on 83 minutes before more poor marking allowed Gideon Baah to scramble home a seventh in the 89th minute.
The Red Bulls win equals the record for the biggest margin in MLS history. The Los Angeles Galaxy beat the Dallas Burn 8-1 in 1998 while Chicago Fire beat the Kansas City Wizards 7-0 in 2001.
Elsewhere, the Western Conference-leading Colorado Rapids extended their undefeated run to eight games with a 1-0 win against the Seattle Sounders.
Two goals from Tesho Akindele gave FC Dallas a 4-2 win against the New England Revolution,
A goal from Arturo Alvarez was enough for the Chicago Fire to record a 1-0 home victory against the Houston Dynamo, while Toronto FC played out a goalless draw with Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake won 3-1 at Sporting Kansas City.
After Ignacio Piatti gave the Montreal Impact an early lead, Orlando City's Kaka and Cyle Larin combined for goals late in the first half and again in the 87th minute to give Orlando a 2-1 home win.
