Jeff Parke is hopeful the Red Bulls can put the 5-1 loss to Chicago behind them and get at least a point out of Houston Saturday. Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images
By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor
After the Red Bulls suffered that 5-1 pasting by the Chicago Fire last night, central defender Jeff Parke admitted that at times he felt "like walking on eggs shells" during practice this past week.
"After something like that, you kind of see how other people react and how the younger guys react," he said. "You try to get everybody together. But it's difficult because you feel sometimes you're like walking on egg shells and you feel like everybody wants to have a go at each other.
"We need to pick it up again. We just have to get ourselves back in the groove. I think we fell off of it. This weekend we hope we can get a good result."
The Red Bulls (3-2-3, 12 points), who find themselves in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, play at the two-time defending MLS champion Houston Dynamo (2-3-5, 11) Saturday night (HDnet, 8:30 p.m.).
Everything that could have gone wrong did against the Fire, from defensive breakdowns to an attack that is struggling to find goals – in front of a home crowd.
"It's a tough one to bounce back from because it obviously was a whooping," Parke said Thursday. "You kind of just learn from the mistakes that you made and you try (not to) embarrass yourself or embarrass the club more than that game because that was pretty embarrassing for all of us."
He said the Red Bulls must "learn from the mistakes and try to put it in the back of your head and you try to move on."
Asked if he learned anything in particular, the five-year veteran replied, "Just playing no matter what the score is, just sticking and giving an honest effort the whole game. Sometimes you don't have it and obviously it was one of those days we didn't have it as a team. You couldn't click. You try to move one. Five goals are terrible. You just try not to let it happen again."
Needless to say, coach Juan Carlos Osorio wasn't happy with the result against his old team and he let the team know how he felt. Parke wasn't about to argue with his coach.
"He said a lot. He had his go at us," he said. "He was embarrassed and we were embarrassed. It was something obviously, he didn't see coming. We didn't see it coming. He wasn't happiest guy on the field. . . . He is a fiery coach, an honest guy. He only will give you his honest opinion. A lot of us screwed up. A lot of us played (crap)."
Parke just wants to put the game out of his head as soon as possible.
"Hopefully, this is just a re-awakening and gets us back refocused," he said. "You try to say to yourself that this is the low. You work harder and try to string a few wins together because obviously there is a tough game coming up. Hopefully we can get the points that we need and try to forget about this past weekend."
The Dynamo has been struggling, playing FC Dallas to a 2-2 away draw Wednesday. All-star midfielder Dwayne DeRosario salvaged a point with a stoppage-time goal in the 93rd minute. DeRosario won't be available for Saturday's encounter as he will be on international duty with the Canadian National Team.
Even with a mediocre record, Parke is quite wary of the Dynamo. Remember, the Dynamo took apart the Red Bulls in Houston last season, 4-0.
"You can say that they haven't had a good start and they're not playing well," he said. "You know what? At the end of the day it's the team that's won championships and knows how to win and will fight for 90 minutes. They've got veteran players and got a lot of good players on the team.
"We can't take this lightly. It's a battle. We have to stick together. Going down there and giving a decent (effort), we'll get at least a point. . . . If we get a result, that would be great."
