The built-in excuses were at the ready. The Red Bulls, with just one training session to prepare for last night’s game after a meaningless midweek friendly last week in Montreal, came out slow following a 31-minute delayed start because of a power outage at Red Bull Arena.
But the bottom line was the Red Bulls were bad in attacking set pieces and even worse at defending them, and that’s the biggest reason for a 3-2 loss to Chivas USA.
“We played too pretty, we played too sloppy,” Red Bulls coach Hans Backe said. “Conceding two goals like that on set plays, it’s too sloppy.”
The Red Bulls (4-2-3) let in as many goals last night as they did in the previous eight games combined — all by Justin Braun, who made his first start and scored his first goals of the season for Chivas USA.
Braun’s first goal came on a counter in the sixth minute when he curled a shot from the edge of the 18-yard box inside the far post.
After Thierry Henry equalized in the 21st minute, Ante Jazic settled Heath Pierce’s looping free kick and Braun hammered it past Bouna Coundoul to put the Goats in front, 2-1, just 10 minutes later.
Dwayne De Rosario converted the Red Bulls’ first penalty kick of the year to tie the game at two in the 35th minute. However, Chivas USA took the lead for good in the 56th minute after Alejandro Moreno headed Simon Elliott’s free kick off the post and the ball trickled back in front of the goal, where Braun tapped in his third score of the game.
“We didn’t do our jobs,” Rafa Marquez said. “And that kind of distraction cost us the game.”
While many of his teammates didn’t want to use the trip to Montreal as an excuse, Henry said it definitely was a factor.
“I still maintain that’s now how you prepare [for a] game, with one training session before a game,” Henry said. “You saw today that the team was a bit flat.”