One loss cannot derail a promising season, but a loss that carries repercussions might, and that’s what the Red Bulls are facing this morning following their crushing 5-2 loss to Orlando City SC Friday night at Red Bull Arena.
A crowd of 20,695 saw the Red Bulls snap a six-game home winning streak and allow a season-high five goals as Orlando City (10-13-8), in a desperate push for a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, overwhelmed the Red Bulls defense with a deadly counter attack.
The repercussions? While the Red Bulls (14-9-6) are still very much in the race for the conference title and Supporters’ Shield, they will head into a showdown with the Columbus Crew next Saturday minus their coach and best defender. Jesse Marsch was ejected in the 57th minute for arguing with referee Jorge Gonzalez, while Matt Miazga received two yellow cards as the Red Bulls played the final 13 minutes with 10 men.
Combined with Miazga’s departure for Olympic qualifying games with the U.S. Under-23 team, which runs from Oct. 1-13, he could miss four of the final five games of the season.
“I thought Orlando played very well tonight,” said Marsch, who refused to comment on his ejection. “We were a little bit late on our shifting and sliding in dealing with things and they're good on the ball, and then we lose some balls in bad spots and maybe we over-commit and then all of a sudden we're on our heels. Combined with that, it's a night where you feel like everything that can go wrong, does.
“You have nights like this; we're not immune to it. I feel strongly that we're a good team, but there's going to be nights where everything seems to go against you. That's what tonight was. I promise you this: this team won't be fazed by this. It's a hard one to take, it's a kick in the teeth, but we will find a way to regroup and we'll be ready to go again next weekend.”
Although Marsch won’t be coaching the next game, he may have to spend the week boosting the confidence of his back line, which was repeatedly shredded by Orlando’s devastating attack. Center back Damien Perrinelle, who had a backbreaking own goal 37 seconds into the second half and was out of position on other goals, and right back Connor Lade had very poor performances.
With Miazga out, Ronald Zubar, who has been injured much of the season, will step in, although that was even in question for a moment. While warming up in front of the South Ward, Zubar was issued a yellow card in the 65th minute, one of six cautions handed out by Gonzalez.
“Sometimes you have some type of things you can’t explain,” Perrinelle said. “We were in a good mood last week and tonight, as you can see, we thought that everything was wrong for us. For sure we did mistakes, but we have to watch the video to see what happened and to work on it.
“… We don’t have to find an excuse. We played against a good team and for sure we have to be better next time. The first half was pretty good. Tell me how many times they came on our (side of the) field, two times? We played decent in the first half. Sometimes you can’t explain what happened. Tonight was not our night.”
Actually, it was Cyle Larin’s night. The Orlando forward scored three goals to set a Major League Soccer rookie record with 14, breaking the 11 scored by the Fire’s Damani Ralph in 2003. Kaka, in his first game back after being injured at Red Bull Arena playing for Brazil Sept. 5 against Costa Rica, added three assists to raise his season total to seven.
“I think it was a combination of a few things,” midfielder Dax McCarty said. “We knew they were a good team and we knew they would come in here and try to win, so we were prepared for a tough game. We were pretty poor on the night, defensively, all over the field. I think our pressure was a little off. We weren't winning the ball high up the field like we usually do, but then again, when you let a team score every time they come down the field into your defensive half, it's going to be a long night.”
Miazga’s first yellow card, which came in the 15th minute, was for a sliding tackle on Orlando’s Brek Shea at midfield. From there, not much went right with the team’s defensive performance.
Larin netted his first in the 24th minute, circling around Bradley Wright-Phillips to lose Mike Grella, then angling a header off a Kaka corner kick past Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles.
But the Red Bulls responded well and tied the match five minutes later on a very creative set piece. Sacha Kljestan took a free kick from outside the box on the left and curled a cross to the far post. Miazga was there to head it back in front of the net to a wide open McCarty, who scored his first goal of the season with a diving header.
Larin struck again two minutes before the break. Kaka played the ball to Carlos Rivas on the left and he fed a perfect ball to Larin in the right side of the box as Perrinelle trailed the play. Larin’s shot beat Robles inside the left post for a 2-1 lead.
The Red Bulls were unlucky not to score in first-half stoppage time. McCarty headed the ball off the crossbar off a Kljestan corner kick, and Wright-Phillips headed a cross from Kemar Lawrence off the right post a minute later.
Still, it seemed the Red Bulls were in the game. That ended quickly in the first minute of the second half when Perrinelle slid to block a pass from the left by Rivas that was headed for Larin and the ball trickled into the net for an own goal and a 3-1 Orlando lead.
“Yeah, the back line got exposed tonight,” Marsch admitted. “And it was weird because even when it was 2-1 the game felt like it was still there. And then even when it was 3-1 I felt like the game was still there, and then it was 3-2 and the game was certainly there, and it was just that they were good on the counter.
“Kaka helped on some plays, Larin was very dangerous in between the center backs and we got punished for it. So, a little bit late on rotations, and then putting guys on their heels a little bit and going down early is a recipe for a disastrous night.”
Lloyd Sam scored in the 58th minute, a minute after Marsch was ejected, converting a cross from the left by Gonzalo Veron, but Larin completed his hat trick three minutes later. Orlando again caught the Red Bulls defense on the counter and Larin, off a Rivas feed, beat Robles high for a 4-2 lead.
Miazga’s second yellow card, when he grabbed Bryan Rochez’s arm on a ball played over the top in the 77th minute, took away any hope for a comeback. The final goal, by Rochez three minutes into second-half stoppage time, also was on the counter and completed the rout.
“We've been doing amazing, especially in this building, and that was the first game we lost here in months, so we're not going to take that too much to heart,” Sam said. “But (games like that) can always happen, and that happened today. It was a bad day. We put that past us and go at it again.”
