Forget the New York City FC game, this one was personal.
The Red Bulls, embarrassed by their Open Cup loss to the Cosmos a year ago, a game in which the Red Bulls rested many of their starters and wound up losing by three goals, said all the right things in practice this week. But when game-time came, the effort and performance matched anything they gave against a Major League Soccer opponent this season.
The end result was a 4-1 whipping of the Cosmos in the U.S. Open Cup’s Round of 16 before 11,442 Wednesday night at Red Bulls Arena, a revenge victory capped by a Mike Grella goal that you normally see on the playground rather than a professional pitch.
Combined with Sunday’s thrashing of NYCFC, the Red Bulls have assumed the mantle of best soccer team in the New York area – by far.
“Certainly we have shown, not just in the last two games, but I think we have shown that we are a good team and deserve to be treated as the premier club in New York City,” coach Jesse Marsch said. “That has meant a lot to us and we have taken a lot of pride in stepping on the field and showing that.”
But the victory came with a heavy price, a season-ending injury to second-year defender Chris Duvall, who broke his tibia in a collision with Cosmos defender Hunter Gorskie late in the game as both slid for a 50-50 ball near midfield. Gorskie received a yellow card on the play but the promising Duvall, who underwent surgery Thursday morning, will be out three to four months, according to the club.
“I think they both went in hard, but I think that Chris went in sideways and I think Gorskie went in more with his studs up,” Marsch said. “I think it should have been a red card. I don't know what the ref was looking at frankly. Again, that is endangering an opponent. That is the definition of endangering an opponent.”
The defensive depth will be tested going forward, with Duvall, a right back, out and left backs Kemar Lawrence (Jamaica) and Roy Miller (Costa Rica) headed to the CONCACAF Gold Cup. But Wednesday night’s victory will serve as motivation not only for the rest of the MLS season, but for the Open Cup quarterfinal match against the Philadelphia Union as well. A date and time for the match have yet to be announced.
“We did mention for the pride of the organization that we wanted to avenge last year’s loss,” goalkeeper Luis Robles said. “And we did a fantastic job of doing that.”
This one got going early. In the fifth minute, midfielder Lloyd Sam streaked down the right side and sent a perfect cross to the far post. Midfielder Sal Zizzo, running free of his mark, headed the ball back across the goalmouth and just inside the far post for a 1-0 Red Bulls lead.
The Red Bulls had a lead and momentum and could have put the game away early, but the Cosmos tied the match in the 16th minute on a nice sequence of passes and a lucky bounce.
Goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer, chasing a ball outside the box to his right, curved a long ball up the touch line that hugged the line and stayed in play. Midfielder Walter Restrepo and Red Bulls defender Connor Lade raced for it, but Restrepo got there first and spun away from Lade.
Carrying to the top of the box, Restrepo had his pass blocked by Red Bulls defender Matt Miazga, but the ball rolled to Leonardo Fernandes, who slipped a pass to Lucky Mkosana on the left. Mkosana had a moment to settle the ball before angling a shot inside the far post.
“There was a moment where it was 1-1 and we could have lost our composure but we didn’t, and because we didn’t we put ourselves in position to succeed,” Robles said.
The Red Bulls took over the game from there, eventually grabbing a 2-1 lead at the half on Anatole Abang’s header off a Sacha Kljestan corner kick in the 42nd minute. The lead became 3-1 in the 54th minute on Kljestan’s penalty kick after Gorskie pulled down Duvall in the box.
The Cosmos inserted the legendary Raul into the lineup at halftime. The 38-year-old Raul, who has been carrying an injury, nearly scored in the 63rd minute on a crazy sequence. Getting inside position on Duvall, Raul headed a long cross from the right off the crossbar. The ball rebounded to Mkosana, who drove a shot off the base of the left post.
“Wow. That was crazy,” Robles said. “When that happened, what was going through my head was that it’s our night.”
And it was. Felipe nearly made it 4-1 in the 83rd minute, but Maurer made an incredible recovery and dove to block the shot that seemed a sure goal. But the highlight came from Grella in the final minute and capped a horrible night for Gorskie.
Running onto a Felipe pass in the right side of the box, Grella put on a series of fakes, which had Gorskie spinning in circles. Finally, Grella cut left, faked a shot, and as Gorskie lost his footing, took a step to his right and grounded a shot that deflected into the net off the base of the far post.
“I just did a step over and immediately thought to get it on my left,” Grella explained. “I made a little bit of space to shoot with my left, and as soon as I have that advantage he almost has to slide, and if he doesn't, I shoot with my left, and if he does, I go back to my right.
“One of my better attributes is probably dribbling and doing that kind of stuff. So it almost comes natural to me. But I just want to make space to create a shot. In the end that's all that I want to do. Whatever I do before that is all into creating a good shot to get a good look on goal.”
Marsch was as impressed as anyone in the stadium.
“Mike's goal was fantastic,” Marsch said. “We have seen some amazing goals from Mike in training, stuff like that that is almost off of the playground. Cutting guys and making them look foolish sliding around and just under control shifting through players. Mike has been gaining so much confidence in the last two months and now it is finally paying off in goals and plays. I am happy for him.”
Kljestan has lifted his game the past few weeks as well, and that has made a huge difference to the team – and not just on the score sheet.
“It certainly feels good, it always feels a little bit better when you beat your rivals, and so to win at NYCFC over the weekend felt really good, and I guess it felt probably a little bit extra special for us for the way that we did (win) the way we came back and the mentality we showed and how good we played in the second half,” Kljestan said.
“Tonight was just a mentality game, and I've said that all along going into these games against lower division teams, if our mentality matches theirs, our technique and our skill and how good we are will shine through, and today that was the case. I thought we had a good mentality, we were professional about things, we went about things in the right way, we kept our cool, and we put our goals away, so it was a good feeling.”
