Photo by ISIphotos.com
BY DYLAN BUTLER
Desperate for a win and needing to jump start an anemic attack, the New York Red Bulls found the perfect elixir on Friday night — the woeful San Jose Earthquakes. As it turned out, the Red Bulls' 4-1 victory was the perfect storm. New York was facing an injury-riddled Quakes team with one win in seven games in the first of four consecutive home games.
What followed next was shocking. A Red Bulls team that scored a league-low five goals in 720 minutes scorched the net four times in 40 minutes. Jorge Rojas scored his first two MLS goals inside of 20 minutes. Juan Pablo Angel added a third in the 22nd minute and Mac Kandji made it 4-0 five minutes from halftime.
"Today was the game we were expecting to have a long time ago," Angel said. "Everything came together today, especially in the first half. I think the first half was a different class in terms of the way we played, how we closed them down, we denied them the space, we denied them the ball. And we scored the goals that gave us the cushion for the second half to keep hanging in there."
Mac Kandji abused Nick Garcia on the flank with his pace and the Quakes twice fell asleep at the back post, giving Rojas and Angel sitters. Even on the first goal, which Rojas meant to be a service into the box, defender Kevin Goldthwaite was open in the box. While he missed a header, Goldthwaite forced Quakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon into a difficult decision, allowing Rojas' attempted pass to sneak inside the far post.
"I think Jorge had been knocking on the door for quite a while," Juan Carlos Osorio said. "I remember his shots from distance against D.C. There were times in the preseason when he was our best player. I think when he plays farther up the pitch, he is very good to us and I am very pleased to see Jorge scoring and playing today."
A picturesque first half, though, was tainted for Osorio when Ryan Johnson headed the ball past Danny Cepero in the dying seconds of the half.
"I was disappointed in the way we played the last five minutes of the first half," he said. "I let the players know that I thought it was too casual for my liking."
While Osorio saw his team give away five points late in games this season, Johnson's goal realistically was just cosmetic.
"The game was over basically in the first 20 minutes," Quakes coach Frank Yallop said.
So where do these two teams, who each had one league win coming into the match, go from here? With a suddenly potent attack and some newfound confidence, the Red Bulls resume a four-game homestand against a Houston team next Saturday that is brutal on the turf. That is followed by a Sunday afternoon tilt against Chicago on May 24 and closed out with a match against the Colorado Rapids. All of a sudden, 10 out of a possible 12 points isn't so daunting.
"We'll see," Angel said. "It's been a lot of ups and downs this year. We still believe when we keep the lead, we have a much better team than the one we are showing. We think we have more class, and I think today was a very good game in general."
The Quakes, meanwhile, limp back to San Jose and will attempt to crawl out of the bottom of the Western Conference — well, thanks to hopeless FC Dallas — San Jose isn't the worst team out West. But they have 15 days to lick their wounds and search for answers before their next league game.
"It was a crap game," Cannon said. "Our staff, our organization and our fans deserve better, and at some point in the season we're going to give it to them."
Dear God and baby Jesus, please give Osorio the insight to put out the exact same starting line-up that scored 4 goals in 40 minutes back out there again for the next game. And the next one. And the next. Thank you.
Oh, and more Mbuta, less Richards.
Amen.
@Tim – Last year RBNY beat the Dynamo 3-0 at GS so don’t bet on the Bulls not scoring on their home pitch vs. Houston.
I posted this on teh game thread but thought it might get lost there so here it is again…
Just came back from the game and this was needed medicine for us die hard Red Bull fans. Here are my player ratings:
Cepero 6 I prefer DC to JConway. I know he is still green and makes some rookie mistakes but he is quicker off the line than Conway and can only get better. He played well in this game and made two goal stopping saves but was also caught in the middle of no-man’s land a couple of times.
Johnson 6 His best game as a Red Bull and you can see why Oso picked him… he plays good D and has the ability to help the offense. His run into the box where Denton tripped him was from my POV definitely a foul and a penal. His cross to Angel should have been a goal. His long (illegal?) throw to Macoumba who flicked it to up Rojas for goal #2 was pure gold.
Petke 5 He did get burned on the SJ goal and was slow at times but he did make some good plays like when he poked the ball away from a charging Ryan Johnson.
Goldy 6 I still think he is our best central defender. He wins tough head balls and does a good job marking. He did get flat footed a few times but scrambled back to thwart any play by SJ except on their lone goal.
Pacheco 5 Makes good runs up the field but often gets caught up there and leaves the back line short handed. He did make a goal saving stop with his head/chest in the 2nd half.
Sinisa 6 Interesting to see Sinisa on the right flank instead of in the center of the midfield. I think if he can play like he did in the 1st half (he didn’t play as well in the 2nd especially when he moved to the center) he can help the team more than Dane.
Celades 8 MOTM #1 Albert is what Reyna should have been. He distributes the ball so well. Two of the goals came from his brilliant passing. He could very well be our Schelotto. Can’t wait till he is 100%!
Stammy 5 Quiet game for Stammy…nothing terrible nothing great! I guess he is still recovering from his injury.
Rojas 7 This was Jorge’s best game as a Red Bull. His two goals were his first in the league and jump started the Bulls in this game. He played much better in the 1st half than in the 2nd. He still holds the ball too long and makes dumb passes into the middle in the defensive 3rd but he did run his ass off today.
Macoumba 8 MOTM #2 I love this guy… I even named my pet ground hog after him. One goal and two assists means he had a hand in 3 of the 4 goals. Calling Bob Bradley!!! Calling Bob Bradley!!!!!! Please cap this guy before it is too late!
Angel 7 Best game for Angel this year… He actually looked interested and was only offside 1 or 2 times… After he scored I loved when he ran to Mac and celebrated with him. I hope their chemistry keeps growing.
Subs
Richards 5 Nothing special nothing bad..
Borman 5 Danleigh still needs to improve his passing….but his defensive ability makes up for his lousy crossing
Woly 6 Makes great passes and deserves more playing time. Woly is the heart and soul of this team!
Congrats Red Bulls…1 win down 3 to go …in terms of the current home stand!
That game was really more a reflection of how bad San Jose is right now more than NY improving any. 3 of those goals can be traced back to individual lapses by SJ players. I doubt they score against Houston.
maybe…hall to the right m??just throwin it out there..isnt he right footed?
Chants of the night:
Convey highlights
Your name is Leitch because you suck
Great, fun game. It looked like San Jose swapped jerseys with RBNY last night. They employed the soft “containment” D that we have seen from RBNY, whihc gave our strikers and mids TONS of room to work.
Huge difference in the team last night:
1–Because of through-ball passes, players were actually facing the goal, instead of playing with their back to goal. Hence, we could be agressive.
2–No more 3-yard passes that have no effect except to drive me up the freaking wall.
3-Smart, calm play from the back 4. They are getting better every game.
4-Overlapping runs on the right side (e.g. Dane’s side) worked to perfection between Carlos Johnson and Big Mac
Rojas MUCH better when he moves with the ball instead of trying to sit and distribute like a point guard. Ubi still needs seasoning. A lot of activity, but a bit of a loose cannon.
Finally a glimpse of what the team could do when we use football players and not hacks. A few observations about the game (I will leave the accolades to others):
– I hope some of Celades’ touch and vision rubs on Stammler, because he was the weak link when the team had possession. No complains from his defensive work though
– The new stadium cannot get here soon enough, or Giants Stadium gets a grass field. The whole time I was imagining how the team would perform without those ugly bounces. It tool Celades a few touches to get the hand of it
– I am still not sold on Richards and I would rather see Mbuta take his place in the bench. And I would also add Hall to the roster because he could spell Rojas on the wide left and maybe Ubi on the right
– Good to see Woly get some love and minutes. Even though he is not as fast as Oduro, he is a handful for the opposite defenders and a better football mind. Like him off the bench
I believe Celades was gassed on the second half. You did not see the movement to open spaces and therefore the reliance on carrying the ball too much (Rojas) and Ubi got kind of lost out there. I can’t wait until he can go a full 90.
Cheers
I hope osorio doesn’t change the lineup at ALL. We were effective so let’s give it a few weeks to set in and see how we do, our weekest parts were our wings with rojas loosing the ball, and ubi still learning the position, but even as our weakest part they were still pretty strong and that is encourging news.
i think sinisa had a great game on the right last night, played his heart out and was effective. he showed skill on the ball and made good passing decisions. he’s was not perfect but he played well. i wish i could say the same about richards. i dont know if sinisa can stand up to holden and houstons LB next week but i wouldn’t mind seeing him try. i’d also like to see hall with his skill playing in the midfield and his defensive experience at RB i think he’d be valuable at that position. i want to see richards sitting in the stands wth his family and mbuta coming off the bench.
Ubi played well tonight because that is his first time Ubi played in that position so considering that i think he played extremely well, he did everything that was asked of him.
Kandji was amazing and it’s so great that he is so proud to play for this team, he kisses the crest after every goal.
Celadas imo is better than schletto, he may not be as much of a scoring threat but the guy can flat out play. Did anyone see the cruff turn he did in the corner were he destroyed two players?
Angel i would have liked to of seen run more but he played a good game.
Rojas played badly in the second half he kept giving the ball away, but hey he scored twice so who cares i guess.
Stammler is an unsung hero in every game, he cleans everything up everytime.
Goldy shut down weaver on every play.
Pacheco and Johnson were all star caliber defenders tonight.
I know it’s still early, but this is the first time i’ve been exited about this team since the playoffs last year. Granted osorio could end up changing the lineup, and we may not play up to this quality every game, but this game showed that we can beat anyone at our best.
For those expecting Bobby Convey to have an impact on the squad it was more fantasy than reality. Bobby has been a very young journeyman for some time.
i love this formation.. celdaes is def a game changer he is GREAT with the ball.rojas actually looked sharp on the left.gonaa admit that that shocked me..angel and kandji up front is LETHAL. i think sisnia is weak on the right..but richards is weak to.. all speed 0 passing. i think we should just try same thing next week and maybe try richards on the right this time.
Yes Nuemanator Rojas didn’t play that great in the 2nd half but his 1st half was terrific… Celades was one of the MOTM along with Macoumba… Wish you guys would talk more about his calming presence and excellent passer of the ball. @Rekro… you’ll get yours whoever you root for…probaly a Scum supporter. @CPTKev… good observation…The Bulls got greedy in the 2nd half.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a player score two goals in a game and still suck as bad as he did last night. At one point in the 2nd half, Rojas gave the ball away 8 straight times after he touched it. The desperation of RB fans was so evident when he came off to rousing cheers (from the 800 fans in attendance). I booed. I would have rather had Bobby Convey on my team…ok, maybe I’m exaggerating now.
Since your not on the biggest derby in the world yet,Im gutted about Celtic-Rangers we deserved atleast a draw
@Rekro
Let me guess – DC or Chicago fan?
The first half was a dominating performance with NYRB having the VAST majority of posession. 2nd half less so but the opportunities in the 2nd half were there as well. I think in the 2nd half the players for NYRB tried to do too much on thier own rather than make the quick pass or thru ball for a team mate. Overall, I was pleased.
Don’t get too excited Metro fans, all you proved last night was that your not the leagues worst team.
Wow, Kandji and Angel look like they are getting to know each other better. That looks like a lethal striker combination.
Not only did RBNY dominate, but apparently #13 was teaching the closed dance position out there on the field.
Just surfing the net on the late night stoner tip. Came across this good article featuring Mo Edu in the run-up to today’s game v Celtic. Heres the link.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/old-firm/2009/05/09/maurice-edu-pledges-to-follow-in-footsteps-of-mo-johnston-and-ko-celtic-86908-21344888/
Was there really only 8,000 in attendance? To quote Didier Drogba, “That’s a disgrace!”
jloome:
What would be an appropiate title for the article?
Geez guys, that headline…as if ‘perfect storm’ weren’t the most overused already, you’ve kinda misused it.
It refers to a confluence of events leading to an enormous consequence. The offensive explosion is the consequence, not the confluence of events.
So, I guess we can say we found a lineup that works, anyone want to bet money that JCO will change it next game?