‘ALMOST LIKE WE WERE BRAIN DEAD’ Red Bulls lackluster in 1-0 loss to Rapids
Clint Mathis: "It was almost like we were brain dead out there." Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images
By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor
East Rutherford, N.J. -- Perhaps it was best that only 7,802 spectators showed up to watch the Red Bulls at Giants Stadium Sunday. The less witnesses to their uninspired performance in a 1-0 loss to the Colorado Rapids the better.
The Red Bulls did not look anywhere like the previously undefeated team that entered the MLS match.
"It was almost like we were brain dead out there," Clint Mathis said.
No one gave him an argument.
"It was a bad performance," coach Bruce Arena said. "We were very poor. We got outplayed in the first half. In the second half our performance on the technical side was horrible. Poor crossing. Poor finishing. Poor passing, which was the case for 90 minutes of the game.
"There's no excuses on our part.”
In fact, Arena couldn’t find anyone who impressed him. "There's no one player that we can single out today that was real good," he said.
The Red Bulls (3-1-2, 11 points), who find themselves with a three-game winless streak (0-2-1), counting Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup elimination, had no one to blame but themselves. They remained in third place in the Eastern Conference, three points behind first-place New England Revolution (4-1-2, 14 ) with a game in hand.
Take a sampling of the opinion in the locker room”
* "It was if we didn't want to play," said midfielder Dema Kovalenko, who suffered a broken nose after he was hit in the face by the lone goal-scorer, Nicolas Hernandez, in the 60th minute. “We didn’t fight. We didn’t battle. . . . The effort was not there today.”
“It seemed like we played away.”
* “We didn’t create chances and we were off the pace,” said Colombian forward Juan Pablo Angel, who made his MLS debut as a starter.
The absence of captain and midfielder Claudio Reyna, who strained his right groin in practice Saturday, certainly had something to do with it. Instead of using a possession game, the Red Bulls couldn't put more than two or three decent passes together. They opted for the long ball, which became hit and miss and more miss than anything else.
"It's a big loss for us," forward Juan Pablo Angel said. "He is a big influence for us. . . . We‘ve got to be able to play without him -- without any other player and do well."
Angel, who scored a goal in his impressive Bulls debut Tuesday, admitted he had an average game yesterday.
"I didn't think it was real good," Arena said. "He didn't get the kind of service he wanted."
Reyna, who missed the Red Bulls’ 3-0 home-opening win over FC Dallas on April 15, said his latest injury was “nothing major. Hopefully by the next game it will be all right.”
The Rapids (3-2-2), who moved into the Western Conference lead, got all the scoring they needed in the 24th minute.
The Red Bulls found themselves trailing in a league match for the very first time this season as the Rapids found the back of the net in the 24th minute. Kyle Beckerman tackled the ball away from rookie Dane Richards at midfield. Beckerman fed Herculez Gomez, who passed to an onrushing Nicolas Hernandez. Hernandez beat goalkeeper Jon Conway from eight yards.
“I think it was a bit of a fortunate goal for them,” Angel said.
In an attempt to liven up his attack, Arena replaced right fullback Tim Regan with midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic at halftime. Kovalenko moved into a wingback position on the right side.
The move sparked the Red Bulls in the early going in the second half. After penetrating into the Colorado penalty area, they put together a string of passes, but appeared to be setting up for a perfect shot than fire away. The ball finally made it to Angel, whose six-yard shot was cleared off the goal line by defender Dan Gargan in the 48th minute.
“He had a couple of chances he’d like to have back, I’m sure,” Arena said, nothing that one.
Mathis and Richards almost teamed for the equalizer in the 57th minute. Mathis ran down the left flank and fed Richards, who attempted an eight-yard shot that goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul managed to snare.
“We played tactically perfect for 90 minutes,” Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo said. “We never allowed them to get a rhythm.”
Kovalenko was forced from the game temporarily after he was hit in the face by Hernandez in the 62nd minute. Because he had blood on his No. 21 jersey, Kovalenko returned to action wearing a jersey without a name or number, which is allowed by MLS rules for a player who has been bloodied.
The way the Red Bulls played Sunday, they should have taken a cue from Kovalenko and been anonymous, playing without any names or number on their backs.
