TORONTO – The disappointment within the New York Red Bulls locker room was palpable.
Entering a match in which a result would lock up the Eastern Conference’s top spot and a win would further buoy their Supporters’ Shield hopes, New York will return home empty-handed wondering what went wrong after falling 2-1 to playoff-bound Toronto FC.
“It’s always hard to put your finger on it,” goalkeeper Luis Robles said after the loss. “I’ve been in enough games like that where lethargy seems so apparent, and it’s hard to break out of it. When we look at this game, we’re going to know that we lost an opportunity to advance, but we have to use it as fuel and a lesson going forward.”
Missing two key starters from their lineup in Lloyd Sam and Matt Miazga, the Red Bulls never truly managed to find their stride on the night. Winger Gonzalo Veron failed to have an effect on the game, and defender Ronald Zubar committed a costly gaffe that lead to the match’s opening tally from Herculez Gomez. Yet head coach Jesse Marsch wasn’t quick to point the finger at one or two performances. Instead, the whole of the team drew his scorn.
“I wouldn’t single out anybody; I would single out everybody,” Marsch said. “Every single guy that started the game – 11 guys – were not good enough, and it led to our downfall.
“They wanted it more tonight. We didn’t show urgency, we didn’t show desire, we didn’t win the 50-50 battles. We came in second so many times tonight. Credit to Toronto, but very disappointing from us. I feel like that’s one of the first nights where that’s been the case. At this point in the season to not understand what big games are like, that’s disappointing.”
After a first half that saw very few chances for either side, Toronto came out and dictated the play in the second 45, scoring just six minutes after returning to the pitch. Matters only got worse once MVP frontrunner Sebastian Giovinco entered the fray, producing a match-winning wonder-goal despite being on the field for just 20 minutes.
“Toronto got the better of us because they were more up for the challenge,” midfielder Sacha Kljestan said. “The conditions aren’t great, it was a very fast field on a windy night, and you can tell that they wanted to slow the game down at all costs and we want to play fast. Difficult game, bad result, but we have a couple of games left to get on the right foot heading into the playoffs.”
- Get more RBNY news at NewYorkRedBulls.com
The Red Bulls, who still sit atop the East five points clear of now-second-place TFC, will have a chance to bounce back rather quickly as the team returns to the pitch on Sunday afternoon to play host to the Philadelphia Union. And after a night in which there were very few positives, the short week could well prove to be a bright spot.
“It’s very important to get back to our winning ways,” New York goal-scorer Shaun Wright-Phillips said. “Sunday is now a really, really important game. We let this one slide, so now we have to get back to the place we just left.”
