Photo by Jerry Lai/USA TODAY Sports

 

By FRANCO PANIZO

HARRISON, N.J. — Mike Petke has some tough decisions to make. Some real tough decisions.

Having seen Peguy Luyindula and Ambroise Oyongo come off the bench to help the New York Red Bulls rally to victory vs. Sporting Kansas City on Thursday, Petke will have to carefully weigh whether or not to start them when his club’s Eastern Conference semifinal series vs. D.C. United begins on Sunday.

Both Luyindula and Oyongo played integral parts in helping the Red Bulls unlock Sporting KC’s defense in Thursday’s play-in game, with each recording assists in the 2-1 victory at Red Bull Arena. Luyindula had secondary helpers on both New York goals while Oyongo delivered the game-winning cross, albeit via a right-footed cross that should’ve been dealt with.

Assists aside, the two dynamic players helped the Red Bulls open up a Sporting KC defense that was standing tough. Luyindula brought an instant spark and added dimension to the attack after coming on in the 65th minute, holding the ball well in the advanced central midfielder role and combining with captain Thierry Henry and the author of both of of the heroic goals, Bradley Wright-Phillips.

“Peguy, when he’s on, is able to control the ball, is able to do things with the ball that not many people can: spreading the ball out, hold the ball for us when we’re giving it away too much.” said Petke. “I thought he did well. I thought he stepped into a difficult situation where we weren’t having success going through the middle and him jumping into the middle spot. I think there were times that he did well, held the ball for us, linked up well with Thierry and Bradley.”

Luyindula’s assist on the Wright-Phillips’ equalizer in the 77th minute saw the Frenchman flick a clever ball into space with the outside of his right foot. Henry raced onto it and then delivered a low cross that Wright-Phillips fired home.

The goal not only depicted what Luyindula is capable of bringing to the table, but also eased the heavy pressure New York were face from a Sporting KC side that was eager to try and end the match early.

“It settled a lot of nerves, because it was just nerve-wracking thinking every chance meant so much,” said midfielder Lloyd Sam. “Once we got back to 1-1, I think that affected them, too, because they had defended so well. Then, to give us one was tough because they kind of had to change their gameplan again.”

Luyindula was again involved on the winning sequence, cleverly sidestepping a challenge and unleashing a sublime ball into space to Oyongo. The Cameroon international then hit a flailing duck of a cross with his less-preferred right foot that still found Wright-Phillips for the winner.

That was hardly Oyongo’s only contribution. The speedy and fearless Oyongo added some width to the Red Bulls’ attack in a rare cameo at right back, and his ability to get forward and jump into the attack allowed right midfielder Lloyd Sam to move over to the left flank to try and attack right back Kevin Ellis.

“He’s been very active and has desire,” said Henry of the 23-year-old Oyongo. “You put him on the right, you put him as a left winger, you put him at left back. I’m sure you could put him at centerback, center forward. I don’t know if he’ll be amazing out there, but he will try his best and that’s all you can ask of someone.

“That’s what he did tonight. Great pass from Peguy and he’s running to ask for the ball, and he doesn’t try to cut it back to put it on his left because you kill the movement kind of. He tried with his foot and he found Bradley. … Oyongo has no fear and you can see it when he plays.”

While it seems very unlikely that both Oyongo and Luyindula could start, Petke could thrust one of them into the lineup in Sunday’s first leg at home against D.C. United, especially since it will be New York’s third game in eight days.

Petke could opt to deploy Luyindula in the attacking midfielder role if he thinks the veteran Frenchman is best suited to face D.C., or Petke could push Henry inside and deploy Oyongo on the left in order to add a quick wide player on that side of the field.

Either of those moves would likely require Petke to sit one of Tim Cahill or Eric Alexander, but deciding on which of those two players could be sacrificed is also not a easy task. But with such a short turnaround, it will at least deserve consideration, especially with Luyindula and Oyongo proving they can perform.

“It just shows the quality of this team, the guys coming off the bench, the guys that aren’t even participating,” said Luis Robles. “It’s a good roster.”