All at once the New York Red Bulls find themselves in that place again. The limbo of facing another game which could well mean the end of their season, and a farewell to the king. The Red Bulls will go into New England needing a two goal victory to advance to their second ever MLS Cup, and the Revs do not look like a team reeling on the ropes. Sunday’s 2-1 victory over their longtime rivals puts the Revolution in the driver’s seat for their homecoming in what many will feel is a victory lap, as they should. New England was able to dominate the first leg in which they defended for more than half of the game. When they did attack, they picked their chances well and exploited poor team defending from New York. Many, myself included, pointed to Tim Cahill or Dax McCarty as the scapegoats on this occasion. The truth however, is not as it seems. The defensive liability was a winger who played sloppy in possession and rarely got back to defend. Thierry Henry. Henry’s defending is the key to the Red Bull’s survival.
The first came at the price of lackadaisical defending by the man they call King Henry. Teal Bunbury received the ball just wide of the 18. The pass came from Jermaine Jones, who continued his run into a wider position the Teal, and drew Dax McCarty with him opening up space in the middle. While Eric Alexander could have slid into that space, he was busy keeping tabs on Lee Nguyen who has been dangerous around the box all season. Where was Henry during all of this? Slowly walking up the field. Without his support to clog the middle, Bunbury just needed to beat Ambroise Oyongo into the middle of the field. He did this with a nice stepover that left Oyongo in the dust. Bunbury cut inside, and the rest is history. See the diagram below to get a better understanding.
First, let me say, that it is inexcusable to give up a goal when there are 8 defenders taking on 4 attacking players, but all 8 need to stick to their assignments and step up when necessary. That job would have been made much easier however, if Henry had lent any support to the situation. Henry could have kept Bunbury from having the opportunity to pinch in and he would have been forced to pass rather than score the spectacular goal he scored. This is not a new criticism about Henry. I have been pounding the drum of his defensive miscues since the 4-3-3 formation was first used. The Red Bulls have been able to get away with it for the most part due to terrific defending from Roy Miller. It forced many teams into trying to come inside, and with the extra midfielders, the Red Bulls were able to break up a lot of those attacks.
The second goal is much more straightforward. The Red Bulls regained possession after a goal kick deep within their own half. The ball came out to Henry, who passed back to Oyongo. It is impossible to argue that Cahill and McCarty are out of position as Oyongo plays the ball. Both were lined up on the left flank. McCarty was racing forward looking for an early ball into space from the young left back. When that happens, Luyindula, and Henry had to move into that space. Instead, both players were walking jogging along the left hand side of the field. The hole created in the middle of the field was staggering. The ball was played in the air to Wright-Phillips. Jose Goncalves was able to win the areal battle and the ball popped out to Chris Tierney. Henry was the closest man to him. The one time ball played forward left Henry no time to recover, and the attack was on. It is also worth noting that Richard Eckersley correctly read the gap in the midfield and tried to help fill it in, which left the rest of the backline in an even worse position.
With Cahill, McCarty and Eckersley all out of position, the Revs found themselves in a 4 v 3 break. Oyongo read this as a 3 v 3 break because he didn’t see Bunbury behind him. He pinched inside to even the numbers. This left Teal Bunbury alone and unmarked streaking into the box. Nguyen found Bunbury with a pinpoint pass between Oyongo and Cahill. Bunbury crossed to the wide open Jermaine Jones for an easy tap in. While many were at fault in the breakdown, the starting defensive position of Henry helped magnify the problem. It can be argued that McCarty and Cahill should have been central, but Henry had enough time to read their positions and pinch in. Instead, waited until it was too late and the Red Bulls gave up the gut punch game winner, sending them on the road in a hostile environment with a mountain to climb.
It is worth noting that the Red Bulls were done in by some atrocious officiating on the day, but they can only blame themselves for not capitalizing on their offensive chances. The good news is, they were able to create them. They might find doing so in New England will be much more difficult however. I expect the Red Bulls to be on the back foot for much of the game up the I-95 in Foxboro, which means team defending will be at a premium. Without Bradley Wright Phillips, Tim Cahill will likely start in his natural position. If the Red Bulls have any chance in getting back into this game, it will come from service from the flanks to the golden head of the Aussie national. They must pick their spots just as New England did, and keep the clean sheet, something they were able to do earlier this season. Can they repeat their success or will this just be another year of missed potential and the final bow of the supposed savior? Time will tell.
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Image Credit: Bill Twomey/New York Red Bulls
