By BRIAN LEWIS
Playing one of the biggest games of their season, the Red Bulls gave one of the worst defensive efforts in their history. After coughing up a team-record four goals in the first half, they allowed Conor Casey’s 90th-minute game-winner in a crushing 5-4 defeat to Colorado that dented their playoff hopes.
“Very disappointed. I’ve been beaten before, but never in my life have I allowed four goals in the first half. Atrocious defending,” said coach Juan Carlos Osorio. “(It) looked like a shootout game for both teams. For a fan, (it’s) probably good; for a coach it’s total chaos.
“Really, really poor defending; nine goals in one game, but we got the worst of it, no points. (I’m) very disappointed. It was absolutely terrible.”
Terrible would be kind. The Red Bulls (9-9-8, 35 points) are still fourth in the East, but just two points ahead of D.C., which plays Sunday with a chance to vault ahead of them. Kansas City, on the outside looking in with 32 points, played last night with a chance to pull even.
The Red Bulls’ 8-1-3 home mark was tied for best in the league, while Colorado had struggled on the road. But they let the Rapids shred them with sieve-like defense that would’ve ashamed the Knicks.
And that was long before Casey beat Andrew Boyens and Jeff Parke to Mehdi Ballouchy’s cross for a hat-trick and game-winner. As bad as that was, the four-goal first half _ matching a dubious club mark _ was worse.
“I’m down about the night. It’s going to take a lot to get over that. But the next game’s a week away we’ve got to move on,” Parke said. “It was (crap). It’s a terrible game. Defensively we were unorganized, second to every ball, and it showed.
“They were all over us in the first half. When you come out flat and you play like crap that’s what happens. The first half was crap. Go home and think about it and try to get over it this week.”
The Red Bulls twice rallied from deficits to take a 3-2 lead when Dane Richards put home a Jorge Rojas cross. But when defender Gabriel Cichero _ already beaten by Casey for an earlier goal _ flubbed a clearance, ex-MetroStar defender Mike Petke cut back and roofed a 43rd-minute equalizer.
Casey added a PK in the 45th, with Osorio benching the struggling Cichero for Boyens at halftime, admitting the former struggled physically with the imposing Rapids striker.
“I think that was a wakeup call for him. They played very direct football and he just couldn’t handle it. It was too much, and we made an adjustment around the 30th minute,” Osorio said. “We went with four in the back, we controlled, we scored, we tied the game, and then we went up 3-2 and we conceded two goals in the last five minutes. Absolutely terrible defending.”
The Red Bulls eventually settled down in the second half, and equalized when 23-year-old Senegalese striker Macoumba Kandji _ who replaced Richards when the Jamaican hyperextended his right knee _ sent a low cross that fellow MLS debutant Matthew Mbuta slotted home.
The 22-year-old from Cameroon then nailed a perfect celebratory backgflip; but Casey saw to it that the tie didn’t last long, latching onto that cross for his 90th-minute winner.
“Honestly, I’m out of words. I don’t really know what to say,” said striker Juan Pablo Angel, whose 34th-minute PK was his ninth tally in 11 games. “We were obviously second best and it’s hard to explain and hard to take it.”
Rapids coach Gary Smith said “They left themselves vulnerable to counterattack; we took full advantage of that. I thought they were a little gung-ho with their style and they paid the price.”