Match Analysis
The Red Bulls took on the New England Revolution in their most recent match fixture. The Red Bulls have always had an incredibly tough time winning at Gillette. The Revs were at the top spot of the Eastern Conference before this match, and still currently are. The Red Bulls were not above the playoff line until today. RBNY had an incredibly odd lineup. Thierry Henry was not in the starting lineup, along with Jamison Olave, two very big and key components of the squad. Ibrahim Sekagya was playing in midfield, rather than his usual center-back position. Before the match, this looked awful, however the end result showed it did not matter.
The Robles Factor
Within the first minute, the Revs already had a shot on goal, that didn’t give much promise. However, it didn’t bog them down. Lloyd Sam got a great free-kick to a relatively unmarked Eric Alexander. The Revs had a bad mistake and it cost them greatly. They responded with an incredibly heavy-attacking offense. They kept on coming, one after the other. The form that Luis Robles was in, it would seem foolish to think he could muster up ten saves by the end of the match. He did just that. Shot after shot, Robles proved that he is reliable and can remain as the number one for the club. There was one scary moment where he went down for a good minute and a half, but got back up and continued to be a brick wall for the remainder of the match. Robles did catch a lucky break in the 44th minute of play. Fagundez shot hit the woodwork just out of reach of Robles, but it was a good break for Robles. If Robles was playing like he was in previous matches, the Revs would have won by a large margin. Ultimately, he was the deciding factor in this match with his third clean sheet of the season. During the 76th minute of play,
Peguy Luyindula got a gift as the Revs placed a header directly to his boot, causing a great shot that lead to an even better goal for the Red Bulls. For an odd lineup, a 2-0 victory seemed almost like fantasy. The way it was structured and the way they played with it just made it even weirder that they got this result. Every time they wanted to create something, the balls were put out very wide for Sam or for Wright-Phillips. They tried to chase the balls down, but it did not work. The offense was completely spread out.
Matt Miazga also had a hard time tonight as well. He got booked by a rather controversial tackle. Armando also kept going down with injuries throughout the match and didn’t make a great case with the referee at all. However, the team did everything they could on defense. It seemed like they would all go on defense practically when the Revs were on a breakaway, almost like a 1-5-4 formation, which is highly unusual unless you’re “parking the bus.”
This match was a rather interesting one; many mistakes by New England, so many amazing saves by Robles, and some valiant defending by the Red Bulls gave them a win that had eluded them for so long.
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