Red Bulls Counter Revolution
John Wolyniec photo by Matt Cohen
New York Red Bulls 1 New England Revolution 1
By James Rogers
The Red Bulls pulled off a battling 1-1 draw against the New England Revolution at Giants Stadium on Saturday, courtesy of John Wolyniec’s late equalizer.
In their penultimate game in the Meadowlands prior to next season’s move to the Red Bull arena, the New Yorkers fell behind to Sainey Nyassi’s stunning 13th minute solo strike. Despite being denied a clear-cut penalty at the start of the second half, though, Richie Williams’ team fought their way back into the game, and gained a share of the points when Wolyniec tapped home Dane Richards’ 69th minute cross.
The match was the last of a five-game homestand for the Red Bulls, and followed last week’s 1-0 defeat to the Kansas City Wiz.
“We are a little happier this week, but again, we are a little disappointed for the second week in a row,” said Red Bulls head coach Richie Williams, during his post-match press conference. “Have to give credit to the guys, better play, better second half, we had some chances, and I was happy with the way the game went.”
Something of a bogey team for the Red Bulls, New England set a Major League Soccer record on Saturday, recording their 13th consecutive game without a loss against New York. The draw, however, put a major dent in the Revs’ playoff ambitions, and could even have ended in a win for the home team.
With leading goalscorer Juan Palo Angel again absent through injury, the Red Bulls labored up front for much of the game, but ultimately had chances to win it.
The game’s biggest talking point came a couple of minutes into the second half, when Wolyniec was felled by Revs defender Emmanuel Osei just a couple of yards from goal. After pinging around the penalty area, the ball broke to the Red Bulls forward, but the Staten Islander was clattered before he could pull the trigger.
“From what I saw and from what everybody else saw, I thought it was a clear penalty,” said Williams. “I’m disappointed with the call; again, those are game-changing calls, so instead of a 1-1 tie, it could have been a 2-1game.”
“Of course it was a clear-cut penalty, but at the end of the day, hopefully those things balance out and we’ll get a call later at some point,” he added.
Wolyniec, although disappointed, was also philosophical. “I was actually pretty shocked – I thought a couple [of] officials had a chance to call it,” he said. “But it’s always a quick call and unfortunately it didn’t go our way.”
The New York veteran was nonetheless pleased with the way his team-mates responded to the non-penalty. With a little over 20 minutes left, Wolyniec’s strike partner Macoumba Kandji played the ball forward to Richards and the jet-heeled Jamaican raced down the wing before firing a low cross into the six-yard box. John Wolyniec beat Emmanuel Osei to the ball and side-footed past New England keeper Matt Reis for his second goal of the season.
“I am glad we rebounded from [the penalty call] and kept putting pressure on them,” he said. “I think for the most part of this year, I think something like that would happen to us and we’d fell sorry for ourselves.”
“We might have let them come back and get a goal, or might have just let the game run out,” he added. “But we came back hard, and I’m really proud of the goal we scored, it was a really great play.”
Wolyniec, who was injured scoring his goal, eventually limped off with an ankle injury, although his partner Kandji could have sealed the points right at the death.</P>
In the 90th minute, the forward latched onto Celades’ pass, turning his marker Osei before racing towards Reis’ goal. With only the keeper to beat, though, Kandji dragged his shot wide from 18 yards.
“When you have opportunities, you have to take those opportunities and with Juan [Pablo Angel] out, our main striker and main goal scorer, we rely on John Wolyniec and Mac Kandji,” said Williams. “John got a goal tonight and Mac had a lot of opportunities, so you have to take those opportunities and take your chances if you want to consistently do well and win games.”
“I thought we did create more opportunities that we could finish. At the end of the day, like I said, we will continue to work on it and continue to improve and get better at that part of the game.”
The Red Bulls are now 2-1-1 under interim head coach Richie Williams, who recently took over from Juan Carlos Osorio. Still stuck at the bottom of the MLS Eastern Conference, the team has a record of 4-17-4, and were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention last week. The Red Bulls’ next game is against Chivas USA on Saturday 26th September at the Home Depot Center.
