The New York Red Bulls came into Sunday evening’s matchup with the Timbers needing an easy game. Not that the Timbers are a push over, but New York playing at home, needed to execute their game plan and not let Portland get set in theirs. New York plays only conference games until the end of the season, so a game at home against the worst team on the road shouldn’t be a struggle, right?
Not so when it comes to this Red Bulls squad, who played some of their worst defensive and possession-based soccer in a 35th minute span this season. The first third of the match saw neither team settling into a rhythm with possession switching sides on whims it seemed. Passes were errant from both sides and neither could really string together great spells. That didn’t stop the Timbers from scoring two goals, to take a 2-0 lead, 32 minutes into the match. Portland’s first goal came on a counter after they cleared the ball from a New York corner kick. The Timbers second goal came off applied pressure on left back Roy Miller who lost the ball and allowed Portland to easily move it around New York’s penalty area. Sal Zizzo, Darlington Nagbe, Frank Songo’o, and Bright Dike tore through New York’s backline like water through a strainer.
It was all Hans Backe needed to see as he made his first tactical sub in the first half as the Red Bulls coach. Kenny Cooper came on for Roy Miller, moving Connor Lade over to left back, Le Toux to right midfield, and Solli to right back. Lade now had to deal with Zizzo and Solli Dike, but more importantly, the Timbers focused more on Le Toux rather than Solli in the attacking third. Solli was given far too much space, and like many a time last season; Solli took the space and hit a perfect cross to find Cooper’s head and a goal for New York. Not even two minutes later, and controversy would mare this match as Tim Cahill would bury a ball past Donovan Ricketts after the play seemed to be whistled dead for a penalty. Once again, Solli played a dangerous ball, this time along the ground to Cahill, who played the ball off for McCarty to take a shot. McCarty’s shot rang off the arm of a Timbers player in the box but Cahill did not stop as his left footed strike found the back of the net. Reportedly after the match, the referee was quoted as blowing the whistle for the goal. I sit right behind that net and the ref did in fact blow his whistle and point to the spot but quickly moved his arm to the goal and subsequently the centerline indicating a goal. As soon as McCarty hit the shot I followed the ball, saw it hit off an arm and looked to the ref hoping he would give a penalty and then the ball was in the net. At first I thought McCarty had taken another shot but it wasn’t until it was announced, that I knew Cahill scored. The Timbers were definitely robbed of a penalty shot against them and with the way Sunday’s matches went with penalties, who knows if NY would have gone into half tied.
New York would have to rely on Bill Gaudette to keep them in the game throughout the second half. Gaudette, coming off an impressive outing for Puerto Rico midweek in their 2-1 loss to European and World Champions, Spain, once again came up huge and earned man of the match honors. Gaudette stopped the Timbers on two one-on-one breakaways and stoned a Darlington Nagbe shot after Jan Gunnar Solli practically slipped off the ball. Teemu Tainio came on to solidify and calm down the backline as Dax had his worst game of the summer and maybe even the year but it’s a good thing it came in a win. Tainio may never get his full fitness to take over for Dax in the starting spot but having his presence around the team and to come in as a sub late in a game, like this one, will only help New York in the MLS Cup hunt. New York’s game winner came off a corner that went initially went long but Kenny Cooper did well to hold off the Timbers pressure and lay the ball off to Solli, who once again crossed the ball directly to a Red Bulls attacker, this time Heath Pearce.
Now the real work begins as New York heads on a two game road trip to top Eastern Conference foes, Sporting KC and DC United. The Red Bulls know how well the can play at home with the flip of a switch but now is the time in the season where Shield and Cup contenders can grind out results on the road by turning on the switch. If New York wants to be considered a threat to other teams in the east, they need to start doing just this.
(image courtesy of mlssoccer.com)
