When the supporters were entering Red Bull Arena there was some positive thoughts that the club was going to rebound from the pathetic performance last week against Chivas-USA. Well unfortunately that lingered and it was another pathetic start to the match as the club started flat and uninspired. You saw easy chances given to FC Dallas as Jeff Cunningham had his way with the defenders. He didn’t need much space to take some thundering shots, but thankfully he missed wide twice.
But when the tenth minute struck on the match clock, that’s when FC Dallas took their chance and converted the first goal of the match. Heath Pearce on the near side took a nice pass from David Ferreira and crossed it into the NY area and of course the smallest man on the field would head it in for the early one goal to nil lead. Dax McCarty once again scores a big goal as he was able to avoid the defenders who didn’t see him and took his advantage well.
After the first fifthteen minutes of the match ended RBNY was finally starting to show some life and tried to find the equalizer before half time. If some of you are wrestling fans and are into the WWF/WWE, then the Red Bulls are like Greg “The Hammer” Valentine. They need the first fifthteen minutes to get warmed up before they really start to get going. There seemed to be a chance to level it up by Juan Pablo Angel, but he was just half a foot offsides.
It looked like FC Dallas would be bunkering all match long after their only tally, but they kept on pressing for another and that would mean its Bouna Time and in a really big way. He made several diving saves and a couple of post shots to keep the club in it. Those lucky breaks would finally pay off in the Fifty-Sixth minute when Joel Lindpere would bring up the ball and a quick cross inside the box. Angel would take a quick strike and level the score at one a piece.
Angel would get two chances to get the match winner on the spot kick. Macoumba Kandji got fouled inside the Dallas area in the sixty-fifth minute and when Angel took the spot kick, Dario Sala dove to his right and made the save. You thought it could be a point a piece towards the end of regulation; Angel would get another chance for a penalty when Sinisa Ubiparipovic was fouled inside the area. When the clock struck ninety,Angel’s rip would be in the upper ninety and a two goal night for the Colombian.
But the real hero for RBNY was Coundoul. After that horrible flub of an own goal last week against Chivas-USA, you could see he was focused and ready to make up the last performance he had. It was a fantastic save before Angel scored his first of the night and it would be a continuation of diving saves, deflection saves & magical help from the plastic posts & crossbar to get three wins in their first four matches.
But when you ponder this victory for RBNY, this could’ve been a terrible result. If you do go back to last year this would be a match that they would’ve easily lost and gave up. Instead they continued to fight and got the result to rebuild their confidence and are waiting for the dangerous expansion side in the Philadelphia Union who will make a visit in a league tilt Saturday afternoon & a US Open Cup Qualifier next Tuesday night.
I’m always curious how MLS Talk chooses which game to write about amongst the several that happen any given Saturday. I dunno who handles your business end, but if you chose whatever game the Sounders played in you’d probably be doubling your site hits
Oscar, there’s no fixed schedule. We write about whichever games we want. Daniel was in New York last night. I was in Fort Lauderdale to see Miami FC to play. We have a weekend wrap-up that’s published on a Monday. But if you or anyone else is interested in writing for MLS Talk, please go to http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com/get-published/ for more information.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Oscar, take it from me. Submit a piece about your favorite MLS team and the Gaffer is happy to post it. Trying to work up a new piece on the Fire myself after our big win over DC United! At least there is someone worse than Chicago right now.
Good to see a NY win, it’s good for the league right now.
Daniel is a huge NY guy.
The amazing thing about Seattle, as great as their massive fan base is, there doesn’t seem to be one Daniel out there, that constantly writes about the team.
Charles. Find a cloaning machine and poor Sounders blood into it & put me in there. Make a cloan of me that is Seattle Sounders 24/7
Big win for RBNY. We’re turning Red Bull Arena into the Lambeau Field of MLS. 12K supporters showed up, and it sounded like a full house out there.
My sarcasm meter may be on the fritz. Is this a joke?
NYRB has a beautiful new stadium and a team that’s winning and drew only 12K? Winless DC United sucks hugely this year drew 18K to the dump that is RFK Stadium (at the same time the NHL Capitals were playing a playoff game and the metro system had limited service for repair).
I don’t mean to knock the 12K who showed up, but what’s it’s going to take to get NY/NJ area fired up for the Red Bulls? It’s a disgrace.
It’s gonna take some time to get people to come out to the games. RBNY exists in the toughest market in the US.
As the team keeps winning, the people will begin to show up. Keep in mind that none of the new york area’s sports talk radio stations even acknowledge MLS or the Red Bulls, so getting the word out to non soccer people happens strictly through word of mouth of supporters.
For a chilly nighttime game against a random squad (FC Dallas), the 12k or 13k that showed up last night was astronomically more people than would have came last year.
Sadly the weather was factor, cause of the cold. But yes it was a disgrace not to have 20,000 at least.
Hapless as he’s been at the national team level, I find that I miss the style of play–if not the ‘finishing touch’–of Kenny Cooper.
On paper, the dude’s physical attributes should make him a dominating striker. How handy would that be come June?
13,667 for the game was very pathetic for a team that is winning. I still don’t think that they are that good a team, but who cares if they are great, as long as they keep winning ?
Unfortunately, I guess NYers don’t care one way or the other.
Amazing to me with all the soccer fans in the US, they still don’t watch soccer week in and week out in a very exciting league.
Have you ever seen anything more bizzare than how Seattle gets it, but the rest of the US does not ? (I will exclude Canada because Toronto gets it too)
Absolutely bizzare.
LA, 20k, for a team that is 4-0 with Buddle having scored 7 goals and Donovan playing on it. How can they be drawing 1/2 the number of fans ?
Absolutely bizzare.
That is something I don’t understand either, Charles. I was at the Galaxy game last night and the people that were there were 100% into the game. Chanting, cheering, booing against RSL, etc. I had a great time and it was a very exciting, entertaining match. MLS just doesn’t get as much exposure as it should. And with the NBA Playoffs starting, the Lakers will garner more attention than the Galaxy. I guarantee when Beckham return, Home Depot Center will be packed. Sad, but the truth. Every year seems like it’s getter bigger and better. But it will take time. Which is a shame, because LA is completely dominating right now, with Buddle scoring all our goals! We need Donovan and Magee to step up though. Buddle can’t get every goal this season. Great start. Can’t wait for the July 4th game against Seattle. I’ll be there.
New York didn’t deserve to win. They were given excessive help from the ref. The penalty was borderline.
That is true Lars. The second penalty was borderline. But at the same time Daniel Hernandez shouldn’t have made that tackle to put Sala under pressure again to stop another spot kick.
Alex Prus did look to his assistant and the near side man did tell him it was a penalty. If you had the MSG Network broadcast Shep Messing did say the line its self is apart of the penalty area. So the foul was a penalty.
Borderline? Yes. But still a penalty since Ubiparipovic was on the line & a bit inside.
The crowd in NY was a disappointment. Was the weather a factor? The podcast with the NY writer gave some insight in NY. The Red Bulls need a name, a Beckham or Henry for the fans to come out. It’s the Big Apple and they want a star. Nothing less than the top stuff pleases the NY state of mind.
As far as Chicago goes I would expect a good crowd not the record group like you saw last week for the next home game. So much is dependent on weather. The next game is not in my ticket plan so I’ll make a decision to go based on the weather more than anything else. On the whole league wide attendance still seems to be strong. MLS fans lets keep it up.
Cmon Lars, “excessive help”? Really?
The refs didn’t do RBNY any favors either. They called back Angel’s goal as offside when the Left back was clearly playing him onside. The whole stadium had a “WTF?” moment when that happened.
Go look at the replay, the tackle on Ubi deserved a penalty. Who goes in for a sliding tackle in his own area with the game on the line? FC Dallas lost this game, no excuses.
So much is dependent on weather. The next game is not in my ticket plan so I’ll make a decision to go based on the weather more than anything else.