A BAD COMBINATION Poor defending, lack of finishing doom Red Bulls
Juan Pablo Angel celebrates his game-tying penalty kick, but he was extremely disappointed to not get three points out of Saturday's match against Real Salt Lake. Photo by James Messerschmidt
By Dylan Butler
BigAppleSoccer.com Associate Editor
East Rutherford, N.J. -- The Red Bulls had defensive breakdowns, missed opportunities offensively and needed a late Juan Pablo Angel goal to avoid a home loss.
Sound familiar?
For a second straight game, Angel saved the Red Bulls from a disappointing and damaging home loss, scoring the tying goal in the 80th minute as the Red Bulls played Real Salt Lake to a 2-2 draw at Giants Stadium Saturday night.
And for the second straight game, New York was plagued by the same problems.
"To me, it was simply a few miscues and poor finishing," Bruce Arena said.
That's not a good combination, especially when you're a team trying to lock down a playoff berth.
"It was very disappointing tonight," Angel said. "We wanted to get the three points. I think we start off the game well, but we keep giving up goals we should (not allow). I believe two or three chances they have and they score two goals."
After Seth Stammler was tripped by Carey Talley after an attempt at goal, referee Alex Prus pointed to the spot and Angel stepped up, blasting his 17th goal of the season over Nick Rimando's right shoulder. Angel passed fellow Colombian Adolfo Valencia on the list, who scored 16 goals in 2000.
But after the game, a disappointed Angel wasn't thinking about the record.
"I'm happy, but today was more about a playoff spot, it was about winning the game, it wasn't about breaking the record," he said. "I'm more concerned about doing well as a team."
Indeed, the Red Bulls could have booked their postseason ticket with a win and a Colorado loss or tie and a loss by Columbus Sunday. The Rapids lost at New England, but New York failed to come away with three points for the sixth time in the last seven games.
"It’s good to just keep going, to keep believing in ourselves and at the end get a draw, but it was a matter of getting three points today," Angel said. "We were playing for a playoff spot today."
Despite clearly outplaying Real Salt Lake, which came into the game with 23 points in 26 matches and just one win on the road this season, the Red Bulls fell behind on 22 minutes. Chris Brown lost his mark at the far post and his downward, bouncing header of Chris Wingert's cross beat a stunned Ronald Waterreus inside the near post.
"The marking was atrocious on the back post," Arena said. "There were a number of white jerseys that could have made a play and picked up or marked someone there."
After the goal, Waterreus, whose slow reaction to the show seemed to indicate he didn't think Brown would get an open header, stared down Chris Leitch, who was beaten to the ball.
"Sometimes you get surprised in that situation," Waterreus said.
Waterreus, who has given up his share of soft goals this season, refused to criticize the Red Bulls backline, at least not publicly.
"We talk in private about that with a lot of players," he said. "That’s the way it should be done."
Francis Doe equalized with his second goal in as many games in the 49th minute. Angel flicked on Dave van den Bergh's pass to Doe, who took on Real Salt Lake defender Matias Mantilla. After dribbling inside, Doe took Mantilla outside and then went back across the goal to beat Rimando with a low shot inside the far post.
But RSL regained the lead in the 75th minute when an unmarked Kyle Beckerman tapped the ball past Waterreus.
"We’ve been playing well, over the last four or five games, we’re getting more solid going forward, we’re creating chances, but we got to do better," Angel said. "If we want to go somewhere, we got to start from the back, being solid from the back."
Even after equalizing 10 minutes from full time, the Red Bulls squandered chances to score the winning goal. Jozy Altidore, who came on for Doe in the 64th minute, put a low shot wide of the far post two minutes from full time. It was Altidore's first appearance since Aug. 25 at New England.
Angel had a goal called back because of offsides in the second minute of stoppage time and twice in the second half, Real Salt Lake players cleared shots off the line.
"We had chances to get the third one," Arena said. "We didn’t finish off the chances
we created tonight."
For a third straight game, Arena went with the same starting XI. He brought on Clint Mathis, who was largely ineffective, at halftime for Joe Vide and Carlos Mendes saw his first action since his own goal at New England when he replaced Claudio Reyna, who left the match in the 58th minute because of a sprained left toe.
With three games remaining, the Red Bulls moved three points in front of idle Kansas City in third place in the Eastern Conference. But they squandered yet another chance to secure three points, missing another opportunity to clinch a playoff berth.
"We should’ve won, but in the end, I think a tie is the best you can do today," Waterreus said. "When you start, you want to have three points – we wanted to make the playoffs – but now we have Thursday to do it."
