Wayne Rooney was sent off after a strike on an opponent was spotted by VAR in DC United’s loss 2-1 to New York Red Bulls, who also ended the game with 10 men.

The clash between the two sides is known as the Atlantic Cup and it was the visitors from New York who took an early advantage as Kaku scored after a defensive error.But the main event of the first half was the sending off of DC captain Rooney.

Following a VAR review, the former Everton and Manchester United striker was given a straight red card in the 24th minute for a high challenge on Cristian Casseres during a corner, which turned out to be an elbow into the face of the midfielder.

He was followed to the dressing room by Red Bulls defender Amro Tarek in the third minute of first-half injury time for an innocuous challenge on Paul Arriola, with Tarek receiving his second yellow card from referee Ismail Elfath.

With the teams level at ten men in the second half, DC’s Ola Kamara tied the game up with a curler in the 55th minute, scoring his first MLS goal for the side.

But the parity would not last long as the referee awarded a penalty to Red Bulls four minutes later.

Forward Michael Murillo went down in the area as Elfath pointed to the spot, with Daniel Royer converting his ninth career penalty to ultimately seal the Atlantic Cup victory.