New York Red Bulls defender Kemar Lawrence had his hands full with Real Salt Lake’s Chris Wingert during Saturday’s 0-0 draw (photo credit: Major League Soccer)
On a mild Saturday afternoon, the Red Bulls returned to Red Bull Arena to take on the struggling Real Salt Lake.
Both sides, feeling the effects of the World Cup Qualifiers going on throughout the weekend were missing key players. Notably, Sacha Kljestan for the New York Red Bulls and Nick Rimando for Real Salt Lake. Despite this, it was a no holds barred contest with veteran New York goalkeeper Luis Robles captaining the home side in Kljestan’s absence while fan favorite fullback Connor Lade made his long-anticipated return after recovering from a torn ACL.
Despite a burning hunger for the New York Red Bulls to secure three points at home with a whopping 18 shots, they could not manage a goal and drew in a scoreless game against Real Salt Lake.
Real Salt Lake would have the most dangerous opportunity of the first half within the initial ten minutes of play. A scuffed pass by New York central defender Damien Perrinelle meant Salt Lake found themselves with three numbers well past the Red Bulls defense. One part miracle and one part ironman Luis Robles meant that RSL somehow could not find the back of the net despite having an opportunity gifted to them on a metaphorical golden platter; something which accurately describes most of Salt Lakes’ seasons in the last couple of years.
Red Bull would follow up with a dangerous cross into the box which found forward Bradley Wright-Phillips who couldn’t replicate last week’s header against Seattle, shooting the ball wide. New York would realize the benefits of having two forwards as Wright-Phillips’ through ball would find Fredrik Gulbrandsen who scuffed his shot after being jostled by Salt Lake defender Chris Schuler.
An unremarkable first half ended nil-nil.
Coming back from half-time, Real Salt Lake would start off on the front foot with a dangerous initial attack, forcing Robles to make a save one-on-one against forward Yura Movsisyan. New York would retaliate with a dangerous attack of their own via Gulbrandsen, whose shot from outside the box missed the lower right hand corner of the RSL goal by inches.
The moments where New York was allotted time on the ball, to dictate the pace of the game, were arguably some of the best passages of play during the game. Yet, Real Salt Lake came with a plan to disrupt the Red Bulls fast-pace by any means necessary. That plan? Repetitive fouls. Salt Lake accumulated five yellow cards during the second half, which ultimately worked to limit New York’s ability to act with any sort of continuity.
Given the Red Bulls’ impressive home record and having gone into the match as favorites, the draw feels like somewhat of a loss. Being both sides were depleted between a mixture of injuries, national team duties, and disciplinary suspensions, neither club was able to deliver electric football.
Marsch echoed the fact that it is indeed early in the season, but the New York Red Bulls will have to find a way to grind out wins if they hope to contend for both the MLS Cup and Supporters Shield. Once RBNY is able to shake off the rust, anything is possible.
The Red Bulls will return to action on April 1st away against the Houston Dynamo.
Disciplinary Summary:
42′ RBNY: Kemar Lawrence, yellow
56′ RSL: Luke Mulholland, yellow
66′ RSL: Luis Silva, yellow
68′ RSL: Sunny, yellow
70′ RSL: Aaron Maund, yellow
87′ RSL: Ricardo Velazco, yellow
Starting Lineups:
RBNY: Robles, Lawrence, Long, Perrinelle, Lade (61′ Zizzo), Adams, Felipe, Royer, Muyl, Wright-Phillips, Gulbrandsen (74′ Davis)
RSL: VanOekel, Phillips, Wingert, Schuler, Maund, Sunny, Mulholland, Saucedo (81′ Velazco), Lennon, Silva (73′ Hernandez), Movsisyan (90′ Holness)
New York Red Bulls
