Cunningham Brace Too Much for Red Bulls

Dallas, TX.—A respectable 14,327 people celebrated Independence Day by watching their hometown FC Dallas get a much needed win against the lowly Red Bulls.  The Red Bulls came into the match in last place overall with ten points riding a two month winless streak.  FC Dallas has a less disappointing campaign and with tonight’s win, they now have seventeen points.

Center back Mike Petke returned from a three game suspension, and Captain Juan Pablo Angel returned from injury to bolster the Red Bulls line up.   On the other side of the ball, FC Dallas has to struggle through the next few weeks without star striker Kenny Cooper, who is representing the United States at the Gold Cup.

First Half

Both teams showed promise early on.  In the eighth minute, Angel flicked on to his Cameroonian strike partner, Matthew Mbuta, whose challenge popped the ball back to Angel.  Angel feinted a shot from the top of the box before sliding the ball to his right, finding flashy winger, Nick Zimmerman, who slammed a volley right at FC Dallas goalkeeper Ray Burse.

The home team responded within two minutes.  Colombian midfielder, David Ferreira, found himself unmarked in the center of the box, but his close range header from a Drew Moor cross was handled safely by Danny Cepero.

It became the Jeff Cunningham show in the 15th minute as he exploited the defensive frailties of the Red Bulls to score twice in two minutes.  He first pounced on a poor back pass from Luke Sassano to Mike Petke.  Andrew Boyens came across quickly, but Cunningham ducked by him and slotted the ball calmly into the corner of the goal with his left foot.

Moments later, former Red Bull favorite Dave van den Bergh streaked down the right wing with the ball.  Predictably, the left footer cut the ball back past Danleigh Borman and crossed the ball over three New York defenders at the near post to the back post where Cunningham tapped it in.

The next twenty minutes saw a series of decent chances for both teams, but neither could find the third goal of the match until the 43rd minute, when a patient Red Bulls build up led to their only goal of the match.  Zimmerman collected a long ball wide on the right.  He passed back across the top of the box to Angel, who continued the play to Jorge Rojas.  Danleigh Borman’s adventurous play paid off as he collected the ball on the left and slid a low cross into the six yard box between the back line and the goalkeeper, where Angel was able to bundle the ball over the line.

Second Half

New York started the second half brightly, but Angel’s sharp finish on a counter attack was canceled out by an offside flag.

FC Dallas almost added to the lead in the 57th minute after a sustained attack led to a floating cross from Moor to the far side of the six-yard box.  19-year-old Brek Shea rose highest to knock the ball back in front of goal where David Ferreira fought off Petke to tap the ball towards the far post, but Danny Cepero made a great scrambling save to keep the ball out.

Ferreira continued to prove dangerous to the Red Bulls defense ten minutes later when he received a ball on the top right of the box.  His fierce near post shot was batted down by Cepero and the rebound was cleaned up.  The Colombian came close only a minute later, when he just missed the goal from 30 yards out.

The Red Bull’s last chance to get something out of the match came on a counter attack in the 83rd minute.  Angel collected the ball from substitute John Wolyniec just inside the Dallas half.  He turned and slotted a weighted lead pass back to Wolyniec.  As he reached the ball at the top of the box, Wolyniec tried a left footed shot towards the near upper corner, but Ray Burse proved his equal, knocking the rebound wide.

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