beIN SPORTS

By Graham Ruthven (@grahamruthven)

Major League Soccer finally has its first New York derby in the books. Ever since New York City FC was announced as the Big Apple’s second top-tier franchise two years ago, the club’s clash with the New York Red Bull has been anticipated. Many derided the derby as a fixture of contrived rivalry with no history. Well, at least it now has some form of the latter.

By claiming a 2-1 win on Sunday night the Red Bulls have taken the upper hand in what will surely become a raging East coast rivalry, with Jesse Marsch’s side asserting themselves against the newbies. Both clubs like to claim New York is their city, but on this occasion - as the South Ward proclaimed on a pre-match TIFO - the Big Apple was red to the core.

“It felt like MLS Cup, to be honest,” said Red Bulls midfielder Dax McCarty after the Harrison clash. “The only time I’ve ever seen Red Bull Arena like that was maybe the Arsenal game. It was unbelievable, it truly was. 

“We tried to downplay the rivalry aspect of it, but whenever a team comes and brings 2,000 fans and they’re loud and you hear them, you always want to win and shut them up. You could feel it was a really big game and an important game.”

However, while the Red Bulls underlined their status as New York’s original and best MLS franchise, some pressing questions persist for New York City FC. After a promising start Jason Kreis’ side has quickly fallen into an almighty rut - losing six of their last seven games. And NYC FC was afforded every opportunity to take something from their first derby clash, given that the Red Bulls played nearly an hour of the match with 10 men following Matt Miazga’s dismissal.

They couldn’t make their man advantage count. “It was crushing, but credit to the Red Bulls,” said NYC FC boss Jason Kreis after the game. “I thought they came out with a tremendous amount of energy and put us under, as we knew they would. But we just had a couple of mental errors there.”

Even with their numerical advantage, Kreis all but conceded defeat at 2-0 in the second half by withdrawing his two most high-profile - and best - players David Villa and Mix Diskerud, perhaps with a view to upcoming, more winnable, fixtures. NYC FC need a win, any win, right now.

Although this sort of turbulent start to the campaign probably should have been expected of a team that was assembled over a few short off-season months. NYC FC has quality in certain areas of the pitch - particularly in the centre of midfield - but they remain a terribly unbalanced side, with little in the way of coherent fluidity or even character.

As for the derby itself, for all that the match was an undeniable spectacle, there was something missing. It was to be expected, but the clash felt somewhat artificial - even if there were some on-field scuffles and heated chanting between the two sets of supporters throughout the match.

MLS is counting on that factor dissipating with time, and with every clash between the two teams. Cascadia rivalries remain the fiercest and most compelling derbies in the division, but only because they have context and history which long pre-dates MLS and Portland, Seattle and Vancouver’s participation in North American soccer’s top-flight.

Rivalry is the natural product of circumstance, not proximity. Look at how Manchester United consider their primary rivals to be Liverpool, and not Manchester City. The same goes for the Yankees and the Red Sox, rather than the Mets. 

And that is the biggest challenge the New York derby faces. Simply playing in the same city is not enough for the fixture between the Red Bulls and NYC FC to become MLS’s defining rivalry. It needs something more - even if that thing is an unexplainable intangible.