T.eam F.ortress C.onquered! (RBNY v. TFC)

This weekend’s win in Toronto is historic! It is the first time Toronto has lost at since last June. It is the first time the Red Bulls have four away victories on the year. The last time they won more than three on the road they were called the Metrostars. Two of our three DP’s score goals, although a third should have, cough cough. Marquez opened his MLS account with a beautiful strike from a well laid off pass by Tony Tchani for his first MLS assist, and Carl Robinson scored his first goal since 2008. Yup, that is a lot for one game. How did RB go into the fortress and triumph where so many have failed? I have a couple of theories.

For one, RB did their best to dictate the pace of the game. There were long stretches of possession that led to good scoring opportunities, but some bad luck kept the score at nil up until the 35th minute. I can’t say enough about the goal, but there was plenty of hard work that paid off in that moment. Lindpere did well to get across the field and held possession until he found Richards. Richards made a smart pass to Albright who sent in a very good cross that was just out of reach of Henry. The ball was cleared right to Tchani who did a wonderful job of trapping the ball and laying it off to Rafa who stroked home a gorgeous curler just out of the reach of Frei.

The second goal was a howler by TFC, but it doesn’t matter how it goes in as I say time and again. Leading up to the scoring opportunity (And you are going to see this pattern a lot in this recap) Richards received a long ball from Mendes. He trapped it well and used his body to hold the ball up. When he went to turn the ball was sent out for a throw in. After a couple of throws, Richards received the ball again and had it tackled away from him in a strong but fair challenge. The ref felt otherwise. Rafa sets up the kick, and the rest is history.

Richards should have been on the scoring end as well, but Lindpere was just offside on a through ball from Miller, but Richards finished it all the same. Angel was the recipient of a cross from the left from Henry who had just made a great run to split open the defense, but Angel’s shot was right at the keeper and saved. Toronto was just a mess in the first half. They had a couple of good dangerous chances in the box, but they lacked both luck and fire and came away with nothing. They looked lost without DeGuzman distributing and doing the hard work, and DeRo looked a step off. Either way, 2-0 at the half was deserved.

The beginning of the second half was rough, and the Bulls seemed bloodthirsty and maybe pressed the attack a bit too hard. Roy Miller got caught up field trying to head a ball to Henry, and the resulting lapse led the goal. Because Miller was tracking back, Ream had to slide over to help defend which left Mendes on an island with DeRo. Mendes guessed wrong on the first time shot and lifted his leg to block it. The result was that Carlos was now a step behind and it gave Dwayne just enough space to get a shot off. Bad play for Bouna, but the blame started up the field. Often times in football you hear that 2-0 is a dangerous score. The thinking is that when you put two goals in, you are exerting your force and you make riskier choices to keep scoring, which of course leaves your defense wide open to exploit. This is a perfect example of how that goes.

Either way, the goal may have been good for the Bulls because it woke them right up. I’m still angry at the broadcast (American broadcasts of games are always terrible. They need some new directors.), because I missed the lead up to Dane’s cross that resulted in the hand ball/red card for Nana Attikora. There is a close up of Bouna putting the ball down for the kick, and then a replay, and then they come back and Dane is crossing the ball in. Once again, Richards played an important role in setting up a scoring opportunity. Henry had only minutes before missed his second best chance to open his MLS account with a shot he rushed to take and missed, so I thought it would be the obvious choice to let him take the penalty. After all, his penalties at Arsenal were nearly automatic. Instead, JPA took the PK and made the score 3-1. Toronto continued to push, but you could see that they were already a beaten team.

Salou came off the bench and played a meh game. So many of his team mates went out and justified their paychecks this week, but Salou decided to let them have the spotlight. He made some very poor passes, and was caught offside too many times for the few minutes he played. He was dangerous, and nearly did tally, but Frei made two great stops on Ibrahim’s wide open shots from just about the middle of the box and at the six. Still, it was enough to get a corner, and it led to Robinson putting the nail in TFC’s coffin.

Now for some random thoughts: Tim Ream and Carlos Mendes shut it down this week. They were all over the place making big plays when the Red Bulls needed it. Rafa will deservedly get the glory, but these two did their share to keep TFC at bay, and they should be commended. If Miller doesn’t slip up on the attack and leave Ream in a bad spot, this one is a clean sheet. Tchani is blossoming into the kind of player we had hoped he would heading into the season. He does a lot of hard work defensively, but he makes smart passes and helps control the pace of the game. There is a lot of talk about Henry and Angel, but the core of the team has been tremendous as of late. Tchani and Rafa could be the most dangerous midfield duo in the league.

Richards put in a strong performance, but it was the little things (No pun intended) that got the job done. He held the ball up well, and waited to make smart passes, something he hasn’t done much of in the league this year. It is easy to label Richards as an underperformer, but he has never had the supporting cast to take the pressure off of himself. His speed has made him a threat in the past, but it was easy for defenses to key in on that, and neutralize. With a very good right back behind him, and a strong core, Richards is left to do what he does best. Three cheers.

Well done guys, keep up the good work. Robinson, if you are out there, great job. Shep Messing said it best during the broadcast yesterday (Never thought I’d say those words), it is a credit to the depth of this team when you can take off a world class player like Rafa Marquez and replace him with a player like Carl Robinson. I think you could be a tremendous super sub and role player for the team this year. Come back later this week for my thoughts ahead of the clash (Again, no pun) with San Jose. Until then…

LET’S GO RED BULLS!