The chant began in the 23rd minute: “We want Pirlo! We want Pirlo!”  New York City F.C. was leading, 1-0, in its second game against the Red Bulls, and Pirlo, a World Cup-winning Italian midfielder who is renowned for his free kicks and seems to excel wherever he goes, had just appeared on the Jumbotron overlooking the field, watching the game with Frank Lampard.  Pirlo, the fans probably knew, is set to become N.Y.C.F.C.’s latest high-profile acquisition, following the paths of Lampard and David Villa. The light-blue contingent of fans welcomed him, loudly.  But as the Red Bulls scored three second-half goals to win, 3-1, in front of an announced sellout crowd of 48,047 on Sunday at Yankee Stadium, it was tough to imagine, even for the most avid N.Y.C.F.C. supporters, that the arrivals of Pirlo or Lampard would provide a surefire fix to the team’s problems.  The Red Bulls’ goals came from Bradley Wright-Phillips, who netted both goals in the Red Bulls’ 2-1 win in the teams’ first matchup on May 10; Chris Duvall; and Matt Miazga.  “I don’t think we got a real, honest effort out of all of our players,” N.Y.C.F.C. Coach Jason Kreis said in a somber postgame news conference.  Kreis’s squad had entered Sunday on a three-game winning streak and four-match unbeaten streak.  “The players had started to feel as if they had made it,” Kreis said.  The start of Sunday’s game buzzed with energy as N.Y.C.F.C. fans piled out of packed subway trains and jostled their way into the Stadium. Many of them wore Villa and Lampard jerseys, and some wore Pirlo’s No. 21 jersey from the Azzurri, the Italian national team.  In the sixth minute, after Villa’s curled ball into the box was headed away by Red Bulls midfielder Sacha Kljestan, Mix Diskerud tracked it down and floated a searching ball back into the scrum inside the 18-yard box.  Andrew Jacobson headed the ball onto the chest of Thomas McNamara, who expertly brought it down and half-volleyed a shot into the lower right corner, past a diving Luis Robles, for the game’s first goal.  McNamara, a thick midfielder with a mullet, sprinted toward the sideline to celebrate, with open arms and a broad smile. The crowd, electric from the start, erupted.  “The message before the game was that it may take a while for the game to settle down, and it might be crazy early on and there’s going to be a lot of emotion,” Red Bulls Coach Jesse Marsch said. “The message to the team was it may not settle down until the second half.”  The Red Bulls calmed down even earlier, around the 25th minute, when they started creating chances. They became more alert and attack-minded, closing down opponents more quickly and pushing forward.  In the 31st minute, midfielder Mike Grella slipped the ball to Wright-Phillips, who pushed a left-footed shot across the face of the goal. Then, in first-half stoppage time, an open look for Wright-Phillips in front of the goal was deflected away.  Neither chance went in, but the message was clear: The Red Bulls were coming.  They carried that momentum into the second half, and two minutes in, Kljestan sent a looping cross into the box from the left wing. Wright-Phillips met it and sent a first-time, left-footed volley into the back of the net to tie the game.  Five minutes later, Mike Grella popped the ball into the box, Anatole Abang headed it to the back post and Duvall powered a volley past goalie Josh Saunders. The Red Bulls led, 2-1.  “I think the second half was a continuation of the first half,” Kreis said. “We got away from everything that we’ve been trying to do over the past several weeks and months.”  To cement Kreis’s misery, Miazga, who is 6 feet 3 inches, jumped over a defender and headed the ball past Saunders in the 73rd minute for the game’s final goal. After scoring, Miazga ran to a patch of baseball infield dirt near midfield and pretended to hit a home run.  After the game, Kreis said he was excited that Lampard and Pirlo would soon join the team.  “But right now,” he said, “I’m just extremely focused with being disappointed with this game, so it’s hard for me to see past that right now.”  A version of this article appears in print on June 29, 2015, on page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: Budding Rivalry Changes Venue, but Not Result, as Red Bulls Roll. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
The Red Bulls, flustered early by the atmosphere, gave up the first goal. But the team calmed down and started creating chances that led to the win.