New York City 0-1 New York Red Bulls: Hall celebrates USA call-up with derby winner

Julian Hall celebrated his first senior call-up by the United States by scoring the winner in the New York Red Bulls' 1-0 derby success over New York City in MLS.

Eighteen-year-old forward Hall was named in Mauricio Pochettino's squad for friendlies against Peru, Chile, Canada and Mexico this week, and his opportunistic 57th-minute strike at Yankee Stadium lifted NYRB above their local rivals in the Eastern Conference standings.

The teams combined for just one shot on target in a low-key first half, with NYCFC's Andres Perea forcing a sharp save from Ethan Horvath down to his left, after team-mate Nicolas Fernandez had dragged wide from distance.

The Red Bulls' first chance saw Hall fluff his lines following a swift counter at the start of the second half, then NYCFC passed up two great openings, with Hannes Wolf placing his shot too close to Horvath and Luighi stroking wide of the bottom-right corner.

But the visitors went ahead out of nowhere as James Sands underhit his back pass towards Matt Freese, allowing Hall to round his potential USA team-mate and stroke home.

Horvath had to be on his toes to preserve NYRB's lead as the hosts pushed for an equaliser, closing the angle when Alonso Martinez attempted to round him and tipping Thiago Martins' header onto the roof of the net.

Martinez also prodded wide from a glorious position, but NYCFC's best chance came in the second minute of stoppage time. A fortuitous deflection bobbled the ball up for Benie Traore six yards out, but Horvath made himself big to make the result-clinching save. 

Hall's wait over

Hall said after receiving his maiden USA call-up that his international allegiance is not yet set in stone, given he is also eligible to represent Poland, but he looks to have a big future, whoever he chooses to represent.

Hall went on a 12-game goal drought after becoming the youngest player to net an MLS hat-trick against the Columbus Crew in May, but he ended that rut here.

He now has three goals in all competitions against NYCFC, who were made to pay for one costly error after racking up 16 shots and 2.42 expected goals, compared to NYRB's 10 attempts and 1.4 xG.

The result also marked the end of NYCFC's longest-ever unbeaten run against their cross-city rivals (four games), which had also been the longest by either team in the fixture's history.

Both teams occupy an MLS Cup Playoff wild-card spot in the East, with NYRB eighth and NYCFC ninth, though Pascal Janesn's side could drop out of those places this weekend.