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Colorado's Conor Casey Double Downs New York
Conor Casey scored two goals as the Colorado Rapids defeated the New York Red Bulls.
May 31, 2009 2:56:35 AM
The visiting Colorado Rapids were able to stave off a late push by the New York Red Bulls to win 3-2 in front of 12,000 fans at Giants Stadium. A two-goal performance by striker Conor Casey, now the leading scorer in the MLS with eight, in addition to a 60th minute penalty from Mehdi Ballouchy, helped secure Colorado’s fourth win of the season and third straight against the New York side.
Entering tonight’s match-up, the Rapids were enjoying a four-game unbeaten run in which they were victorious once and drew three times. Their most recent result was a 2-2 draw against Seattle Sounders at home. Contrarily, New York was capping off a disappointing four-game homestand in which their only victory came against the last place San Jose Earthquakes. Due to their abysmal record on the road thus far (0-4-1), New York entered tonight’s match desperate for a victory as seven of their next nine matches are away from home.
Neither coaches made any major roster changes to their respected sides before the match, however, New York was without midfielder Jorge Rojas, who was serving the second of a two-match ban for a red card against Houston on May 16.
First Half
New York seemed urgent to win and erase their recent disappointments right from the kick off. With fluid passing from the midfield, the Red Bulls seemed to be on the right track to pick themselves out of the Eastern Conference cellar.
New York were on the attacking end of some exciting play during the first ten minutes. Right after the kickoff, team scoring leader Juan Pablo Angel took a good shot from the right side of the box just a few yards from goal, yet his try traveled over the crossbar.
New York’s inefficiency on defense became apparent just moments later, however, as Colorado’s Conor Casey had his own chance to break the tie in the 3rd minute. Casey’s shot, which was taken just a few yards in front of New York goalkeeper Jon Conway, missed wide outside the right post.
The Red Bulls would counter with some more attacking flair. In the 5th minute, Angel had an entertaining run down the right, but had little support and lost possession. Just a few moments later, though, Macoumba Kandji showed his ball-handling skills with five-step crossover on the right side of box, but nothing resulted from this showcase.
The first 20 minutes of the match were controlled handily by the New York side, but two corner kicks for the Rapids in the 11th and 12th minutes would allude to the future success they would achieve from aerial crosses.
After the 20 minute mark, Colorado began to maintain possession and show the discipline that their rivals seemed to lack at certain moments.
A foul by New York’s Dane Richards on Scott Palguta helped the Rapids take the lead in 24th minute. After the free-kick was taken from 30 yards out, neither side was able to maintain possession near the left side of the box until a searching cross by Ballouchy from the penalty area was headed in by Casey just in front of the net. Casey was able to slide himself behind the defense and open up the scoring for the match.
New York could not counter after Casey’s goal as sloppy play from their disorganized defense helped Colorado maintain possession and force multiple corners.
It was obvious that Casey, who scored a hat-trick in Colorado’s 5-4 victory over New York last season, was rattling the Red Bull psyche once again. In fact, he nearly tallied another goal in the 39th when Colin Clark set him up with a wonderful cross which traveled over the penalty area to the right, only to be headed above the far post.
It seemed that Colorado would take their one goal advantage into the locker room for halftime until a Cory Gibbs foul on Dane Richards in the 43rd minute resulted in a penalty, which Angel took. In addition to equalizing the score, Angel earned himself some style points, as the Columbian stutter-stepped and dragged his left foot while taking the shot, faking out keeper Matthew Pickens.
The first half ended at 1-1, with both sides showing potential in the attacking zone.
Second Half
Neither coach made roster changes as both seemingly felt he was still fielding the better side. An exciting attack led by Kandji in the 47th minute, which ended due to a pass to an offside Angel, made it seem that Columbian Juan Carlos Osorio’s side would take the edge in the second half. Regardless, it was Englishman Gary Smith who looked smarter as his star striker, Casey, would once again break the tied scoreline for Colorado.
Casey’s second goal of the game, another header, came in the 48th minute off of a brilliant cross from forward Omar Cummings. After a brief scuffle for the ball near the left side of the box, defender Jordan Harvey was able to slot the ball through two New York defenders to Cummings, who then sent in an angular ball on net. Casey was waiting, untouched, just six yards from goal and easily sent it in, giving Colorado a 2-1 advantage.
Last year’s MLS finalists looked nothing like that squad as the Red Bulls once again lost their hold on the game after Casey’s second goal. New York’s sloppy defense led to an ambitious effort in the 50th minute by Cummings, who sent a laser beam over the crossbar from about 35 yards out.
A 57th minute substitution of midfielder Luke Sassano for defender Alfredo Pacheco saw New York switch to a midfielder centric 3-5-2 formation.
The Rapids would quickly dismantle the new Red Bull set-up, however, and a 58th minute foul by defender Kevin Goldthwaite on Omar Cummings at the top-right edge of the box gave Colorado the opportunity to pull ahead by two. Goldthwaite was awarded a yellow card for dissent as he was arguing that he took Cummings down outside of the box. Regardless, Ballouchy took and converted the spot-kick, giving him his first goal of the 2009 campaign and the Rapids a commanding 3-1 lead.
The next thirteen minutes would prove agonizing for the Red Bull faithful as their side resorted to a dump-and-chase strategy. Colorado’s stellar defense and sound midfield, anchored by captain Pablo Mastroeni, gave New York little chance to reduce their deficit. Nonetheless, a 73rd minute bending free-kick by Angel from about 30 yards out which was poorly played by Pickens, gave midfielder Danleigh Borman, who had just been subbed-in, an easy tap-in on the rebound, halving the deficit and making the score 3-2.
New York failed to score again as the next seventeen minutes saw them undertake a fluid passing schema which was invariably broken up by the Colorado defense. The Red Bulls’ last chance came during extra time in which Kandji was attacking on the left side of box. He would lose the ball, however, after attempting a cut to the left in order to give himself more space to shoot.
The matched ended with the Colorado Rapids claiming victory over the New York Red Bulls by a score of 3-2.
With this victory, Colorado now sits even on points with Seattle in the Western Conference at 16, eight points shy of league leading Chivas USA. Their next match is another road test against Real Salt Lake, who currently have 11 points, this Saturday.
Tonight’s disappointing result for New York keeps them stuck at the bottom of the Eastern Conference table with 9 points; only the Western Conference’s Dallas and San Jose have worse records. The Red Bulls begin their treacherous nine game stretch on the road against D.C. United this Thursday.
Greg Adrouny, Goal.com
For more on Major League Soccer, visit Goal.com’s MLS page.
Entering tonight’s match-up, the Rapids were enjoying a four-game unbeaten run in which they were victorious once and drew three times. Their most recent result was a 2-2 draw against Seattle Sounders at home. Contrarily, New York was capping off a disappointing four-game homestand in which their only victory came against the last place San Jose Earthquakes. Due to their abysmal record on the road thus far (0-4-1), New York entered tonight’s match desperate for a victory as seven of their next nine matches are away from home.
Neither coaches made any major roster changes to their respected sides before the match, however, New York was without midfielder Jorge Rojas, who was serving the second of a two-match ban for a red card against Houston on May 16.
First Half
New York seemed urgent to win and erase their recent disappointments right from the kick off. With fluid passing from the midfield, the Red Bulls seemed to be on the right track to pick themselves out of the Eastern Conference cellar.
New York were on the attacking end of some exciting play during the first ten minutes. Right after the kickoff, team scoring leader Juan Pablo Angel took a good shot from the right side of the box just a few yards from goal, yet his try traveled over the crossbar.
New York’s inefficiency on defense became apparent just moments later, however, as Colorado’s Conor Casey had his own chance to break the tie in the 3rd minute. Casey’s shot, which was taken just a few yards in front of New York goalkeeper Jon Conway, missed wide outside the right post.
The Red Bulls would counter with some more attacking flair. In the 5th minute, Angel had an entertaining run down the right, but had little support and lost possession. Just a few moments later, though, Macoumba Kandji showed his ball-handling skills with five-step crossover on the right side of box, but nothing resulted from this showcase.
The first 20 minutes of the match were controlled handily by the New York side, but two corner kicks for the Rapids in the 11th and 12th minutes would allude to the future success they would achieve from aerial crosses.
After the 20 minute mark, Colorado began to maintain possession and show the discipline that their rivals seemed to lack at certain moments.
A foul by New York’s Dane Richards on Scott Palguta helped the Rapids take the lead in 24th minute. After the free-kick was taken from 30 yards out, neither side was able to maintain possession near the left side of the box until a searching cross by Ballouchy from the penalty area was headed in by Casey just in front of the net. Casey was able to slide himself behind the defense and open up the scoring for the match.
New York could not counter after Casey’s goal as sloppy play from their disorganized defense helped Colorado maintain possession and force multiple corners.
It was obvious that Casey, who scored a hat-trick in Colorado’s 5-4 victory over New York last season, was rattling the Red Bull psyche once again. In fact, he nearly tallied another goal in the 39th when Colin Clark set him up with a wonderful cross which traveled over the penalty area to the right, only to be headed above the far post.
It seemed that Colorado would take their one goal advantage into the locker room for halftime until a Cory Gibbs foul on Dane Richards in the 43rd minute resulted in a penalty, which Angel took. In addition to equalizing the score, Angel earned himself some style points, as the Columbian stutter-stepped and dragged his left foot while taking the shot, faking out keeper Matthew Pickens.
The first half ended at 1-1, with both sides showing potential in the attacking zone.
Second Half
Neither coach made roster changes as both seemingly felt he was still fielding the better side. An exciting attack led by Kandji in the 47th minute, which ended due to a pass to an offside Angel, made it seem that Columbian Juan Carlos Osorio’s side would take the edge in the second half. Regardless, it was Englishman Gary Smith who looked smarter as his star striker, Casey, would once again break the tied scoreline for Colorado.
Casey’s second goal of the game, another header, came in the 48th minute off of a brilliant cross from forward Omar Cummings. After a brief scuffle for the ball near the left side of the box, defender Jordan Harvey was able to slot the ball through two New York defenders to Cummings, who then sent in an angular ball on net. Casey was waiting, untouched, just six yards from goal and easily sent it in, giving Colorado a 2-1 advantage.
Last year’s MLS finalists looked nothing like that squad as the Red Bulls once again lost their hold on the game after Casey’s second goal. New York’s sloppy defense led to an ambitious effort in the 50th minute by Cummings, who sent a laser beam over the crossbar from about 35 yards out.
A 57th minute substitution of midfielder Luke Sassano for defender Alfredo Pacheco saw New York switch to a midfielder centric 3-5-2 formation.
The Rapids would quickly dismantle the new Red Bull set-up, however, and a 58th minute foul by defender Kevin Goldthwaite on Omar Cummings at the top-right edge of the box gave Colorado the opportunity to pull ahead by two. Goldthwaite was awarded a yellow card for dissent as he was arguing that he took Cummings down outside of the box. Regardless, Ballouchy took and converted the spot-kick, giving him his first goal of the 2009 campaign and the Rapids a commanding 3-1 lead.
The next thirteen minutes would prove agonizing for the Red Bull faithful as their side resorted to a dump-and-chase strategy. Colorado’s stellar defense and sound midfield, anchored by captain Pablo Mastroeni, gave New York little chance to reduce their deficit. Nonetheless, a 73rd minute bending free-kick by Angel from about 30 yards out which was poorly played by Pickens, gave midfielder Danleigh Borman, who had just been subbed-in, an easy tap-in on the rebound, halving the deficit and making the score 3-2.
New York failed to score again as the next seventeen minutes saw them undertake a fluid passing schema which was invariably broken up by the Colorado defense. The Red Bulls’ last chance came during extra time in which Kandji was attacking on the left side of box. He would lose the ball, however, after attempting a cut to the left in order to give himself more space to shoot.
The matched ended with the Colorado Rapids claiming victory over the New York Red Bulls by a score of 3-2.
With this victory, Colorado now sits even on points with Seattle in the Western Conference at 16, eight points shy of league leading Chivas USA. Their next match is another road test against Real Salt Lake, who currently have 11 points, this Saturday.
Tonight’s disappointing result for New York keeps them stuck at the bottom of the Eastern Conference table with 9 points; only the Western Conference’s Dallas and San Jose have worse records. The Red Bulls begin their treacherous nine game stretch on the road against D.C. United this Thursday.
Greg Adrouny, Goal.com
For more on Major League Soccer, visit Goal.com’s MLS page.
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