he Red Bulls’ home opener on Saturday was a maddening affair, a scoreless draw against archrival D.C. United played in unpleasant conditions with far too many unfinished chances. There were plenty of good things happening on the field but, in the end, not the best thing — a goal.
“You have those days,” new coach Mike Petke said. “It sucks. It sucks to see it unfold and you say, ‘What do we have to do to put the ball in the net?’ We wanted the win. I think we deserved the win. If we were playing a game of statistics, we got three points today.”
As snowflakes fluttered from above, the Red Bulls (0-1-2) dominated possession and field position while wasting one opportunity after another. The Red Bulls outshot United 24-4, and then in extra time, it appeared that Brandon Barklage had certainly nodded home the winner from seven yards.
Barklage even leaped in celebration as the ball headed for inside the far post. But D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid made a remarkable stop on the line. The Red Bulls left the field pleased with their effort, while kicking themselves for this lost opportunity.
“We threw everything at it,” midfielder Tim Cahill said. “The fact is I didn’t put the ball in the back of the net. I take responsibility for that.”
If nothing else, the Red Bulls demonstrated cohesion from back to front lines for the first time this season. Petke kept defender Roy Miller entirely out of the lineup after the Costa Rican’s mental flub last week, when he purposely encroached on a failed penalty kick by the Earthquakes, costing the Red Bulls the match. Miller’s absence did not make hearts grow fonder.
The match this time had a more sensible plot, even though Petke went way off script by suggesting suspensions should be levied against D.C. United (1-1-1) after a match that was physical, but not particularly dirty, and featured zero red cards.
“I would be very surprised if there weren’t some suspensions handed out,” Petke insisted. “We had three guys at halftime with ice on their heads.”
The Red Bulls continued their fruitless siege in the second half, despite those sore heads. Fabian Espindola hit his second crossbar of the match in the 56th minute on a curling shot from outside the box. In the 67th minute, an onrushing Cahill had a golden opportunity from four yards in front of the net on a pass from Jonny Steele. His shot bashed off Hamid, who made a reaction save. A minute later, Cahill’s dangerous header deflected off teammate Thierry Henry near the left post.
All along, the weather was merciless. Temperatures in Harrison hung in the mid-30s, the wind swirled about and then the snow visited again as it had in November, when these two teams tried to play in a blizzard. The ball and pitch were slippery. Although attendance was announced at 22,022, there were far too many empty seats in the arena.
“Another bright, sunny day in New York,” commissioner Don Garber joked. “But at least there are no shovels.”
The league is trying to extend the 34-game season for a few extra days, at the front and back ends, in order to nail down the most attractive weekend dates and avoid conflicts with CONCACAF events. The result in March and November, however, is not always pretty. There was two feet of snow in Denver last week and then this match became a real trial for the wet, chilly spectators.
“We tried,” Garber said, about hoping to avoid these climatic nuisances. “It’s almost an impossible situation.”
