Red Bulls Return To Winning Ways, Beat Toronto FC 1-0

By: Dave Martinez | August 12th, 2010

lindperegoal With Rafa Marquez, Dane Richards, Bouna Coundoul and Roy Miller all out on international duty, the Red Bulls put in a dominating performance against a strong Toronto FC team, taking three points at home, and ending their five game winless streak with a 1-0 victory last night at Red Bull Arena.

The Bulls lineup had a few wrinkles to compensate for the international losses. Danleigh Borman, though a bit unfit, was back in the starting XI, playing left back. Seth Stammler filled in on the right wing, as Macoumba Kandji took on the left. Tony Tchani, meanwhile, played out of position as a central defensive mid. And, of course, Greg Sutton earned his first start of the season.

The story of the game came in one of the most bipolar sequences this team has had all season long. The Red Bulls and their fan base went sent into a tizzy when a perfectly placed goal kick by keeper Greg Sutton split the Toronto center backs, unleashing Thierry Henry one on one against their keeper, Stephen Frey. Henry feigned left, faked the netminder, and was taken down by Frey in the box in a clear penalty call. The result? Play simply continued. As it did so, Macoumba Kandji, who had a great night on both the offensive and defensive end, muscled Julian de Guzman off the ball, springing Joel Lindpere into the attack. Lindpere found Henry at the corner of the box, who weaved his way to a small amount of open space, hit Seth Stammler with a pass, which Stammler sailed perfectly in the path of an onrushing Joel Lindpere in the box for the games only score.

The defense clamped down the rest of the way, lead by an impressive performance by centerback duo Carlos Mendes and Tim Ream, who did well enough to compensate for Borman’s lack of conditioning against a strong and dangerous Dwayne DeRosario and an apparent injury suffered by Greg Sutton late in the game. Their stability allowed the Joel Lindpere and the rest of the midfield to create dangerous opportunities for the forward lines, where Kandji, Henry and Juan Pablo Angel each had excellent showings last night.

Next up? The Los Angeles Galaxy come into town for a sold out affair this weekend. The Bulls are currently 6 points behind the Columbus Crew, with no games in hand, making a victory all the more important. And rumor has it, David Beckham may be in attendance for the festivities! So let the pageantry of the moment begin.

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Central Park Tours

American teams need European power to be able to increase their tactic intellectual.
Karlomabo

where you at bro????? your blog is part of my morning routine!! are you ok... read you later xeneise...
ezbeezy214

Whats goin on here Dave?
RobStyles

Whatsup Dave? Any plans on writing again? I hope all is well. We miss you brother!
Burrman

no post about the Saturday game vs LA so ill say a few words here.

first it was a nice crowd. good to see all the fans come out and the Arena had its moments when it was very loud and it was awesome.

next, Marquez turned the ball over and costs us a goal. I was not impressed with his performance, but ill chalk it up to adjusting to the new team.

last, and what i really wanted to talk about, i think Lindpere needs to play in the middle. Lindpere is one of the Red Bulls top players and he does not see the ball nearly enough on the wing. in the 70th min Tchani was subbed out and Lindpere moved back to middle and it made a difference with the late game push.
baumsquad28

LA's first shot was off a turn over by Marquez. Remember, it beat Bouna but hit the crossbar or post? I agree Burrman, Marquez did not play as well as I expected. He does have great service from free kicks though...
Giuseppe Rosa Nero

I don't know but it may just be me however I felt that Angel was a bit out of it. That one shot he took looked like a reflection until they replayed it. Then I realized he totally BOTCHED it. I love Mendez as he really layer it on them. Kandji made me eat my words; not with his goal scoring but more because of his work rate. He was up and down the line more times than I could have kept track of. Very nice work as a whole. Henry looked so pissed that he has to play on a team of players of such a lower calibre, he looked like a teacher scolding his students the whole entire time he was out there. With Marquez back that should loosten sone slack on him.
Larry K

Three points is three points, but RB missed the internationals. Is Stammler the next Dane Richards. That guy is a close second. He has a brilliant flip pass to Lindpere for the assist, but remember that run he had down the right flank and f'd up the easy easy cross to Henry in the six. And he is still slow to move off his pass into space. Angel should have put Albrights cross on target, really blew that one. Tchani did very well. The defense, except of Borman who was a little shaky, was excellent. John Paul Angry looks like he was reborn. Him and Henry chase defense very nicely. Can't wait for Saturday. I am begging for a win, beggin'.
Brett_Saganiec

I agree with both Baum and Dave on this one. Tchiani did start out a little slow and had moment where he was to relaxed and gave the ball away in dangerous spots. But as the game went on he bacame a force in the middle with Lindpere. It was great to see Tchiani and Lindpere control the middle of the field. Mendes had another solid game as well as Ream. I like the Mendes/Ream combo a whole lot better than the Petke/Ream combo. Though I love Petke, he never got on the same page as Ream like Carlos Mendes has. All in all a great result for RBNY and it was nice to see a keeper who could distribute and take a solid goal kick. But Sutton is still far no Bouna Coundoul between the pipes
JFC

yo dave,

are you ever at the games and i heard they changed the internet connection at RBA. I heard the press is going nuts because its super slow but on a good note i think we played well a couple of missed chances but it was a fun game. did anyone else heckel on conway?
davemartinezny

I am there either in Press (weekdays) or in the crowd (usually). The internet connection thing must have happened since Rafa, cuz when I was there for the Marquez presser, it was still lightning fast.
Baumsquad28

Did anyone else think Tchani was a machine out there? I thought the kid looked great. It seemed like the ball was velcroed to his foot on his first touch, and his passing was great as well. He and Lindpere did a great job locking down the middle of the field. Stammler drifted into help a bit too.
davemartinezny

Actually, I took the opposite out of him. He started the game off slowly, and got better as it went on, but he is more attack minded than a CDM.
Rob

I dont know Dave, I kind of agree with Baum. I dislike Tchani for his indecisiveness, but last night he was a ball-winning machine. Great game aside from the first 10 minutes. How about Seth Stammler's pass? WoW!
davemartinezny

Stammler was beast. Good showing, especially considering the amount of doubt on my mind when I saw him come in.

For the record - I like Tchani's game. Alot. I just feel he needs to be used more on the offensive, which will happen when Marquez comes back.
Cindy

that little flick from Stammler was gorgeous! this is why i love him so much, he may not be the best player ever but he has those moments of brilliance a lot more often than Dane Richards does. also they could literally get away with playing Seth in any position it would seem!
RobStyles

Solid win. I thought Stammler played one of his better games of the season overall. Ubi was a good sub off of the bench and Kandji, hopefully, has cemented himself as the starter on the right when we field our top team. I'm a little surprised at Backe's lack of substitutions considering we have a huge game with LA in 3 days time. I know he was trying to hold onto the lead but Robbo would have been a good option for Tchani and the Salou sub should have been 5-10 mins earlier.