For the New York Red Bulls, Thursday night’s 2-2 draw against FC Dallas felt like a loss. Up a man for more than 60 minutes, they gave FCD space and time on the ball to counter attack, and paid the price for some shoddy defending in the second half.
A look at the player ratings for what was an uneasy performance.
GK Bouna Coundoul: Controlled his area and came off his line well once to deny Shea on a breakaway. Can’t be faulted on the goals and made some good second half saves. Rating: 6.5
D Chris Albright: Moved well into the attack up the right flank. Drew the red card on Shea with his comfort on the ball and moving forward. Very solid. Rating: 6.5
D Carlos Mendes: Let Shea way too much space in the opening 20+ minutes of the match. Not a settling performance, but not a bad one either. Rating: 5.5
D Tim Ream: Was caught napping on FC Dallas’ first goal, when he was marking air instead of Milton Rodriguez and then should have been deeper and more central on FC Dallas’ second goal. Rating: 5.5
D Roy Miller: Moved well into the attack but defensively was mixed. Gave Eric Alexander way too much space in the 53rd minute when the FC Dallas player struck the post and then FC Dallas’ second goal came down his side. Rating: 4.5
M Rafa Márquez: Some uncharacteristic giveaways as Márquez looked to be slowed by last Saturday’s ankle injury. Played some low-percentage balls that had little success of working: Rating: 5
M Tony Tchani: The dominant force centrally in the midfield and looked comfortable going both ways. Ran the show for the Red Bulls and should not have been the central midfielder subbed off to make room for Angel. Rating: 7
M Joel Lindpere: Quality ball to set up both of the New York goals. Had a few giveaways but tracked back well to support the defense. Rating: 7
M Dane Richards: Could have had three goals in the opening dozen minutes. Was pesky in the first half but quiet in the second 45 minutes. Rating: 6.5
M Mehdi Ballouchy: What a debut by the Red Bulls’ new No. 10. Scored and looked dangerous all night. Rating: 7.5
F Thierry Henry: Got his first yellow card in MLS on a reckless challenge and then looked unseemly in the incident with Kevin Hartman after New York’s first goal. Very quiet night. Rating: 5
Substitutions
F Juan Pablo Angel: Great pressure to force FC Dallas into an own-goal, New York’s equalizing goal. Rating: 6
F Ibrahim Salou: Some good pressure and good work, but saw precious little of the ball in his 10-plus minutes of action. Unfair to rate him this low, when his effort deserved more. Rating: 5
Kristian R. Dyer can be reached for comment at KristianRDyer@yahoo.com and followed at twitter.com/kdyer1012
