HARRISON, N.J. – For the second straight week, the New York Red Bulls fielded questions as to how they would cope against a dangerous trio of star players. And for the second straight week, they put those concerns to bed, sufficiently handling Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley and Sebastian Giovinco en route to their fifth win in their last six matches.
After containing David Villa, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo just a week prior, the vaunted Red Bulls midfield once again took care of business against slumping Toronto FC who dropped their third result in four matches.
“We showed a lot of video on Giovinco,” Marsch said. “We felt that a big part of the job was to take care of him. Our backs stood him up for the most part even though he was still dangerous at times. We also knew that him and Jozy, their work rate isn’t the best, so we knew we’d be able to find the game a little bit.”
Owning a dominant 60 percent of possession on the night, the Red Bulls were able to limit Toronto’s danger men by putting their midfield under pressure, thus denying service to their high-profile forwards.
“The last few games we’ve played against some very good team and we’ve had very good results,” midfielder Sacha Kljestan said. “That starts from the pressure up top, but the midfield is really our strength and the heartbeat of this team. Dax [McCarty], Felipe and myself have found a very good understanding over the past few months. We’ve gotten a lot better and we’re not easy to play against. You see when good teams with good midfields come in here like Toronto or NYCFC, we limit their chances to play balls forward.”
That stifling midfield not only created chances on the offensive end, but it also helped to keep a notoriously potent Toronto offense off the board.
“Jozy and Giovinco up top are really tough guys to deal with,” captain Dax McCarty explained. “Toronto’s in the top two or three in the league in goals scored, so to get a shutout against them is so important. It’s a big credit to our defense and the guys who came in played fantastic.”
This shutout, in particular, will go down in history. Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles has now surpassed Tony Meola for most shutouts all-time in Metrostars/Red Bulls history after keeping a clean sheet for the 26th time with the Red Bulls,.
“He’s incredible,” defender Connor Lade told MLSsoccer.com. “He deserves every single award he’s gotten, and I think there should be more. Sometimes he flies under the radar, but he’s our brick wall back there. He’s been so huge for us this season and he doesn’t get enough credit. This just solidifies how good of a 'keeper he is and we’re just thankful that he’s behind us.”
Eric Giacometti covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com.
