ONE TO DRAW FROM
Red Bulls show grit in tie with Toronto
The Red Bulls were stuck in a three-game losing skid, their worst in years. But against the hottest team in MLS, they started to look like their old selves with a pulsating, combative 1-1 tie against Toronto FC.
The draw in front of 21,025 at Red Bull Arena snapped Toronto’s league-high six-game winning streak, and if it wasn’t quite the perfect response to the beating the Red Bulls took last weekend against the Galaxy, it was sure a pragmatic one.
“I’m really pleased with the response. That looked like us. That felt like us,’’ said coach Jesse Marsch, whose team needed a goal from Bradley Wright-Phillips and then a save by keeper Luis Robles on a penalty kick to salvage a point.
“During the penalty, the only thing I was thinking was not to let my guys down,’’ Robles said. “Maybe we’re not all the way but the way we played that second half there was a team conviction.”
After the Red Bulls coughed up eight goals and mustered just one in their skid, Marsch admitted his players learned a lot about themselves Friday. What they found out is they may not be all the way back yet, but they can take a punch.
“[Marsch] asked us after the last game to look like us and we did that, almost came away with a win,’’ said Wright-Phillips, who scored on a beautiful overhead kick in the 38th minute. “The form we’re in right now is not great, so us starting to look like us is a positive thing to see.”
Sacha Kljestan and Fredrik Gulbrandsen — in the lineup because Marsch went from a 42-3-1 to a 4-1-3-2 formation — combined to set up Wright-Phillips’ score.
The pair forced a turnover and Gulbrandsen drew a foul to earn a free kick. On the ensuing chance, Kljestan floated in a ball that Gulbrandsen headed back toward Wright-Phillips for an audacious overhead kick and his fifth goal of the year.
Toronto equalized when Michael Amir Murillo’s foul on Raheem Edwards gave Toronto a free kick. That started a sequence that ended with Benoit Cheyrou’s diving header putting away a headed cross from Chris Mavinga in the 70th minute to tie the score.
The Red Bulls looked set to collapse when Toronto’s Jozy Altidore barreled over Aaron Long, but the referee let the action continue, and the play ended with centerback Damien Perrinelle getting called for a foul in the box against Tosaint Ricketts to concede a penalty kick. But Robles dove left to parry Altidore’s 81st minute attempt.
“I feel like God isn’t going to let that fly, not let that bad decision in and they score a penalty,’’ WrightPhillips said.
A minute later, Ricketts hit the crossbar, but what Toronto thought was an 87th minute winner waved off because Robles was screened.