Photo by ISIphotos.com
BY DYLAN BUTLER
Seconds from what would have been an impressive 2-1 come-from-behind victory against D.C. United, the Red Bulls suffered one of their most stinging losses, dropping a pair of goals in a span of 1:42 at the death.
First Luciano Emilio scored the 90th-minute equalizer. And then Chris Pontius followed a defensive miscue between Alfredo Pacheco and Jon Conway to score the winner in the first of three minutes of stoppage time.
So what went wrong on Pontius' strike?
Both Conway and Pacheco froze as Marc Burch's long ball bounced inside the box. That hesitation allowed Thabiso (Boyzzz) Khumalo to take a touch before Pontius knocked it into the open net.
So who was to blame? When asked if Conway called for the ball, the keeper said "I've got to look over it, view it, see what the situation was. I have to look at it this week."
Pacheco, though, saw things clearly.
"He talked to me," Pacheco said through a translator. "He said it was his ball. Let teh ball. I've got the ball. There was communication. Conway said it's my ball. There was no miscommunication."
Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio, though, didn't care who was going to handle the ball, just as long as it was cleared from danger.
"They both have to clear the ball, one way or the other," Osorio said. "Everybody will have their own opinion, but Alfredo slid and Conway was nearby, but we were very poor defending the ball."
The final result was three more points squandered at home. On March 28, Kenny Mansally struck for the tying goal in the 90th minute to lead New England to a 1-1 draw with the Red Bulls at Giants Stadium.
"What happened today is just unacceptable," Juan Pablo Angel said. "We should have killed the game off, we should have won it. It happened against New England, as well. But today, I think it was even worse."
Ironically, if not for the late-game meltdown, the Red Bulls would been lauded for arguably its best half of the season. Osorio made a tactical change after a miserable first half, bringing Jorge Rojas on and switching to three in the back. Rojas and Mac Kandji were sharp and dangerous off the bench and Angel was clincal inside the 18-yard box.
Rojas set up both Red Bulls goals — Angel's 68th-minute equalizer and Dane Richards' go-ahead goal six minutes later. But the only topic discussed in the sullen New York locker room after the game was three points got away.
"This is very tough," Kandji said. "I think this is the toughest one I've been through so far. I thought we had this win in the bag. You know, two goals, two minutes, just unbelievable. I don't even know what to say about this one."
The biggest mistake of the match was Osorio’s final sub. When Hall went down he should have brought in Mendes or Petke, slid Rojas to LB and Pacheco to RB and held onto the lead.
Just noticing 3 articles on the same game. Again, I’m a DC fan, but I think you guys are being too hard on Conway – he’s a solid keeper. Perhaps it’s a miscommunication issue – the centerback via a translater is saying he heard Conway call him off. That alone sounds like a classic joke in the making. 🙂
So, my 2 cents – DC was lucky and Red Bulls are just painful to watch. Like a trainwreck – not in their style or attempts (they are close – very close to being a good team). Personally I think they play well and should be good – time will tell. But, I’m expecting Osorio to be sent away and this revolving door coaching staff will continue indefinately in NY.
That being said, I still think Osorio got too much credit for an in-form Blanco and perhaps in-contrast, we’re beating him up for a sub-standard Roja/Petrovallo.
What went wrong? Yes, Conway and Pacheco made mistakes, but what went wrong happened thanks to Osorio. I strongly disagree with the idea that “the defeat wasn’t about Juan Carlos Osorio’s substitutions or tactical changes, and certainly not about lineup rotations.”
I think that was exactly the problem. Osorio put an overlapping attacking LB (Pacheco) in at CB (which are two very different positions) and suffered the consequences of playing people out of position once again. When we were up a point, Osorio also subbed in Pietravallo for Hall and moved Sassano to RB. So, now we have two players out of position in a back line that’s supposed to hold out for the victory.
Instead of Pietravallo (who stinks), Osorio should have avoided all these shenanigans and put in Mendes or Petke at CB and left the other players in position. This is so obvious, it makes me wonder if Osorio freezes mentally during games. His choices are so poor, and his preparation is such overkill that I suspect this is the case.
It was a very painful and stupid loss that probably cost the team many spectators. People leaving the stadium were disgusted and rightly so. What a waste.
I’ve been hurt before with our performances, but yesterday’s, in the sweltering heat, perhaps hurt the worst. It was more a shame because, as DB says, we were actually looking pretty good in that second half. But again our defense let’s us down. I don’t think it necessarily JCO’s fault as a brief moment of madness that capped a pretty poor showing overall from Conway. We were so bummed, we couldn’t even attend the meet-and-greet.
14 years as a season ticket holder & this is the worst loss yet.
Well.is JCO A COACH..??? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
Time to replace OSORIO….
Conway’s performance was lousy last night, but I’m more confident with him in the net than Cepero. Overall, disappointing and sloppy play by RBNY. Rojas and Kandji should NEVER come on as subs. They’re starters through and through. What was JCO thinking starting this team? We need some serious inspiration, and maybe a new coach will produce that.
Conway was awful yesterday and decided the match. A decent goalie prevents at least two of DC’s goals. Conway was dreadfully out of position, made poor decisions, and comically missed a puched ball that could have been another disaster.
As for the offense, they seemed slightly better in the second half, but their midfield needs to stop trying to be Magic Johnson out there and make link-up passes that actually have a high percentage of connecting. Angel looked lost most of the game and didn’t get involved until he started circulating back into the midfield, something he needs to do more.
I think that by and large, Conway is on par with the top GK’s of the league (Keller is on a different level entirely of course and thus shouldn’t count). However, despite solid play last week, Conway made huge errors on both the late goals that he should be kicking himself for today. He was simply not decisive enough in either instance – as a GK, you NEED to decide to come out after a ball, or stay in the net, and if you decide to come out – that ball needs to be yours, you can’t just half-ass it to the ball assuming the attacking player will leave it to you.
That said, lets just hope his confidence doesn’t slip, as it becomes a very slippery slope if it does.
Conway: “I don’t know what happened. I never know what happens. It can’t be my fault or my responsibility because I am and will remain in denial about everything. Got that? Absolutely everything!”
The defense once again blew it!!!
JCO coach needs to go!
He is clueless.
Klinsman is now available
So, how ’bout them Knicks?
at least New York fans can take solace in the fact that the Mets were playing the worst team in baseball and the Rangers had their second elimination game at home. Oh wait. You say the mets got massacred? And the Rangers…
Hmm. Seems like today went DC 3, ny/nj 0. Hey, at least the Yankees are doing well. Aren’t they?
Horrible. This team is HORRIBLE!
And the tears flooded the streets on New York…
Wait, no they didn’t. Because nobody cares about the MetroTards. At least if we move to St. Louis, we’ll still have a respectable fan base.
they were dancing in the streets in St. Louis after that go ahead goal
Kandji should have hit that ball square and NY should have gone up 3-2…
Hmm I’m not sure I like Pacheco’s attitude on that quote. Clear implication that it was Conway’s fault for saying he had the ball and not getting it. Even if it’s true, I don’t wanna hear that locker-room stuff in the media.
Doesn’t matter, NY will be in the playoffs 🙂
I just got back from the game. I am still a die hard red bull fan forever but must say. Did you guys really expect a win? I thought Jeremy Hall played great and told people in the crowd as soon as he got injured that DC would win. LUKE Sassano sucks and is useless. He cannot defend, plays scared and cannot or attack. Why have him there and not Mike PETKE? Conway SUCKS. Everyone in the crowd for years has been telling him to come out and grab the ball. The first goal as always he stays in the net instead of cutting the angles off.
RELEASE him and get a new goalie. Rojas played his ass off and is better than SINSA. Angel is right the defense and the goalie have no communication and no one plays the man and alway wath the ball.
Conway is worse than a high school goalie and is the worst I have seen.
Khano smith is like playing with 10 men flat out sucks! We need stammler back and a NEW GOALIe. SAssano is a bench player at best.
Also everygame I go the Red Bulls get up by goal and play prevent soccer. That does not work for 20 mins. You have to put teams away not sit back. But clearly the lack of leadership from the back by conway is to blame.
There’s still 24 games to play and we’re only 5 points off first place. But the pattern of sloppy defending there is troublesome right after that great game versus Salt Lake.
I think Pachecho had been great, right up until those last three minutes. Unfortunately, those count too.
They had three consecutive games with no goals-against from the run of play. So I still see positives, no matter how dark today’s ending was.
@kpugs Really? The guy doesn’t even know if he called someone off the ball and you think he’s good? Two weeks ago, he sets the wall wrong and almost allows a near post direct kick (that he saved).
He “doesn’t want to talk” about the 10-game suspension” or offer any sort of apology to the fans, please do me the favor of explaining why this douche nozzle deserves to be anything other than released.
There is always one constant in sports, business etc..
Blame always goes to the top, no matter who was to blame on the field, the blame goes to Osorio. Sorry to say it, but that is the way it is.
I think Conway lacks a decent line in front of him, and I’m not convinced about Osorio’s signings.
Haha, awesome! …speaking as a DC fan, that is. ~muwhahahahahaahahaha
I’ve always thought Conway was a good keeper and still do. Bad games happen.
And this might be one of the worst I’ve ever seen, in any soccer game on any level, in my life. And the fact that this is the third post on SBI about this game since it started is not helping me quell the rage fellas. 🙂
🙁