Red Bulls Fail

I apologize for the bluntness of the title, but that is the simple truth and there is no way around it. Regardless of what happens in the final stretch of the season, the Red Bulls campaign this year has been a failure. It is unacceptable that the Red Bulls have only won six games thus far out of the twenty five that have been played. To put that into perspective, only TFC, Chicago, the Revs,  San Jose and Vancouver have fewer wins so far this year. There’s really no other way to put it other than that based on the quality within the squad – the Red Bulls have definitely underperformed this season.

While they still sit in third place in the Eastern Conference, they are only one point ahead of DC, whose is currently in sixth place and has also played three fewer games than the Red Bulls. Now who knows exactly what will happen in the final portion of the season. The Red Bulls are still certainly in contention to claim a playoff spot, but in reality it won’t really matter if the Red Bulls qualify for the playoffs or not. Obviously it would be better for the team to make it to the playoffs and perhaps even make some type of run in the playoffs – they certainly have the ability and potential to – but even this would not compensate for the mediocrity that has plagued the team for such prolonged stretches this year.

It was this mediocrity that again was present on Saturday night. After Thierry Henry got things started early with a well taken goal in the 9th minute it appeared that the Red Bulls might have put on a show for the sell out home crowd. That, unfortunately, was not to be the case as a strong response from Chicago got them back into the game, eventually seeing them take a 2-1 lead into halftime. It is this type of half that is unacceptable for the Red Bulls. Having gone up early playing at home, the Red Bulls should have put the nail in the coffin, really getting after Chicago and trying to put the game to bed before halftime. Now they probably couldn’t have completely ensured a result by the half, but if they really put Chicago under pressure and took the game to them, they could have perhaps had a 2-0 lead going into halftime against a deflated Chicago team. Instead though, the Red Bulls opened the door for Chicago to get themselves back in the game, and were ultimately meant to pay. Despite the fact that the Red Bulls probably didn’t deserve to go into halftime losing, that is what can happen when you don’t kill your opponent off when you have the chance. 

To be fair the Red Bulls did do a good job of getting themselves back in the game in the second half. However that being said, a loss at home to Chicago probably would have raised some serious questions for the Red Bulls and Backe, so at least they were able to take something from the match. Again though, in addition to just talent, it is necessary to have a degree of desire and bite within a team to be successful. On numerous occasions this year, including against the Fire on Saturday night, the Red Bulls have not had enough of this intrinsic quality to kill off teams when they put themselves in good positions. How many times have we seen the Red Bulls surrender leads this year, which ultimately cost them points? Certainly this number is far too high for a team that should be considered one of the top teams in all of the MLS. Overall it was a familiar, frustrating game for the Red Bulls. At this point though, the focus should be directed on trying to make the best out of the season that still remains, which will hopefully see the team claim a spot in the playoffs. The Red Bulls hit the road again next weekend as they travel to Foxboro to take on the Revs on Saturday. On paper this game is definitely a winnable game. However as we have seen with the Red Bulls, their games frequently don’t end up as they would appear on paper. Hoping for three points and a strong performance from the first minute to the last, but we will see on Saturday.

(image courtesy of Getty Images)