Harrison, NJ (September 20th, 2014) – The New York Red Bulls took to the field tonight with a sense of purpose. With Bradley Wright-Phillips, Thierry Henry, and Tim Cahill all returning from minor knocks, the Red Bulls came out for blood. After an inspiring presentation by manager Michael Petke, giving the heartfelt nod to Metrostars history promised by RBNY’s Head of Commercial Operations Marc de Grandpre, the man lovingly called BWP scored within the first :30 to set the stage for the aggressive and fluid play that followed.
Petke obviously knew what he was doing, putting all his eggs in the MLS basket and essentially playing with house money, facing a Seattle Sounders squad that had played 120 minutes in their US Open Cup Final win just four days prior, earning their 4th championship in that competition. Sounders manager Sigi Schmid would not use that as an excuse. “Obviously we didn’t play well in my mind. Giving up that early goal was bad.. I think Red Bull was highly motivated, they were going to bring their top game into this one…and they finished their chances much better than we finished ours.”
Schmid continued, “It’s not Open Cup hangover. It’s a lot of individual mistakes that ended up…costing the team. I don’t think we kept possession well enough…It’s one of those days at the office where you forget about and move on.”
For Bradley Wright-Phillips however, it was another match to remember. He scored his third hat trick of the season, his 22nd, 23rd, and 24th goals of the year, as he inches ever closer to what seems to be his inevitable date with MLS history. He’s currently 3 off the league record (27) for goals scored in a single season, a record currently shared by San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski and former Tampa Bay Mutiny forward Roy Lassiter. In the lead up to the match, it was uncertain if the hot footed Englishman would even play, nursing a sore hamstring that held him out of the last league match his club played, a 2-2 draw in a rainy Philadelphia a week ago. Tonight’s hat trick ties Wright-Phillips with Dom Dwyer for the league lead in multi-goal outings, both with 5.
The first minute of play may have set the tone, but it was his third and final touch of the match that truly sealed the victory for Red Bulls. Wright-Phillips made a class run in between two Sounders defenders to receive a ball from Roy Miller and followed through with a class finish. Clearly the hamstring knock was a non-factor. Captain Henry spoke about Wright-Philips’ quality, “He is the plus one. He always goes behind the defense (and), he doesn’t care too much about combining play. Right now he’s our go-to guy and that’s why if the boss (Petke) asks me to play on the left for him.”
Indicative of Petke and Fraser’s tactical decisions of late, the coaching staff made the decision to attack Seattle straight on, deploying a 4-3-3 formation with Henry and Sam flanking Wright-Philips up top. Clearly, Petke aimed to victimize a Sounders back 4 featuring Chad Marshall, Dylan Remick, Jalil Anibaba, and Djimi Traore, and left the speedy, skilled DeAndre Yedlin on the bench. Yedlin never saw time tonight because the Red Bulls never let their foot off the gas. That killer instinct has been lacking at times this season, especially at home. However, over the most recent run of form at home has featured an 8 game unbeaten streak, and going into October, Henry and co. have three out of their last four matches at home.
That’s not to say there wasn’t a bit of a scare. After BWP was replaced on the field with Tim Cahill, who also scored, Schmid brought his high octane strike pair on the field. Obafemi Martins and USMNT star Clint Dempsey were continuously dangerous, with Dempsey putting a sitter past Robles off of a lethal feed from Lamar Naegle. The Red Bulls didn’t change their game plan, again showing resilience by continuing their persistent attack, often using quality possession and fluid passing plays that seemed to elude this club earlier in the season.
With the quality of the clubs the Red Bulls have played recently, and considering the difficulty they faced when trying to find stability earlier the season, one would think Petke’s team would be worse off than they are. With the victory over Seattle, the Red Bulls extend their unbeaten streak to 4, claiming victories against Sporting Kansas City (2nd in the East), DC United (1st in the East), and now Seattle (1st overall). Mike Petke wasn’t interested in much reflection when asked about it, ” I don’t know. All I know is that I think we have 10 points out of 12 in our last four games. We need to keep doing the same mindset, it doesn’t matter who we play. We have a lot more cover for each other in the last four games, especially with Dax (McCarty) and Eric (Alexander) putting a lot of work in in front of our back four. We just need to keep going with that.”
The New York Red Bulls now travel to El Salvador to play CD Fas, who they beat 2-0, in CONCACAF Champions League. One has to think that Petke will field a lineup similar to the one vs Montreal this past Wednesday. RBNY resumes league play on Sunday, September 28th, earning more frequent flyer miles travelling to the City of Angels to face the LA Galaxy.
Photo credit: Rob Tringel/New York Red Bulls
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