Angel and Ibrahim scored in the Red Bulls' 2-1 win over  Union

The New York Red Bulls won a second straight home game in ugly and fairly lucky fashion, with Juan Pablo Angel scoring a game winning penalty (like last week) against the Philadelphia Union.  And just like last week, a win is a win.

Head coach Hans Backe continued to do his best to distance himself from the legacy of ex-coach Juan Carlos Osorio by putting out another consistent lineup, making only one change from last week (slotting in new signing Brian Nielsen for the injured Mac Kandji).  Coundoul started in goal, with the familiar back line of Miller, Ream, Petke, and Hall in front of him.  Nielsen, Robinson, Lindpere, and Richards played midfield, and Ibrahim got a second straight start alongside JPA at forward.

Although the team hasn't been playing amazingly the past couple weeks, it keeps grinding out results, so its good to see Backe taking a scalpel to the lineup and not a hatchet.

With play fairly even throughout the first half (if either team looked more dangerous, it was Philly) it took Salou Ibrahim goal to break the deadlock early in the second.  Ibrahim headed home an excellent Jeremy Hall cross in the 50th minute, giving Metro a short lived lead. It was Ibrahim's first goal for New York.  He has looked a bit sluggish, although he does appear to be pretty good at holding up the ball.  Hopefully he improves as the season progresses and he gels with the squad, because with Angel not playing at the top of his game Metro is in dire need of a dependable striker.

New York's lead against their new rival (Philadelphia is this season's expansion team, and appears to have been hastily constructed out of balsa wood and Elmer's glue) only lasted nine minutes.  Seattle reject Sebastien Le Toux got on the end of a cross by Columbus Reject Ajejandro Moreno cross, burning defender Jeremy Hall and tallying for the Union in the 59th minute.  Hall delivered the quality pass to help Metro score its first, and was defending poorly on the play that saw his team let in the equalizer.  Please insert your own wise and poetic line about the deeper virtues of soccer as a metaphor for life here ___________.

Although the game was locked at ones, New York managed to squeak out another win with the help of the officiating crew, awarding a penalty kick for a Michael Orozco handball in the box.  Angel converted, giving Metro a 2-1 lead in the 67th minute that they would manage to ride out until the end of the match.

Saturday's game was another ugly one which probably shouldn't have resulted in three points for New York.  Metro continues to struggle to maintain significant possession and lacks the ability to truly create or look extremely threatening in the final third.  The team dropped into a shell when it was defending both its 1-0 and 2-1 leads.  Jeremy Hall has continued to struggle as a right back.  Ideally the team will sign a capable right back, or Chris Albright will be healthy enough to play regularly, and Hall will be able to be pushed into the midfielder.  He is technically gifted and usually makes pretty good decisions, and would likely be able to flourish with less defensive responsibility.

Fans looking for New York to play like the Barcelona of MLS might be disappointed, but winning ugly is a lot better than what this team is used to, which is losing ugly.  More importantly, hundreds of Union fans who came up from Philly learned exactly how long and depressing a road trip back home is after a loss, which should bring a smile to any New York sports fan.

Dave Braneck is a blogger and an all around soccer fan who represents North Jersey to the fullest and contributes to Dailyharrison.com

Images by DailyHarrison.com | You're free to use,
copy, distribute, display, and make derivative works
from these images under the following conditions.

People who read this also read: