By AVI CREDITOR
WASHINGTON – The New York Red Bulls won their fifth game in six matches – equaling their win total of a season ago – as second-half goals by Salou Ibrahim and Juan Pablo Angel lifted the Red Bulls to a 2-0 Atlantic Cup victory over rival D.C. United at RFK Stadium.
The matchup between I-95 enemies displayed two teams going in opposite directions. Historically proud United (0-5) is off to the worst start in franchise history, while historically tortured New York sits comfortably atop the Eastern Conference standings.
Ibrahim followed up his own shot in the 51st minute by tapping in a ball inches from the goal line to open the scoring. Ibrahim received a cross from Dane Richards, who was a difference maker on the right flank in the second half, and had his initial shot blocked before capitalizing on the easy opportunity.
Nine minutes later, Angel was on the receiving end of a routine long free kick from Joel Lindpere. He out-jumped Juan Manuel Pena in the box, and headed home his fourth goal of the season to double New York's lead.
United came out with a palpable sense of confidence after Wednesday's U.S. Open Cup triumph, creating chances and having the edge in the run of play in the first half. The same problems that have haunted the team throughout the first month of the season resurfaced, though, as the team couldn't put together a finishing sequence in the final third.
Bouna Coundoul had something to do with that. He stuffed a point-blank Clyde Simms header in the 16th minute, saved a close-range Adam Cristman header in the 36th minute and denied Simms again on a lob attempt two minutes into the second half.
Luciano Emilio marked his return to D.C. by entering as a 66th-minute substitute, but he was unable to make an immediate impact, as New York's defense smothered United – a shutout victim for the fourth time in five matches - in the second half en route to its third clean sheet of the 2010 campaign.
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What did you think of the match? Amazed that New York has already matched its win total from a year ago? What does D.C. United need to do to salvage its season, or is it too late?
Share your thoughts below.
12,000??? Don’t make me laugh. Maybe 8K if we’re being generous – I have photo evidence from the upper deck.
Haha, fair enough. Rivalry on!
DCU will be fine again at some point and probably before DCU fans are expecting. RBNY may go on to dominate for a few years or they may continue to underwhelm and frustrate their fans (I’m a DCU fan but seriously believe that RBNY fans deserve some good years, so I’m all for the rise of RBNY…just not at the expense of DCU).
DCU has been in a decline for years, but if there is anything that RBNY’s ’08, ’09, and now ’10 seasons have taught us, CRAZY stuff can happen in this league.
So I say, let’s all go a little overboard. RBNY fans, gloat your hearts out; you deserve some fun. DCU fans, remember this, because it is about time this rivalry got some fire under its seat. You want an Atlantic Cup rival? You finally got one.
What’s with assuming the person posting a about Emilio’s hair wasn’t Black? Ahem.
yeah, i do agree. it shouldnt take these promotions to get people out. what was even stranger was that the supporter group section side of RFK was more empty than the other side. it’s usually reverse. which means the people who didnt show up were a lot of the SE and Barra people..
One dump for your turd of a team & the other for your turd of a city then?
True dat. Emillo has style. He could give some pointers to Simms.
1. You can’t downgrade the Chicago win by saying they were adjusting to a new coach. What, the Red Bulls coach has been around for years?
2. The Sounders did not control that game. Obviously you either didn’t watch it or have a bad memory.
I agree that RB hasn’t played as well as its record reflects, but let’s not go overboard.
This comment is weird because it’s written as if it’s trying to be an insult, except that there’s nothing insulting about first place. Oh well. Can’t expect too much logic out of DC fans, I guess.