HARRISON, N.J. – If it feels like you’ve seen this play before, you probably have.
While the unbeaten streak rolls on, the New York Red Bulls once again saw a two-goal lead evaporate in the late stages of a match. Drawing 2-2 with D.C. United, the Red Bulls failed to see out all three points when holding a 2-0 lead for the first time in the Red Bull Arena era.
On to the takeaways:
Depth Put to the Test
Immediately after last Saturday’s 1-0 over the Vancouver Whitecaps, the Red Bulls knew they would be without both Alex Muyl and Mike Grella after picking up yellow cards and earning one-game suspensions. However, things got even worse during the week as both Dax McCarty and Omer Damari picked up groin injuries in the lead up to Sunday’s match. Throw in a two-minute cameo appearance from Ronald Zubar before succumbing to injury and you have quite the predicament on your hands.
Even still, New York managed to put the game on their terms, taking it to the visitors for the better part of 90 minutes. Stepping in on the wings, both Gonzalo Veron and Danny Royer filled in admirably, with the former bagging a goal and the latter notching an assist in his first MLS start.
“I thought it was great for Gonazlo to get a goal,” head coach Jesse Marsch said after the match. “We’ve been working on our outside midfielders joining in on the back post and being available to score goals like that, so that was really good.
“Danny Royer was fantastic, he fit into the team very well. He understood the tactics and set up the second goal and could have scored the third. He showed that he’s a guy that we’re really going to be able to count on. That was a real bright aspect of today.”
Stepping in defensively, Damien Perrinelle was called upon to replace the injured Zubar and performed admirably on the day. The defense was sound for nearly the entire match, but a couple of late errors with the clock winding down led to their demise.
“I think one area that Dax would be very beneficial is late in the game,” goalkeeper Luis Robles said. “He knows how these games play out, he’s been in these situations before.”
Missed Opportunities
New York ended up with two goals scored on the day, but it could have been a whole lot more.
Despite walking away with just the one point, the Red Bulls offense was kicked into high gear with several players coming agonizingly close to extending the lead, including two near goals off the post from Sacha Kljestan
“That bothers me of course because I had two chances to bury the ball and unfortunately it missed by a couple of inches both times,” Kljestan said. “[D.C. goalkeeper Bill] Hamid made a couple of good saves, one on Sal Zizzo’s deflected shot and one on Bradley’s shot earlier, so he had himself a decent game but I had him beat two times, it’s just unfortunate they didn’t find the back of the net.”
After the match, United head coach Ben Olsen gave credit to his team’s resolve while also stating that he had reminded his team to stay patient.
“We said at halftime that you don't have to throw the sink too early against teams that play this way because you'll still get chances. They'll at times leave themselves exposed.”
Marsch, who believed his team to be far superior on the day, felt that the result could have easily been put out of reach on another day.
“That's fair enough,” he said. “They also know they're going to be under the gun for 90 minutes, they could have been down 3, 4, 5-0. I appreciate the fact that he's aware of that. I think he should also include in there that we're very, very, very difficult to beat.”
Goal scorer Bradley Wright-Phillips had his say, as well.
“His team got battered today and his players were saying it,” he stated. “It’s a ridiculous thing to say. So is he saying that he planned to get battered and then score at the end? Great game plan to him.”
Showdown in the Six
Without overlooking the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League fixture on Thursday, the Red Bulls know a big matchup looms next Sunday.
Although they squandered the opportunity to move joint top of the Eastern Conference alongside Toronto FC, their trip north to BMO Field should prove to be a massive matchup against two of the league’s top sides.
“First and foremost, we have a big Champions League game on Thursday so we’ve got to focus on that and then it’ll be a quick turnaround for Toronto,” Kljestan added. “We know we’ve got Toronto with first play on the line and probably the biggest game of the season up to this point, against a very good team whose gotten some big results at home and on the road lately. It’s going to be a big challenge but it’s going to be a big test for us, we’ll see where we’re at.”
As it stands, Toronto holds a two-point lead on New York with a game in hand, but are missing star striker Sebastian Giovinco. But with Jozy Altidore in arguably the best form of his career, the Red Bulls know they will have their work cut out for them.
“Obviously it would have been nice to get the result tonight, to go to Toronto and have us both tied, now know that everything's on the line,” Marsch said. “But it's still everything on the line for that game in Toronto. We've been looking at that game on the schedule for a while. We’re really excited to go up there.”
Riding an 11-game unbeaten streak in the league, New York will need to put the D.C. disappointment behind them if they are to keep things going in Canada.
“I think Toronto's done a really good job this year,” Marsch continued. “They've done a great job on the road. They've been good at home. We're going to put our unbeaten streak to a test when we go up there.
“I know we're going to go up there and throw everything we have at them and I know we're going to play well.”
