Howard C. Smith/ISI PHOTOS
Danleigh Borman scored a stunning 81st minute goal to help a short-handed Red Bulls squad salvage a 1-1 draw against the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday night at Giants Stadium. The goal was Borman’s second in two matches.
The Red Bulls looked well on their way to their first home loss when midfielder Dave Van Den Bergh was issued a red card in the 77th minute. The sending off didn’t slow down the Red Bulls, who did most of the attacking in the second half.
After seeing an assortment of quality chances cleared off the line and saved by Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, the Red Bulls finally broke through in the 81st minute when Juan Pablo Angel slipped a clever pass to a wide-open Borman in the penalty area. Borman sent a left-footed blast past Hartman to tie the score and send the rain-soaked crowd at Giants Stadium into an uproar.
Borman followed up the goal with what has become his trademark cartwheel and tumble roll goal celebration. He was then hugged by a drunken Red Bulls fan who ran onto the field.
"That’s a goal celebration that I’ve done from college that actually started from my father doing the back flips," Borman said. "I can’t do a back-flip so in his honor I do the roll."
The goal capped a relentless attack in the second half that saw Hartman stop Angel from point-blank range on one sequence and Sasha Victorine clear a Kevin Goldthwaite shot off the line. Jozy Altidore also had a goal-bound shot cleared off the line by a Wizards defender soon after Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad opened the scoring in the 20th minute with a header off a Carlos Marinelli corner kick.
"I think that was a great response in the second half," Osorio said. "In the first half we couldn’t get a hold of the game. It was, however, a game that (Kansas City) had only one chance all game and it was from a set play that we conceded.
"I am very disappointed with that considering the height and the time that we dedicated to defensive plays during training," Osorio said. "But give credit to the boys. They responded very well in the second half."
The victory improved the Red Bulls unbeaten streak to five matches (2-0-3) heading into a key Eastern Conference showdown against the Chicago Fire, which lost to Houston, 2-1, on Saturday night.
"This is five games unbeaten and the guys get more confidence every game," Osorio said. "I think for me personally, I will be very frustrated because I think we probably deserved a little bit more. If I am realistic, they only created chances from set plays and that’s something that we have to work on and keep improving.
"As far as open play, I think it was another solid performance from our back four, back five."
Saturday marked the Red Bulls debut of former Toronto FC defender Andrew Boyens, who started at right back in the team’s 3-4-3 formation.
"I think he did very well," Osorio said of Boyens. "He’s not the quickest but I think he’s a clever guy, intelligent and generally I don’t think they got in behind too many times. I think that we defend that high line very well and I think he will gain confidence and get better and better."
By letting the game become physical, Marufo essentially allowed a less-skilled, milquetoast team to compete in a game that they had no business leading in the 77th minute. It was an atrocious way to approach a game; but typical of refs coming out of Region 3. Without their Argentines, KC would remind me of a college team. No flair and simplistic tactics, which includes the physicality.
I’ll take Tiffany May anytime running on to the field over that Red Bull fan/dude anytime but it was entertaining to see him dodge the NJSEA thugs with the beer bottle in hand. If the Red Bulls can tighten up their D (rather than loosen up) on set plays, they will be real tough to beat. If my memory serves me well..I think almost all the 6 goals conceded so far were off of dead ball situations/set plays. I have just about had it with Maruffo… he is too Red Card happy and gives out way too many PKs.. In 74 games he has reffed he has awarded 25 PKs and 15 red cards. He lets way too much rough stuff (on both sides) get by and then whips out reds like they are going out of style on questionable infractions. I was at the game live and then watched the TV replay and if Marrufo had called the blatant tugs by Davy Arnaud on VDB there would have been no flying elbow from VDB and by default no red. As soon as Magee was taken out in the 2nd half and VDB moved in to the Attacking Mid position the Bulls looked like a different team which was able to create a dominating midfield presence. Borman should start over Magee.. he is so much more effective. Really if Hartman hadn’t made 2-3 sick saves and 2 other balls weren’t cleared off the goal line… the Red Bulls would have won this game handily 4-1, 5-1… The Red Bulls D has
looked great in the run of play so far this year and Boyens wasn’t great in his debut…as Osorio says he is a bit slow… but he seemed to adjust and be part of the RBNY D pretty effortlessly… I would also like him to distribute the ball on the ground not boom the ball up field every time. Is Osorio definitely banned next game?
Marrufo sent him off but I never saw a red card issued to him.
The drunk guy had some nice moves before the Giants Stadium security thugs roughed him up and carted him off. After the way KC defended on the corners tonight, Onalfo might want to give a few of those fat bastards a job on the KC back line. They can grab and tug and hug and tackle all they want.
Looks like Borman is taking it with a light heart. Too bad the fan will miss out on the rest of the giants stadium games, but only another year right?
The fan haha. I like how the other two aren’t phased by his behavior.
Looks like Coors Modibo.. :-p
Anyways decent result if we just put one away before half time I think we’d see a very open match..
It’s weird… I saw the several replays of the goal but I missed the drunken embrace. Thanks for the photo. I wonder what beer it was that made our friend run on the field to squeeze Borman – maybe I should get some of that.