Match Thoughts: New York Red Bulls vs. San Jose Earthquakes

The San Jose Earthquakes celebrate their first goal against Red Bulls (Getty Images)

Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake got most of the hype heading into this weekend's slate of MLS action, and rightly so.  However, just below them on the radar was this match:  The New York Red Bulls vs. San Jose Earthquakes.  Both of these teams came in near the head of their respective conferences, and the match featured the three leading scorers in MLS thus far: New York's Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper, and San Jose's Chris Wondolowski

The match had a lot of potential for some fireworks, and indeed, it provided them, at least in the first half.. There were goals galore, pitiful defense, crunching tackles, and plenty of controversy generated by NY's Rafa Marquez.  The only thing this match lacked was San Jose's "Sideshow" Lenhart.

The Red Bulls got off to the brighter start, and continued their habit of scoring goals early in matches.  In the 5th minute Henry and Cooper got together to get New York on the board.  Henry put a ball into Cooper, who deftly timed his run in behind the the Quakes' defense.  The defenders and John Busch all stood there with their hands up calling for offside as Cooper (who replays showed was indeed onside) easily slipped in the goal to make it 1-0 to the Red Bulls.

Then the see-saw nature of the match became evident.  San Jose responded well to going down a goal.  Wondolowski picked up the ball after a NY turnover in the 15th minute and went up the pitch, passing over to Khari Stephenson.  Stephenson, alone in space, slipped the ball over to Rafael Baca, who also had worked in behind the Red Bulls defense, and beat Ryan Meara to equalize at 1-1.  This time it was the Red Bulls standing around looking for an offside call that never came.

After that, things swung back in favor of the New York Red Bulls.  They regained the lead in the 22nd off the foot of Dax McCarty.  Dane Richards totally burned Ramiro Coralles in the San Jose end and sent a low centering pass into McCarty.  Cooper got a little touch, but it fell to Dax, and he volleyed it home to give the Red Bulls the 2-1 lead.

All was not well for the Red Bulls though, as once again San Jose responded.  In the 35th minute Steven Beitashour sent a cross into the Red Bulls area.  Shea Salinas flicked it on to Wondolowski, who put the ball in with a nice diving header to make it 2-2.

Controversy brewed up at the end of the half though.  Right before the the break, the Quakes set up for a corner.  As the ball came in, Rafa Marquez tackled Salinas, NFL style, and drove him right into the ground.  He followed it up with a not so accidental boot to Salinas' head.  The play resulted in a broken collarbone for Salinas.  No infringement was given but it should have been at least a penalty kick.  It will be interesting to see if MLS takes a look at the play and hands down any post match punishment on Marquez later this week.

The fireworks subsided in the second half as both teams seemed to succumb to tired legs.  There weren't many chances to speak of.  Henry got a shot on goal late, but Jon Busch made a nice save to preserve the 2-2 tie, which was the full time result.  In the end, I'm sure the Quakes were much happier with it than the Red Bulls were.