So in my "Puddle's MLS Preview" last week, I kinda called out Thierry Henry. Me and a lot of other people that watch MLS. He promptly went out and scored a goal, played really well, and led his team to victory. Would he continue his run against DC United, or would CD9 and company spoil the show for Red Bulls?
Well, they might have, had they actually showed up. I'm sure United was determined to give the Red Bulls more of a game than the Quakes did last week, but it just never materialized. Davies, Pontius, Fred, and many others had a great game for DC last week, but Davies was really the only one who showed up tonight.
New York was on the front foot from the first minute, when Luke Rodgers hit a shot that Bill Hamid had to save right off the bat. It was just a taste of what was to come. The first ten minutes were a little disjointed on both sides, but it looked like NY was having the edge. They showed that edge in the 12th minute when Jan Solli sent a gorgeous cross into the box that found it's way on Thierry Henry's head and into the back of the net giving the Red Bulls a 0-1 lead. Welcome back Thierry.
Over the next 20 minutes or so, DC tried to respond. In fact, at one point they held an edge in possession 61-39 percent. However the final touch, and sometimes the second to final touch, often eluded them. Their best look could have come from a great run by Charlie Davies, but he was incorrectly ruled offside. For all of the pressure DC exerted, they didn't equalize, and that proved fatal.
NY took advantage of the DC failures, and a porous DC defense again before the half. Honestly, DC failed to mark Henry all night. They paid for it in the 12th and they paid for it again in the 37th, when Henry waltzed to the net and poked in a loose ball and put NY up 0-2 going into the half time break.
During the half time break, DC United made an odd substitution. Ben Olsen subbed out Dax McCarty for Branko Boskovic. The weirdest thing about that was that midfield space had been a problem for DC, so why take Dax out? Commentary suggested that it was to try to get offense out of Boskovic, but it didn't work. Still, it was like Davies was the only person on the pitch for DC, and his teammates were just standing around watching him, to his obvious frustration. His night ended early, as he was subbed out in the 59th minute.
The rest of the game was all Red Bulls and they scored two outstanding goals. The first was by Joel Lindpere in he 75th minute. He took a ball from Henry, made a nifty move around the clueless DC defense, and slotted a great goal. That would have been the goal of the week candidate from this match, but there was one more goal to go. Teen sensation and new US International Juan Agudelo had entered in the 70th minute, and showed his quality in the 2nd minute of stoppage time. Solli put a cross into the 18 along the ground, Agudelo flicked it up with his foot, then shot it out of midair into the net. One of the greatest goals I've seen and I'll never forget it. NY won the match 0-4,
For NY Red Bulls, it's awesome to see Henry coming into form, 2 goals and an assist tonight. Red Bulls look to be on fire, even though DeRo was totally quiet tonight. They look to be tough, and Agudelo....WOW.
This was, or at least should be, a wake up call for DC United. A lot of people were ready to say they're back after a decent start, but lets face it, they got lucky with a controversial PK against LA, and TFC, well, not everybody in MLS is TFC. Davies was great but he can't be the whole team. DC United has a lot of work to do.
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