The Red Bulls’ trophy-less run will extend for at least one more competition, booted out of the U.S. Open Cup in ignominious fashion, a 4-2 beating at the hands of New England in a game that was nowhere near that close. Against a Revolution team that coach Mike Petke called mediocre, they were far, far worse.
There was no drama, no fight, no contest.
“Fact is we lost to a mediocre team because we were way less than mediocre. It happens,’’ said Petke. “In the first half, it didn’t feel good. You could tell something was amiss.’’
The U.S. Open Cup is the oldest soccer tourney in the country, open to all USSF affiliated clubs from amateur to pros. And the Red Bulls were made to look amateurish by their Eastern Conference rivals, going from flat to flustered to just plan frustrated, taught a lesson last night at Harvard University.
“That was a lottery. That was primitive in the extreme. But what can you say? First of all the pitch is terrible, the environment wasn’t conducive, put it that way,’’ GM Andy Roxburgh told the Post. “But good luck to them: They coped with it, end of discussion. We’ll focus on MLS, that’s our task now.’’
After having their eight-game unbeaten streak snapped with a 2-1 MLS loss to Vancouver back on June 1, they’ve followed that up by getting bounced from the U.S. Open Cup in even more lackluster fashion. The Vancouver defeat essentially ended the first half of their league season, but last night’s loss brought up concerns for the second half.
Was it real, or just rust? Was that performance a fluke, or are they in a funk?
Kelyn Rowe has etched his name into the long line of MetroStar/Red Bull killers, and didn’t take long to do it. Just four minutes in, he took a pass from Gabe Latigue and buried a low shot, beating keeper Ryan Meara near post.
They equalized in the 30th minute against the run of play, thanks to Fabian Espindola’s opportunism and the Revolution’s own mistake. Espindola – who’d gotten a yellow card for dissent just six minutes earlier – pounced on a horrible, lackadaisical backpass by Darius Barnes, and beat keeper Matt Reis to the ball for a toe-poke into the empty net.
That tied the game, until Rowe untied it. He abused centerback Marcus Holgerson – who had a rare off game – and put a long-range blast by Meara. The Red Bulls defense was in abysmal disarray all night, and truthfully they were lucky to only be down one.
New England made it two just six minutes into the second half, when Barnes hit a ball over the top to Dimitry Imbongo and the big striker pushed the lead to 3-1. The Red Bulls did pull a goal back ten minutes later, left-winger Jonny Steele getting back post to head in a cross from Eric Alexander; but that’s as close as they got, and in the 87th Ryan Guy chested down a ball and sent in a low cross that sub Chris Tierny blasted home.
They were out of sorts all night, picking up six yellow cards, including Brandon Barklage getting him second in the 90th to get sent off. New England goes on to the quarterfinals June 26 at DC while the Red Bulls go home trying to figure out what went awry.
“That’s what makes it hard to take. We had some of our best sessions,’’ said Meara. “Tonight is hard to figure. We’re going to have to watch the tape, but it’s very disappointing, especially against New England.’’