While proximity has had a lot to do with the rivalry between the Red Bulls and the New England Revolution, the play on the field has not. Rarely in their 20-year history have they had sustained success at the same time where the bitterness actually meant something in the standings.
That began to change last season when their Eastern Conference Final series produced quality play, chippiness, suspensions and drama right to the end. If their first meeting of 2015 is any indication, the rivalry has intensified. And this just might be a fun year after all.
The final score was 2-1 Saturday night in Foxborough, Mass., the Red Bulls’ first loss of the season, but while the loss is disappointing, especially in the standings, where the Red Bulls (3-1-4) fell four points behind the Revs and D.C. United, what was gained from the result will benefit the club in the long run.
Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch, coming off two disappointing ties at home, made five changes to the lineup from Wednesday night’s draw with the Colorado Rapids. Three changes to the back line – Kemar Lawrence for Roy Miller, Karl Ouimette for Damien Perrinelle and Conor Lade for Chris Duvall – plus Dane Richards for Lloyd Sam on the right side of midfield. Also, Sean Davis partnered with Dax McCarty in a defensive midfield role, which moved Felipe up to central midfield and slid Sacha Kljestan out to the left. Finally, midfielder Mike Grella moved up to replace Bradley Wright-Phillips in a lone attacking role.
It was the first time Lade, Richards, Ouimette and Davis started a game this season, and it seemed quite a risk by Marsch in such a key division game. And early on it looked like a big mistake.
Just nine minutes into the match, Revs forward Charlie Davies cut inside Red Bulls defender Matt Miazga and headed a cross from the right by London Woodberry past Luis Robles for a 1-0 lead. At that point, the Red Bulls looked disorganized and the new players seemed like they were in over their heads.
But the game settled down. The Red Bulls began to string passes together, gained some confidence and controlled much of the rest of the first half. They were also a bit unlucky not to score. Grella blasted a left-footed shot over the bar in the 38th minute, and Felipe appeared to have won a penalty kick when he was knocked down from behind by Teal Bunbury in the box in the 42nd minute, but referee Mark Geiger signaled play to continue.
A poor start to the second half seemed to put the game out of reach. McCarty lost the ball in the midfield and a nice series of passes by the Revs set up Bunbury in front, and he beat Robles in the 60th minute for a 2-0 lead.
Wright-Phillips and Sam entered the match shortly after and the veterans put in an inspiring final half-hour. A Grella header past the Revs defense enabled Kljestan to break free, move left on goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth and roll the ball into an empty net to cut the deficit in half with 17 minutes to play.
The Red Bulls came within a header over the bar by Wright-Phillips in the 79th minute and a great save by Shuttleworth on a Felipe blast in the 88th minute of gaining at least a point from the match.
“I thought we put everything we had into it and I asked (the players) to empty their tanks,” Marsch said. “We just dug too big of a hole. In both halves we started out a little bit lackluster. … The second half they’re in our end a little bit more and they’re not really creating anything. To come here and give away as little as we did and play on a short week, overall, I thought it was a good performance.
“It was a tough week. We didn’t get all the results we wanted, that’s for sure, but we still have the belief in what we’re doing and I’m proud of the guys. I’m proud of the way they went into this game and competed.”
But there was a bit more competition following the final whistle. A chippy game, heated to the end, resulted in some pushing and shoving. The Revs’ Jermaine Jones was the main culprit, but the scuffling also involved Revs coach Jay Heaps as well as players from both sides.
“Jermaine Jones was being a little cheeky and wanted to be clever and talk a little bit of junk to Felipe and touch his face a little bit, and I didn’t like that,” Kljestan said. “I loved the reaction of our team though. Everybody was over there defending Felipe and defending our colors and that’s the sign of a really good team. I like our group and I’m not too worried.”
Marsch, in his first taste of the Red Bulls-Revolution rivalry, also liked what he saw of his team, not only during the game, but after it as well.
“We didn’t want to back down,” he said “I didn’t like what they were doing at the end of the game. I thought it was wrong. I’m glad our guys stood up for each other and stood up for themselves. We’ll remember this. We’ll tuck this one away and we’ll see them quite a bit down the road.”
Kljestan, whose leadership role on the field and in the clubhouse is beginning to show, was also proud of the effort and response of his team.
“We still have a lot of confidence in the guys that came in and played in the game, and they did well tonight,” he said. “They made a couple of naïve mistakes in the early parts of the first and second half that ended up costing us in the end, but I still have a ton of confidence in our group and I still think we played for the majority of the game down in their end and created chances. We’re disappointed in the result, but overall I’m fairly positive with how the beginning of the season has gone up to this point. I think we’re doing well.”
While thoughts now turn to the first-ever derby between the Red Bulls and New York City FC May 10 at Red Bull Arena, mark July 11 down on your calendars. That’s when the Revolution comes to Red Bull Arena, and don’t expect that anything that happened Saturday night will be forgotten by then.
