The New York Red Bulls went to Montreal with a patchwork roster. With many of their stars and starters fatigued from playing, they put together a starting XI that included players, like Richard Eckersely and Ruben Bover, that have not seen meaningful MLS minutes in months, and in the case of some players, such as Marius Obekop and defender Damien Perinelle, none at all. And despite that, they played a tight affair at Saputo Stadium against a Montreal Impact side that has nothing else to play for except Champions League success.
Coming into this match, coach Mike Petke said that he would be content playing for a draw. However, his side went down early on a controversial play that, according to Petke, was about a yard offside. Despite the loss Petke remains positive, stating that he was proud of the team he fielded. “We came up here and made a decision, knowing full well this is Montreal’s number one priority… If they (Red Bulls) didn’t show the character they did, if they didn’t show the fight they did it could have been a lot worse.”
Indeed.
Montreal put their starters on the field, a roster that included the silky smooth Ignacio Piatti and Marco Di Vaio. It was Di Vaio who opened the scoring with a right footed low shot off of a Piatti cross from the far post. It was Di Vaio’s fourth tally of the tournament.
Regardless of the lack of offside call, Montreal controlled possession in this match, but were unable to force Red Bulls keeper Ryan Meara to make another single save. The Red Bulls however did their best to put the pressure on to pull level. Oft maligned defender Rich Eckersely nearly succeeded in doing the job, seeing his back post flick saved by Impact keeper Evan Bush. The Impact goal was not the only controversial call of the match in Montreal as Connor Lade, freshly returned after a fruitful loan to NASL’s New York Cosmos, earned two yellow cards in the match, the second of which was a bit questionable. This left the Red Bulls down to 10 men for the final 13 minutes of the match, and renders Lade inactive in next Wednesday’s CCL match vs CD Fas.
CCL: New York Red Bulls Drop 1-0 Decision in Montreal
Two things stood out in this match – First, let’s talk about the players no one gets to see. Marius Obekop had a solid outing, after being in the dreams of Red Bulls supporters everywhere. He put himself in effective postioning on the wing and effectively distributed the ball to the middle of the field, where Saer Sene, still struggling to find his way in New York, would often give it up before getting very far into the attacking 18. Then there was the makeshift back four of Perinelle, Armando, Eckersely, and Kosuke Kimura. Surprisingly, Kimura had the most unstable night of the four, being dispossessed of the ball 12 times. He was the only Red Bulls defender in double digits in that category. Armando finally showed some skill and confidence with the ball at his feet, and Perinelle continued to look like a solid move by sporting director Andy Roxburgh.
The Red Bulls now continue their September to remember on Saturday taking on the MLS leading Seattle Sounders. The Sounders have had a midweek match of their own, winning their fourth US Open Cup after beating Philadelphia Union 2-1 in a match that went to extra time. The Champions League loss leaves Red Bulls in second place in the group with three points, with Montreal in the driver’s seat. RBNY’s next Champions League match is Wednesday, September 24th in El Salvador where they will take on CD Fas, a team that the Red Bulls beat at home 2-0.
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