Red Bull debutante Tim Cahill wasted no time showing why his new team forked over a seven-figure transfer fee to get him, setting up their only goal in a 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in a friendly Tuesday night in Harrison. Ask the Red Bulls and they will say this come-from-ahead loss was still as close to a win as they could have expected.
Playing without Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez, the Eastern Conference-leading Red Bulls got a sterling debut from their third designated player, led an English Premier League team for nearly an hour and escaped uninjured and rested for a looming home-and-home with second-place Houston that actually counts in the MLS standings.
“They tried to press us and make openings and they didn’t in the first half. It’s good to see, good to know that we’re hard to break down. The second half was different, but we learned, changed the team around a lot,’’ said Cahill, taken down in the box to draw an eighth-minute penalty that Kenny Cooper buried. “It was a really solid performance and that’s what we need to look at and build on.’’
Cahill was signed Friday in a $1.5 million transfer from Everton, and started in central midfield alongside Teemu Tainio, back from an ACL injury. When Cahill played the dummy to Dax McCarty, the latter played a ball over the top that the Aussie chested down. Jan Vertonghen bowled Cahill over from behind in the box to concede the penalty kick, and Cooper buried it.
Goalkeeper Bill Gaudette — who may well push injured Ryan Meara for the starting job — made several huge saves, but when the Red Bulls subbed off Taino, Cahill and Wilman Conde at halftime, they couldn’t hold possession … or the lead.
In the 59th minute, Bale outjumped the 5-foot-9 McCarty on a corner to burry a header, and five minutes later Gylfi Sigurdsson put a feint on Holgersson to create space and put a dazzling bending ball into the right corner of the net.
“We put a strong first 11 out and looked great in the first half, coming into the half 1-0 is a great performance I’d say,” Gaudette said. “ Obviously we made some changes second half. But we’re looking at that first half as a real positive.’’
brian.lewis@nypost.com