Usual Red Bulls starting midfield Daniel Royer watched from the bench as his team struggled against NYCFC during the opening half of a fourth-round match in the U.S. Open Cup.

He watched intently as he recognized a need for speed, more attacking prowess and creativity on the ball. And in the second half, Chris Armas, who was coaching the Red Bulls in place of the suspended Jesse Marsch, gave Royer his chance.

He didn’t disappoint, giving the Red Bulls the energy they needed to dominate the second-half action and tallying the game-winning goal in the 67th minute to advance to the round of 16 with a 1-0 win over NYCFC.

“I tried to go out onto the field and help the team,” Royer said. “I tried to be dangerous, tried to be shifty and a person that could be an option offensively.”

He was that and more during a second half in which the Red Bulls controlled 61.1 percent of possession and seemingly took up permanent residence in the NYCFC half. But it wasn’t until Bradley Wright-Phillips launched a near-post shot that Royer made his impact.

As Wright-Phillips’ shot deflected high into the sky, Royer calmly found himself underneath it and sent a left-footed blast into net for the lone tally of the game.

“I just saw Bradley in a situation to finish, and I was trying to be in a spot to be an option for him to pass,” Royer said. “After the ball got deflected, I just tried to have a good touch to get it in.”

His good touch seemed to give the Red Bulls the extra energy it needed to hold off the dangerous NYCFC squad, which was riding the coattails of former World Cup champion David Villa.

Twice in the first half, Villa almost put away goals that could have changed the outcome, but one went off post and the other just wide of net. In the second half, he had no open spaces. A large part of that had to do with Tyler Adams, who had returned from playing for the United States at the Under-20 World Cup.

Adams completed 79.2 percent of his passes and showed deftness in his ability to track back on dangerous NYCFC scoring opportunities. None was more important than his 78th-minute slide tackle of Sean Okoli to retake possession when the NYCFC forward went in behind the defense.

“Watching him play, the way he can cover ground, at such a young age be that fearless,” Armas said of Adams. “He can just clog up the middle, shut things down. Second half, you can see one of the recovery runs he made down the left channel. It’s incredible to watch.”

And now it is six wins in seven all-time meetings against NYCFC.