On July 28, Crew SC defeated the New York Red Bulls 3-2 at Red Bull Arena, using a 4-4-2 formation to devastating effect as the club scored three goals within the first 31 minutes of the match.
The Black & Gold took an early lead in just the seventh minute of the match, when forward Patrick Mullins headed the ball towards defender Jonathan Mensah inside the box, allowing the centerback to score his first goal of the year to put the visitors ahead.
Seventeen minutes later, Mullins was celebrating his first goal with the Black & Gold, after latching onto a through ball by Harrison Afful and beating Luis Robles to the far post.
In the 31st minute, a corner kick taken by Pedro Santos deflected off of Sean Davis, giving Crew SC a 3-0 lead.
Although the Red Bulls managed to score two goals in the second half, the Black & Gold were able to hang on to their lead to hand the hosts one of only two defeats at Red Bull Arena during the 2018 regular season, as well as their last defeat at Red Bull Arena to date.
Defensively, the highlight of the night came from goalkeeper Zack Steffen, who came up with a full-stretch diving save to maintain a clean opening half.
Defender Lalas Abubakar certainly earned an honorable mention with his point-blank denial of Bradley Wright-Phillips in the 86th minute.
Crew SC's win capped off an unbeaten regular-season slate against the Supporters' Shield winners in 2018 (1-0-1) and was one of two home losses RBNY would suffer all regular season. As a result, both Afful and Mullins earned a spot on MLSSoccer.com's Team of the Week.
