Bulls miss net, score berth
THE RED BULLS SCRAPPED, attacked and played one of their better matches of the season before a record sellout crowd of 25,219 in Harrison. The results were mixed, as they often are in soccer: The home team managed only a 0-0 draw with first-place Sporting Kansas City Saturday night, but clinched at least a wild-card playoff berth for its strong effort.
It was an impressive show by the Red Bulls, even if they were held scoreless over their final two home matches. Kenny Cooper, Thierry Henry and Dax McCarty all had excellent opportunities in close, but they were foiled by bad aim, bad luck or by goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen. “We threw the kitchen sink at them,” Tim Cahill said. “We just have to get to the playoffs and we will score in games. We have players who will score.”
The Red Bulls (15-9-9) sit in fourth place with one match left, next Saturday in Philly, where they will need to win in order to have a chance to climb into third place and out of the Eastern Conference play-in game.
Henry insisted the team can win its first league title this season, regardless of where it stands going into the postseason. “Why not?” Henry said. “If we don’t think so, we might as well go home.”
First-place Kansas City managed only a weak header on goal in the entire match, seemingly happy to sit back and take a draw on the road. Meanwhile, Cooper sailed a couple of shots over the frame in the first half, McCarty did little with a dead-on chance in the box and Nielsen made a sparkling save from in close on Henry in the 65th minute, rescuing the tie.
Rafa Marquez, starting for the first time in a month, played impressively and steadied the Red Bulls’ often erratic defense.
“You see the difference when he’s playing in the back?” Henry said. “He calms everybody down. That’s quality.”
Sporting K.C. is the stingiest side in MLS, yielding less than a goal per game, making good use of a roster with a payroll of just over $3 million — less than a quarter of the Red Bulls’ total.
“One of the better games we’ve played over 90 minutes, a lot of energy and many chances,” Red Bulls coach Hans Backe said. “We should have won the game three-, four-nil.”
The Red Bulls clinched a playoff spot for the third consecutive year and ninth time in the past 10 seasons. They might well meet Sporting K.C. again in the Eastern Conference playoffs. “We gave them something to think about,” Henry said.
Before the match, the fans honored the late Mike Jones with a prolonged standing ovation. The Red Bulls youth coach, 25, was slashed to death in Manhattan on Oct. 7, and authorities are still hoping to find and extradite a suspect, Orlando Orea, who is believed to be in Mexico.