Photo by ISIphotos.com
Most times a home team will come away extremely disappointed with a draw, but the Red Bulls can't be too upset with their 1-1 tie on Saturday night against the Houston Dynamo.
If they want to direct some anger at anybody, they should point it at Jorge Rojas, who lost his cool and delivered an unnecessary flailing arm to the face of Brian Mullan. That moment, coupled with Carlos Johnson's broken foot suffered at the hands of a hard and late challenge from Stuart Holden were the bad moments in what actually wound up being a good night for the Red Bulls.
It wasn't just a good point because the Red Bulls took a point instead of none. It was good for the Red Bulls because it was the first time this year the team showed real heart late in a game, the kind of heart that keeps fans from leaving a stadium in the 80th minute because they assume the worst will happen, the kind of heart they showed making a run to last year's MLS Cup final.
Here are some observations from Saturday night's match:
Alfredo Pacheco is struggling. The Salvadoran left back has yet to find the form in recent matches that he enjoyed in his Red Bulls debut. He was beaten badly on the Dynamo goal on Saturday, partly because he got caught too far forward on a play when Red Bulls right back Jeremy Hall was already forward in the attack. It isn't that Pacheco can't defend, he has shown that he can, but he has become a bit too lax in his defensive responsibility and a bit too pre-occupied with getting forward. He needs to find the right balance or he will keep getting beaten.
Jon Conway should keep the job (for now). Count me among those who had begun wondering if Conway's lack of quickness and ability to make the great save should mean a place on the bench. He showed against Houston that he can come up with the great save and he can command the penalty area as usual. Cepero may be the future of the position for the Red Bulls, but Conway looks like the present.
Richards and Hall can't play together. Maybe it's just me but it seems like Dane Richards and Jeremy Hall can never get on the same page when they're playing together on the right flank. This seemed evident yet again on Saturday when both players got too far forward, leaving the flank exposed to Houston's counterattack, something Corey Ashe was more than happy to do. With Johnson out indefinitely with a broken foot (he's having surgery today), Hall is going to be starting at right back and he and Richards need to work on their timing, as well as on their passing to each other. One of the more mind-numbing traits I recall from their last stint together was the number of times Hall would make an overlapping run only to be ignored by the passing-deficient Richards. This could lead to Osorio sticking with Sinisa Ubiparipovic as the right mid in the team's recent diamond 4-4-2 formation.
Goldthwaite-Petke is the tandem and should stay the tandem. Sure, they wound up not having to face Brian Ching, but the centerback tandem of Kevin Goldthwaite and Mike Petke turned in another quality performance. Goldthwaite has been the team's best defender all season (well, except for the season opener), but Petke has come back from being benched and delivered two very good games. Even when Carlos Mendes is fully healthy, Juan Carlos Osorio should keep these two together.
John Wolyniec needs to get more minutes. Wolyniec shouldn't get more minutes because I think he's going to score goals in bunches. He should play because he makes his teammates better and makes things tough on the opposition with his physical presence and ability to hold the ball. It is easy to forget how well he and Juan Pablo Angel worked in last year's playoffs. The problem this time around is that Mac Kandji has put a strong grip on the forward spot opposite Angel. There is no question that Kandji should keep starting, but mixing up the late-game rotation to slide Kandji to the left and Wolyniec next to Angel should become a regular move, and one Osorio shouldn't be afraid to make earlier in games.
Jorge Rojas lost his cool, could mean a chance for Borman. Rojas red card didn't just cost the team on Saturday, it also means he won't be able to play against the Chicago Fire on Sunday at Giants Stadium. That means Juan Carlos Osorio must decide between Khano Smith, Danleigh Borman or possibly Mac Kandji to play on the left against Chicago. The call should go to Borman. Firstly, because Kandji needs to stay at forward. Secondly, because Borman's defensive qualities will be needed against a Fire right side that could Chris Rolfe or Marco Pappa in midfield and the ever-improved Tim Ward as an overlapping right back. Osorio could wind up going with the veteran Smith, but Smith's penchant for falling asleep defensive could wind up costing the Red Bulls.
Have you seen Dominic Oduro? The Red Bulls had high hopes for the Ghanaian speedster when they traded Dave Van Den Bergh for him this winter. Unfortunately, Oduro also brought his trademark inability to finish with his trademark speed. Now he's played so poorly that he's mired behind John Wolyniec on the depth chart. Will the team give up on Oduro and trade or waive him? Don't bet on it. Even though waiving him to make room for another player (like say, Johnny Exantus) might be good for the team, waiving Oduro would suddenly make the Van Den Bergh trade look tragically awful because not only would Oduro be gone, but the team never did sign Babajide Ogunbiyi, the player the Red Bulls selected with the pick it got in the trade.
The only saving grace at that point would be the fact that the team was also able to move up in the first round to grab Jeremy Hall. In other words, unless the team can get something tangible in a trade for him, like say a partial allocation, Oduro stands a good chance of staying put on the roster while not seeing much time (though we could see him on Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup).
Geoff Cameron looks like the real deal. Okay, so this isn't Red Bulls related, but count me among those who sees Dynamo defender Geoff Cameron turning into one of the league's better and more dynamic central defenders (no pun intended. The defender/midfielder/forward made my list of uncapped players who could be getting a cap soon, and if he keeps playing that way, it could happen this summer. Yes, Bobby Boswell may be a more polished defender, but he doesn't boast Cameron's speed and athleticism.
Adi Akin-bust-i? Okay, so it might be harsh to call the English striker a bust after just his first start, but count me in the group of folks who will be shocked if he scores more than two goals this season. Okay, maybe three.
And lastly, lost in all the talk of Rojas' red card, and Wolyniec's equalizer was the interesting irony of Red Bulls complaints about referee Baldomero Toledo, who certainly did let Houston get away with some physical play. The irony is that Toledo was the same referee who Dynamo head coach Dom Kinnear accused of being a little too friendly with Red Bulls striker Juan Pablo Angel before the Red Bulls' series clinching 3-0 playoff victory over Houston in Houston last fall. Think Toledo remembered those comments on Saturday? I wonder what Kinnear thought of Toledo giving Angel a yellow card for dissent.
That's all for now. What did you think of Saturday's match? Were you a Red Bulls fan just ecstatic to see your team take a late point? Think the Red Bulls will go into the Chicago game on Sunday with some confidence, or are you worried that they're set up to get destroyed by the unbeaten Fire?
Share your thoughts below.
Before the season started, the Oduro-van den Bergh trade was tragically awful! Big “DUH” on that one. 🙂
@ Cary,
If you call Holden’s tackle “LIGHT”, then our defender WOULDNT HAVE TO HAVE SURGERY ON HIS BROKENNN FOOOTTT! OBVIOUSLY Holden tackled unfairly and we all know he’s a dirty player (proof = nobody breaks their foot without HARSH CONTACT)!
whoah there, johnny. just because goldthwaite had a couple good (ok, great) games doesn’t make him the leader and the face of the team. let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.
Ives shouldn’t have to defend himself for covering the Red Bulls more in depth than other MLS teams.
The guy lives close to Giants Stadium and the team’s practice facility at Montclair State University.
He doesn’t live near the Home Depot Center or Rio Tinto Stadium, so why would you expect him to personally deliver in depth practice reports and other things of that nature. He attends Red Bulls practice and games as a reporter, therefore he covers those things in detail.
i think goldthwaite should get the captian arm band hes been commanding that back line and angel has shown no effort lately
WTF Ives, no Pelosi news? No torture memos stuff? come on, ives, more politics! what is this a sports blog?
hey ives, what is this a soccer site? how come theres no nuggest lakers coverage? wtf?
I’m actually a Houston Dynamo fan that religiously reads Ives’ pages every morning and about 2-3 times per day. Not only do I think he does a great job covering MLS, US Soccer, and the Red Bulls, I enjoy reading his commentary especially since this is a blog/”soccer BY Ives” page.
I also read Glen Davis’ page and although some may feel he is a “douchebag,” I think it’s always interesting to get a perspective on soccer in the US and in our league, the MLS, from multiple sources.
Not only do I highly recommend this page, I believe Yanks Abroad Soccer Highlights page, MLS-rumors.net (which is biased toward Cali), and Bernando Fallas (from the Houston Chron) are great reads and keep an avid fan like myself thoroughly interested throughout my work day.
Thanks Ives, keep it up. Especially enjoy your work on ESPN and the last podcast with Jen Chang.
Very fun I loved this post and agree with practically everything Ives is saying. The only exception is about Conway.. If I had my pick red bulls should sign a quality…afordable proven intl. My pick would be two colombians; calero from pachuca or faryd mondragon who’s in Cologne
Hey Ives,
Being a RB fan myself, I count on your blog to bring any kind of team news, because you can’t ever have enough. Thank you!
Having said that, there is a trend in MLS that is a bit troubling. I do not know if it is a systematic way of calling games where referees allow really rough play to go uncalled. And I am not just talking about the mugging by Houston this past weekend. Is the league trying to portray itself as a very physical one? Because if it is, I think it has gone beyond what you find in England or Germany.
It kind of reminds me of the period in the NHL where it got so physical that the games got so low scoring and boring and the skilled players were getting badly hurt, and each team had one or two goons for payback. It took a while but the NHL started changing to rules to be more protective of the creative players.
I know some will probably claim that football is a man’s sport and if you cannot handle the physicality of it you should not be in the field, but football is first of all a game of skill and creativity and that should be elevated.
Cheers
Ives – you are right, I meant over emphasis in coverage. Maybe I am just referring to a balance issue because a lot of your takes are Red Bull centric, but it’s not like you are a fan boy or anything.
Thanks for the response, and I am looking forward to the new site.
ives keep the site like it is!!! You give an amazing insite to the game that we would never get anywhere else… Beat writters for other teams should make a site if their fans hate this one!! We all love the in depth look at the Red Bulls and jus soccer period. This site is full of information on soccer world wide.
Joe Quake, I get where you’re coming from and respect what you’re trying to say, but you need to understand that there is a difference between a bias in coverage and an emphasis in coverage. I was a newspaper beat writer for the MetroStars and Red Bulls for 10 years, and I still try to cover the team as a beat. That is why there will always be more coverage of them than their opponent. I know I need to get it closer to the middle (which is why I included my notes on Cameron and Akinbiyi), but that’s a process that’s going to take time.
Now, if you want to say my views on the game itself are bias toward the Red Bulls then that’s a different argument. I’d strongly disagree with you but you are entitled to your opinion. I don’t think that’s what you meant here (although some other far less articulate folks have expressed that opinion). What I will definitely try to do in the future is offer a more balanced take on things when I do my “A Look Back” pieces.
What I find amusing is people going crazy about SBI being a “Red Bulls Site” because we post a whole TWO Red Bulls-related posts in a single day. Give me a break people. I LIVE IN NEW JERSEY, Dylan LIVES IN NEW YORK. We are going to have more coverage of the Red Bulls. That said, there are going to be some changes in SBI’s coverage in the coming months so that we can provide news to every MLS market. Until that time, I will try to cover as many teams as possible, and if you don’t want to read about the Red Bulls then don’t read the Red Bulls posts.
Orgedave (and more importantly Ives) –
I clicked on the post initially to read a little more about how Houston did, but most all I read was about the RB and that’s why I think there is a coverage bias. Based on the title of the post, I think you can understand why I was disappointed.
Nothing is better than SBI right now. That doesn’t mean that things can’t be improved though. This is constructive criticism based on what I would like to see in the future.
Seriously guys. (Red Bulls fans) Oh-so-sorry-o has to go. When I think of the pass this guy is getting after what they did to coaches like Arena and especially Octavio Zambrano, it seems brutally unfair to those coaches. Osorio needs to go back to being an assistant coach. Zambrano is ten times the coach this guy is and is coaching in Timbuktu, while everyone seems to think this guy needs to be given a lot of time. I think when you have done as much wrong as this guy has done, all the time in the world isn’t going to help you.
They called him Ade Agun-badbuy-i in Leicester or wherever.
I think that Ives, like you said does a great job. For me personally, I can’t pick over every post and say that this is more biased toward any one team or another, just don’t have that kind of time, but there are other sites that cater to Houston as well as all the other teams in MLS. I know one thing for sure, this site is the best MLS/US soccer site out there right now.
Until footy goes mainstream in the US, what out there is better?
Personally I read the post because I am interested in Houston. Generally speaking, Ives does a great job of covering all angles, but he did not with this one, hence the message for what SBI stands for is confused.
Duhhhr Ives, why do you cover USMNT sooo much, duhhhrrruh? Are you american 😉
That’s how it sounds.
Why is everyone calling SBI a Red Bulls Site, because he covers them?
Why are you reading this post. I don’t read posts for teams that I am not interested in.
If it is a Red Bulls site, why are you on the site?
Yeah Ives is from NJ, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
The disallowed goal should have counted in this game – I don’t think I have seen anyone comment on this. That really would have changed the game with Houston 1-0 at the break.
The Red Bulls still do not look too good right now even with this result. Kind of like the Galaxy don’t look good but are still squeezing out points. I would never watch a game expecting either team to win at this point.
As for Ives’ site, I think he needs to decide if he is a national reporter or a RBNY beat reporter. It seems like he is trying to walk in both camps right now, and his brand message is confused. I say that as an Ives fan that is thinking about buying one of those SBI Mafia shirts but is not from NY/NJ.
@Cary
Nah, we are just a wee bit annoyed about having our left back knocked out indefinitely because your guy decided to stand on his foot.
Houston plays physical, but fair.
Put some skirts on the Red Bulls players if you think that it is too difficult for them.
Holden’s tackle was neither late nor hard. It was an awkward angle. The ref mad ethe right call. When people start talking about the officiating being the reason for this or that, it is usually the denial phase of mourning the death of their team.
Look – Ives lives in New Jersey. The Red Bulls are the team he covers most closely, just as DC United is for Goff or Houston for that douchebag Glenn Davis. If you don’t like it then leave and start your own blog – or just skip the posts that don’t interest you. Christ, what a bunch of whiny babies.
this place is like a red bulls blog
@Tim
JPA played for Man City? When?
Houston are a bunch of thugs.
Glenn Davis seems to think that Johnson was at fault for getting his foot broken. Right….
Maybe Angel gave Toledo a jersey.
It’s a general soccer site run by a guy who lives in Jersey… So it’s going to have a little more in depth coverage on the Red Bulls than other teams.
But you can’t for a minute say that Ives doesn’t do a phenomenal job covering all of the MLS…and also touches upon Euro matches, some CONCACAF, USMT, Americans Abroad, and WPS.
Yeesh.
JCO doesn’t have a clue.
What’s with the anti-gay marriage banner?
houston looked like they played dirtier in this game than most others. why would they do that to a lowly team like the red bulls?
also, kamara is terrible. he’s whiny and chippy, and he even tried to trip wolyniec as he was celebrating his goal.
is this a red bulls site?
Didn’t watch this game (being a Fire supporter) but second the comment on Geoff Cameron his just a good footballer.
Looking forward to wiping the turf with you boys this Sunday for our fifth straight W since the departure of the traitor.
spot on: Hall and Richards don’t have any chemistry. So keep Hall on the field and hope Richards on the bench can see the play unfold and how he might fit in.
Off by a mile: You can spot Woly for a few minutes. Give him more time, and you have more time to see why he shouldn’t get more than a few minutes.
MIA: Noboby has seen Dominic Obscuro. Boy are the Bulls lucky they saved money by trading a guy like Van Den Berg. Who needs a wing capable of delivering a crossing ball?
Really found the outcome of the game encouraging. Sitting with other season ticket holders who knowing the Bulls had started to leave, it was great to see Wolys goal. Instead of us giving up the late heartbraker, we provided it. Sort of comeback that can be the turning point of a season…still an eternal optimist
Not to defend Pacheco on the Houston goal too much, as he was slow to get back, but you nailed the real cause for that goal in your Richards/Hall item; they can’t play together and leave that side way too exposed. They were BOTH forward, and Richards loss of the ball (by not finding Hall) left the right wing completely open for the counter that led to the goal. If Richards doesnt learn to play with an overlapping right back, or Hall wont stay at home when playing with Richards, they should never play together. It’s a huge defensive liability.