Oct. 4, 2008 COMING APART AT THE SEAMS Struggling Red Bulls drop their 3rd straight, 3-1, allowing 11 goals in those matches
Another mistake by Red Bulls defender Gabriel Cichero led to an opponents goal in the 3-1 defeat to Toronto. Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images
By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com
East Rutherford, N.J. -- If the MLS playoffs began today, the Red Bulls would make the post-season -- but barely.
If they keep playing the way they've been lately, they will be more likely to be spectators come November.
It's been that bad.
The Red Bulls' annual autumn meltdown continued Saturday night as they squandered an opportunity to solidify their Eastern Conference playoff hopes with an embarrassing 3-1 loss to last-place Toronto FC before an announced crowd of 13,756 at Giants Stadium.
"We're panicking too much," coach Juan Carlos Osorio said. "We're not playing to our potential. . . We are looking for somebody to make big plays and at the moment is not happening for us.
"I think the pressure at the moment is too much for a lot of the players. We need to get points if we want to [make] . . . the playoffs. It’s easy when you play with no pressure you know at the beginning of the year probably without thinking “wow this is a must win.” Now every game is a must win, and it has proved that some of us cannot handle the pressure."
The numbers don't lie. The Red Bulls (9-10-9, 35 points), who hold onto fourth place in the Eastern Conference, are 1-4-1 in their last six games. They have lost three straight games, while surrendering 11 goals. That includes a 3-1 road loss at the conference-leading Columbus Crew Sept. 18 and a 5-4 home defeat to the Colorado Rapids last week.
What makes the last two games even more confounding is that Colorado and Toronto entered their games here with two road victories apeice against a team that has one of the best home records in the league (8-3-3).
"We've put our backs against the wall," defender Jeff Parke said. "We've had our chances to separate ourselves from the rest of the division. We haven't come to play. That's all of us. It's not one player's done this and one player's done that."
Team captain and forward Juan Pablo Angel agreed.
"This is the wrong time to be at this point," he said. "We needed points and we're not getting it. We're not playing well. We're conceding so many goals the last three games and its costing us dearly."
After battling back from a 1-0 deficit on Dane Richards' third goal of the season in the 49th minute, Chad Barrett connected for his second goal to break a tie in the 65th minute after Toronto (8-12-7, 31) cleared a free kick. Former Bull Marvell Wynne raced 60 yards down the left side before crossing to Barrett, who tapped in the goal into an open net as goalkeeper Jon Conway came out of the net. Abdus Ibrahim added an insurance goal in the 86th minute.
For the second consecutive loss, Conway had left the locker room and was unavailable for comment.
"We were unorganized coming back," Parke said. "Marvell had a good run and nobody caught him. You're chasing the game at that point."
Neither Conway nor Gabriel Cichero had a game to put in their scrap books. Cichero botched a header to Conway in the 27th minute. Barrett took the ball and chipped Conway, who came far out of the net.
"You have only one second to think," Cichero said. "Maybe everybody will say, 'Why didn't he put it outside?' But you have to put it inside to make a decision. I tried to give it to the keeper. It bounced instead it going forward. It was unlucky he made the goal."
Luck or not, time is running out.
The Red Bulls have three games remaining -- two on the road -- including a Thursday encounter at Real Salt Lake. They have been an awful 1-7-5 on the road.
"Hopefully it flip flops," forward Mike Magee said. "We lost at home and win on the road. We've got some gut checks."
