Disappointing result for the home team

HARRISON, NJ - New York is the only team in MLS with 3 Designated Players, stars who’s salaries are allowed to exceed the salary cap.  In Saturday's 1-0 home loss to Los Angeles, DP might as well have stood for disappointing players.

Rafa Marquez, captain of the Mexican national team, was stripped of the ball in his own half, leading to Edson Buddle’s game winner for the Galaxy.  Thierry Henry continues to be simply incapable of scoring in MLS league games, blowing two solid chances.  Juan Pablo Angel, one of the team (and league’s) most dependable strikers, looked sluggish and was pulled late in the second half.  The Red Bulls lost a game they should have won (or at least drawn) based on their possession and chances, but were doomed by one mistake and poor finishing.

The fact that referee Mark Geiger appeared to be LA’s biggest fan (hard to blame him if he has a man crush on David Beckham) and officiated the game terribly did not help New York's chances of winning its first sell out in RBA.

Red Bulls fans were surely unhappy with the game, but head coach Hans Backe wasn’t: “I liked this game I must say.  Probably one of the most intensive games for us this season, one turnover cost us a goal but I am still rather happy with our performance.  Our possession was good in a way, we didn’t overplay possession and played rather relaxed and still created a number of chances.  Once again we couldn’t really take our chances but it was a good sign for us that after six or seven months we can compete and even control possession against a team like the Galaxy.”

Barring a string of LA dominance in the first ten minutes of the match (which culminated in Edson Buddle’s game winning goal) the Red Bulls did have solid possession and create a few serious chances.  The match was a fairly open one (Both Bouna Coundoul and Donovan Ricketts had to make big saves) but New York did manage to win an edge in chances and possession.  This has been the case in Metro’s past few games, but many of them have ended in draws and tonight saw the hosts lose.  It is hard to believe a team with Thierry Henry and Juan Pablo Angel on it would have so much trouble scoring, but that is the case.

Angel hit the crossbar in stoppage time of the first half, while Henry collected an excellent pass from Joel Lindpere in the middle of the box, set himself up, and proceeded to rip the ball over the net.  If New York wanted a striker that could run around and miss easy chances, it could have kept John Wolyniec around, although he probably would have sunk that shot.  Two point blank shots off a corner (one from Tchani and a second from Ream) were saved spectacularly by Ricketts, keeping the game in LA’s hands.

Aside from missing close chances, New York also had the ref working against them.  It seemed every pass to a forward was deemed offsides and all 50-50 balls were called fouls against LA.  The worst instance of biased refereeing came midway through the second period, when ref Mark Geiger kept his whistle silent as Henry was dragged down in the box in what seemed to be some form of gang related violence.  Still, MLS ref’s tend to be bad and Geiger can’t be blamed for New York's misses.

The defense again looked good.  Barring the one horrendous misstep where Marquez coughed up the ball in his own half (leading to Edson Buddle’s 10th minute strike) New York’s backline looked solid.  Bouna made some big saves to keep his team in the game, and the defense prevented the Galaxy from getting too many chances.

“I thought we played well and held our own but were unlucky not to score a few to be honest.  That was a good gauge and a good test to see where we were and I thought we played pretty well and it shows we can play with anybody.  It’s always tough to lose but a loss is a loss.”- Red Bulls defender Tim Ream

Ream also talked a bit about his chance on the 72nd minute corner kick which was blocked from close range.  If he could go back in time just once he would have taken the shot with his laces, not the outside of his foot.  He would have opted to do this over killing Hitler or winning the lottery, which is an excellent demonstration of the rookie’s dedication to his soccer team.

It’s a tough loss to stomach, but the Red Bulls will have to turn their attention forward, as they have a huge game in Toronto next week and are entering the grueling final third of their season.

Lineups:
New York- Bouna Coundoul, Roy Miller, Tim Ream, Carlos Mendes, Chris Albright, Joel Lindpere, Rafa Marquez (Mac Kandji 71), Tony Tchani, Dane Richards, Thierry Henry, Juan Pablo Angel (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 85)

Los Angeles- Donovan Ricketts, Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter, A.J. DeLaGarza, Michael Stephens, Chris Birchall (Chris Klein 83), Juninho (Jovan Kirovski 90), Landon Donovan, Tristan Bowen (Mike Magee 61), Edson Buddle

Disciplinary Summary:
59: Yellow issued to Juan Pablo Angel (NYRB)
76: Yellow issued to Roy Miller (NYRB)

Scoring Summary:
10: Edson Buddle (NYRB 0 : LA 1)

Attendance: 25,000

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