What a tough way to enter the first International break in 2022 for Red Bull as they draw to Columbus 1-1 after conceding an equalizer to Darlington Nagbe in the 95’.
Talk about a snooze feast because that is what the home crowd witnessed. Overall frustrating game from Red Bull who could not get anything going offensively.
And after the first 30 minutes of the game, you could see things were starting to switch in favor of Columbus.
Columbus is going to be kicking themselves on the flight home as they had some grade A+ chances that they just did not put in the back of the net in the second half.
Gyasi Zardes would have two of those changes, with the first coming in the 65’ and he might as well just have walked off the pitch.
https://twitter.com/SportsProphet__/status/1505628246100090883
Yaw Yeboah received a through ball down the right-wing from Nagbe and crossed the ball the first time perfectly to Zardes on the back post. But instead of just tapping the ball in with his left foot, he attempted to hit it with the outside of his right foot for some reason and it thankfully for Red Bull rolled wide of Carlos Coronel’s net.
Zardes then had a chance to redeem himself in the 74‘ when Lucas Zelarayan feed the striker another pin-point cross from the right side as it evaded the diving, Sean Nealis. Again, Zardes does not hit it cleanly, and it went nowhere near the goal.
The third and probably most heart-breaking miss fell to Derrick Etienne Jr., a former Red Bull homegrown player. Etienne was sprung 1v1 with Coronel from midfield after Nagbe’s over-the-top through ball beat the Red Bulls high line.
https://twitter.com/MLS/status/1505631280263741441
Instead of maybe taking a shot from a little further out, Etienne waited a little too late as Coronel closed the angle and made a save. But he left a rebound and a wide-open net to the Patterson NJ native.
Fortunately for Red Bull and unfortunately for Etienne, the ball was at such an acute angle, Etienne put the ball across the box and wide to keep the score tied with zeros across the board.
That would change in the 84’ minute when the Red Bulls got a corner.
Lewis Morgan swung an in-swinging cross from the right corner flag to find the head of Sean Nealis at the far post who then headed it back across goal to find the head of the captain Aaron Long and then it was an all-out scramble from there.
Tom Barlow would get a touch and so too would Columbus Eloy Room but luckily for the home team, the ball trickled into the net for a 1-0 Red Bull lead with only five minutes to play.
Nealis later when asked about his role leading to the goal said, “Yeah, this year I wanted to set an objective of being more of a presence on attacking set-pieces. It was a great ball by Lewis, and I knew I just had to head back far post---I think it was counted as an own goal, but Tom & Aaron did well there to cause some chaos and thankfully it trickled in”
All Red Bull need to do now was defend their line for the next 10’ and they would be walking out of Red Bull Arena with three points.
But it was not that simple for the boys in Red. They were looking to be in a good spot until Columbus sprung on the counterattack one last time in the 94’.
Substitute Luis Diaz was 1v1 with John Tolkin and laid the ball off to the overlapping Steven Moreira who crossed the ball to the top of the 6-yard box, causing a scramble for the ball.
Nagbe would get off an initial shot that was blocked by the trailing leg of Tom Edwards. In a game of bounces, the ball kindly fell back to Nagbe, who then would toe-poke the ball past a diving Coronel to spoil the win for the home crowd.
It was a CRUSHING draw for Red Bull after being outplayed for the first time all season.
But Red Bull even against the run of play found a way to scratch out a goal to take a lead late, they just could not hold on in the end and settled for a point.
Nealis post-game said the boys were “pissed” because they could have and should have gotten the win. When asked how they could get back to keeping clean sheets like in 21’, Nealis laid it out simply.
“I think we just have to see the game out. There are a lot of little things, like last week not seeing out the set-piece against Minnesota, and this week on a transition moment on the very last play, we have to improve on that. The clean sheet is there for the taking and I think we can get a bunch this season, we just have to fix a few things”.
It all comes down to being focused for all 90+ minutes of a game. There are going to be games where Red Bull plays sloppy and just does not have it on that given night. But can they come together as a collective to walk out of those types of games with a point or even a win?
Time will eventually tell and could be the biggest difference-maker for Red Bull if they want to go far and have aspirations of a trophy this season.
Coach Gerhard Struber touched on what the “main problem” was for Red Bull against the Crew.
“It’s important to know that Columbus is on a great level in MLS with great experience together, have a clear style of play, and stay very compact. It’s not so easy to break their line, but I think we enough moments where we broke the line with control but in the end did not have the right output in the attacking area”.
Red Bull after the draw sits in a pretty good spot in the Eastern Conference after just four games, sitting in fourth place with 7 goals for and only four goals against.
New York now has a week off thanks to the last World Cup qualifying international break and will return to action against New England in two weeks up at Gillette Stadium to take on the reining Supporter Shield winners.
https://youtu.be/j014tJsz_ik
Match Stats
Final Score: NY 1, CLB 1
Possession: NY 44%, CLB 56%
Shots (On Goal): NY 12 (4), CLB 9 (2)
Fouls: NY 26, CLB 10
Corners: NY 6, CLB 2
Saves: NY 1, CLB 3
Next Game: April 2nd, @ New England, 7:30 PM EST
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