The Red Bulls kicked off their 2011 preseason with a win over Atlante FC, at Andres Quintana Roo. After the game ended in a scoreless draw, the Red Bulls prevailed 4-3 in penalty kicks.
Atlante had a chance to win, but keeper Moises Munoz’s spot kick was saved by Greg Sutton, who went the entire game for regular starter Bouna Coundoul. Then second-year midfielder Austin da Luz burried the game-winning penalty kick as Atlante’s Sonny Guadarrama hit his shot off the left post in the sixth round.
The Red Bulls are hoping to build on a tantalizing-yet-frustrating campaign where they won the Eastern Conference regular season title under Hans Backe, but fell in the first round of the playoffs. Backe has had them working on defensive shape so far in preseason, and they kept a clean sheet through 90 minutes in Mexico.
They also had the first scoring chance of the match three minutes in, as midfielder Dane Richards _ who has maintained his red-hot season-ending form throughout the break _ skipped past two defenders to the endline and found Juan Agudelo, whose close range shot missed the target.
In the 15th minute, Atlante threatened New York’s net when Reimond Manco’s 20-yard blast was stopped by Sutton. Richards again menaced the Atlante defense soon after, gathering a Tony Tchani through ball, cutting to his left foot and pulling an attempt just past the right post.
With eight minutes left in the period, Atlante nearly put its name on the scoresheet. Christian Bermudez streaked down the left wing with space and found Manco by the penalty spot; but Manco one-timed his shot over the bar.
As Backe had promised going into the game _ which was a glorified warmup for all parties concerned _ the Red Bulls liberally subbed out all of their field players at halftime, while Atlante made six substitutions and had the first scoring opportunity eight minutes in. Mario Ortiz took the ball on the right side and sent a low cross that Guadarrama re-directed on-target, but Sutton sprawled out to keep the game scoreless.
Sutton made two huge saves with eight minutes left in the match. First, he stuffed forward Giancarlo Maldonado at the top of the box. The ball floated and Maldanado’s ensuing bicycle kick was kicked away by the Canadian goalkeeper. Moments later, Maldanado created enough space for himself to slide a shot that trickled past the left post. Fellow substitute Luis Angel Landin was able to get past Sutton in the 88th minute but was denied by the right post.
In the PK shootout, the Mexican hosts earned a 4-3 lead in the final round with Munoz having the opportunity to give Atlante the victory. But Sutton guessed right, diving to his left to punch away his counterpart’s shot. After da Luz scored, Guadarrama hit his shot off the left post for a Red Bull win.