God, I hate losing to New York. I really do. I can’t find a flowery, eloquent way to say it: losing to the Red Bulls just sucks. This loss in particular, in front of 25,187 fans at a sold-out Red Bull Arena, really left a bitter taste in my mouth. I don’t know—maybe it was just the complimentary Red Bull.
United was in control of the first half for about 31 seconds. That’s how long it took forward Chris Pontius to score the fastest goal in franchise history. The remainder of the first half—and a good chunk of the second—were all New York.
“I would say the first 55 minutes is probably the most complete we have ever played,” Red Bull head coach Hans Backe said after the match. “Absolutely phenomenal, the first half, and (after) the first 15-20 of the second, we should have probably been three or four up. One-way traffic.”
New York’s trio of goals came from a pair of unlikely figures. Former United midfielder Brandon Barklage —who suffered two major injuries during his three years with the black and red—scored his first two career goals. Norwegian defender Jan Gunnar Solli added his first ever MLS score.
“I’m happy for Brandon Barklage,” United head coach Ben Olsen said. “I really am, I mean he tore two ACLs in D.C. United and always came to work everyday and worked his tail off. It stings that they came against us, but nonetheless happy for him.”
When asked if he remembered Barklage hitting balls with the intensity that he did on Sunday night, Olsen said: “Well if he did, I would have never let him go.”
MLS matches in June don’t usually carry this much weight, but this one had all the makings of a classic. The two sides came into the encounter near the top of the table. After United’s 4-1 drubbing of the Red Bulls in April, New York came into the match with something to prove. United had its own designs for the game—a win on the road against their arch rivals would be the team’s fifth in a row and give it some breathing room atop the Eastern Conference.
Pontius’ early strike was the result of a lovely combination between United midfielders Dwayne De Rosario and Danny Cruz. Cruz pinged a feed from defender Robbie Russell to DeRo. De Rosario sprung Cruz into the corner, and Cruz played a perfect ball across to Pontius, who easily headed the ball home for his seventh goal of the season.
That would be the last that United would see of the ball in the first half. Out-possessing the black and red 63 to 37 percent, New York dissected DCU’s back line with ease. They’d equalize in the 20th minute, as Barklage rounded De Rosario with ease, hammering home a Joel Lindpere corner kick to tie things up. Barklage would strike again with a volley from the edge of the box in the 47th minute.
By the time Solli made it 3-1, the match looked all but over. Recognizing the need to slow things down, Olsen replaced Cruz with Branko Bošković in the 59th minute. The substitution paid dividends immediately, as United were finally able to break the Bulls down in midfield and possess the ball more effectively.
Pontius would get his second of the evening 66 minutes in. Maicon Santos threaded a beautiful ball through traffic. Pontius timed his run perfectly and rounded Red Bulls keeper Ryan Meara for the score. United would threaten repeatedly throughout the games closing moments—but it wouldn’t be enough. Robbie Russell’s shot would sail over the crossbar, Pontius would narrowly miss a hat-trick and De Rosario would have a goal called back as a result of being in an offside position.
United once again had a strong showing of fans at the arena, as several hundred made the trip up from D.C. They were joined by several hundred Albanian fans—both from the District and NYC—who came out to see United forward Hamdi Salihi.
“It’s really something special for me,” Salihi said in the locker room after the match. “I know in Albania, a lot of people like me—I know I have a lot of fans. But also here in New York, in U.S.A.—I knew from before that you have a lot of Albanian people [in the U.S.] but I didn’t know they’d come here to support me. [It was] something really special.”
A few thoughts: Branko Bošković should have started this match. I recognize the value in having a player of his skill level available as a substitute, but United isn’t the caliber of team just yet that can afford to sit back for 60 minutes and have its opponents bring the ball to it. United needs their absolute, best starting 11 on the field from the get-go, and I believe he’s a part of that lineup. Much like the Philadelphia game last week, there was an immediate difference in United’s quality when he was inserted into the game. Start the man.
I was also a bit surprised to see Hamdi Salihi in the starting lineup for this match. I wonder how much (if any) of Olsen’s decision to start him had to do with the contingent of fans that came out to see him. I fully expected to see Maicon Santos in the starting 11—United could’ve used his size, his ability to play with his back to goal, hold the ball and spring passes to Pontius and DeRo. I don’t know how much of a difference it would’ve made in the first 45—as United was rarely even able to get the ball through midfield—but it would’ve been interesting to see.
Having said all of that, United is still in excellent shape. The team still sits atop the Eastern Conference with 30 points—though it’s now tied with the Red Bulls. Other results this week went its way—New York and Kansas City both tied their mid-week encounters, inching closer to the black and red but more importantly losing crucial games at hand. The loss last night was only DCU’s third in their past 14 matches, and their next three games— against Montreal, Houston and Columbus—are all perfectly winnable. United’s players need to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get back to work.
“We have to lick our wounds and get back to work and make sure we’re ready to go against the Montreal team who is very hot,” Olsen said. “Teams right now are, you know, figuring teams out and knowing what they’re about and we have to get back and win our home game.”
