Bradley Wright-Phillips kept his eye on the ball and found the back of the net when the Red Bulls needed it the most. (Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)

BOSTON — Better late than never, much better for Bradley Wright-Phillips and the Red Bulls.

Wright-Phillips struck in the 87th minute to lift the Red Bulls to a 1-0 quarterfinals victory over the 10-man New England Revolution in the Lamar Hunt/U.S. Open Cup at Jordan Field at Harvard University Wednesday night.

The Red Bulls advanced to the semifinals for only the fifth time in their history.

For the first time in its 22-year history, New York also won for the second consecutive week in New England as the Red Bulls recorded another 11th-hour win, a 3-2 triumph in Major League Soccer action in Foxborough, Mass.

“Obviously a big moment for our guys, big moment for the club,” Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch said. “We’re really excited to be in the semifinals, that’s for sure.”

Marsch noted that his team had to go through Hudson River Derby rival New York City FC, the Philadelphia Union and now the Revs to reach the semifinals.

“We’ve earned the semifinals,” he said. “The stakes get higher. The commitment gets higher. We’re on the verge of something special. But we have to stay focused on all the little things that got us here. not only that, gotten our season moving in the right direction. So, there’s momentum on our team.”

Felipe chipped a pass to BWP, who slid a close-range shot past goalkeeper Brad Knighton for the lone goal of the match before 2,331 fans.

“It was a great ball,” Wright-Phillips said. “I didn’t have too much to do. I knew I had to get a decent touch on it. Yeah, I just put my toe in.”

https://www.facebook.com/newyorkredbulls/videos/10154589508010264/

Video courtesy of the Red Bulls’ Facebook page

For most of the game, the Red Bulls worked hard.

“We had to dig deep. we had to dig deep in the season, we’ve had to dig deep in games,” Marsch said. “And that was what we’ve been trying to build this year. We still have a long way to go, but that shows massive growth. To come to New England, tough places to play, twice in a week.”

Red Bulls goalkeeper Ryan Meara recorded his fourth Open Cup shutout.

“Maybe it wasn’t the prettiest game or the best soccer played,” he said. “I think we outbattled them and that’s what got us the win.”

Knighton was superb for the hosts for most of the night, stopping several shots by New England.

Revs defender Benjamin Angoua was sent off by referee Jorge Gonzalez in the 75th minute, but the reason why was not immediately known.

The Revs dominated the early action, but slowly, but surely the Red Bulls began to assert themselves as the opening half rolled on.

Daniel Royer headed a shot wide left in the 10th minute and Knighton had an easy save of Felipe’s shot in the 29th minute.

 Four minutes later, Red Bulls captain Sacha Kljestan attempted a shot from the edge of the penalty area that Knighton stopped.

In the 41st minute, Wright-Phillips, after a nifty back-heel pass by Sean Davis, fired a hard, close-range shot on net that Knighton batted away with his left wrist to close out a scoreless first half.

Knighton continued to thwart the Red Bulls in the second half, saving Royer’s header in the 74th minute and Sacha Kljestan in the 85th minute.

He even had a little help from the woodwork when Felipe’s free kick smacked off the crossbar as the Revs managed to knock the ball out of harm’s way and out of bounds for a throw-in.

 “All we asked the group was to outrun, out-will the match and that’s what they did,” Marsch said. “And then they played some pretty darn good football, too. “

And the Red Bulls will have an opportunity to play some more football in the semifinals in August.

“Not there yet two more games to go,” Felip said on Twitter. “But a great night for all of us.”

Scoring Summary: 
NY – Bradley Wright-Phillips (Felipe) 87′
Misconduct Summary:
NE – Antonio Milinar Delamea (caution, unsporting behavior) 13′
NY – Aaron Long (caution, unsporting behavior) 22′
NE – Chris Tierney (caution, unsporting behavior) 66′
NE – Benjamin Angoua (ejection, violent conduct) 75′
NE – Andrew Farrell (caution, unsporting behavior) 89′
NY – Felipe (caution, unsporting behavior) 90+3′
NY – Sacha Kljestan (caution, unsporting behavior) 90+5′
 
New York Red Bulls: Ryan Meara; Connor Lade, Aaron Long, Sal Zizzo, Sean Davis, Tyler Adams, Felipe, Danny Royer, Sacha Kljestan ©, Alex Muyl, Bradley Wright-Phillips (Gonzalo Veron, 90+1′)
TOTAL SHOTS: 14; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 19; OFFSIDE: 2; CORNER KICKS: 2; SAVES: 3
New England Revolution: Brad Knighton; Antonio Milnar Delamea, Benjamin Angoua, Chris Tierney (Brian Wright, 90′), Andrew Farrell, Diego Fagundez, Lee Nguyen ©, Scott Caldwell, Gershon Koffie, Teal Bunbury (London Woodberry, 78′), Kei Kamara
TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; FOULS: 20; OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 5
Referee: Jorge Gonzalez
Assistant Referee: Craig Lowry, Tom Felice
Fourth Official: Michael Dee
Attendance: 2,331

 

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.