At the very end of an evenly fought first half the Red Bulls Elias Manoel chipped DC United’s keeper Alex Bono to set the tone for the remainder of the game. His precision shot from near midfield stood in contrast with the sloppiness of United’s passing in the second half.
I asked Bono about his keeper/sweeper forward play early in the season and he expressed that it allowed the remainder of the team to play more aggressively into the opponent’s half and that it was worth the risk. The team’s overall performance has been enhanced and perhaps the risk is worthwhile in the long term despite Wednesday’s turn of events.
United had displayed increasingly crisp and accurate passing during the past month’s games as they appeared to round into mid-season shape. On Wednesday they simply lost it. Coach Troy Lesesne said that it was not for lack of effort, however, “We didn’t really play up to our standard. The standard I think that we’ve been creating the last few weeks.”
He credited the Red Bulls for some of DC’s disarray and went on, “When you have Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday like this for the last three weeks, we can feel good about our performance and then tonight doesn’t just erase all that – – – we’re building still. And we can recognize through that build that tonight was a setback. – – – We have to get back to the ways that we need to give ourselves a chance to compete for three points on Saturday versus Miami.”
Given Christian Benteke’s hat trick in the preceding game, it was natural to expect an increased emphasis on the long balls from Bono and others that so frequently found him winning the ball. It appeared that the Red Bulls were deliberately foreclosing the other options down the right via Mateusz Klich, Aaron Herrera, and Jared Stroud.
Lesesne felt, “I can’t really speak for them (Red Bulls) and what their match plan was, but, I do think that those three players didn’t come into the game like they typically do. They’re really influential, and whenever we have our best performances, those three guys are really getting things going for us.”
Jackson Hopkins, who played strongly in midfield, agreed with his coach, “We’ve made a lot of progress in the past month with Seattle. Atlanta and – – – Philly – – – we built some great stuff.” On the quick turnaround to face Miami, he is, “Excited. Some of the best players ever signed up for that team. – – – So, it’ll be cool to play down there.”
The rapidly maturing youngster displayed leadership when he quickly intervened in the 20th minute to pull Benteke away from a confrontation that nearly earned the captain a caution. Fortunately for both sides referee Rubiel Vazquez displayed no cards on the night. At times it seemed he might lose some control of the match but managed to contain emotions with personality.
The team’s play reminds one of Sisyphus and his rock, steady progress, and optimism, only to have the rock slip away. They face a herculean task Saturday when they face league-leading Miami away. If they can balance their outlet play by using shorter options down the wings and through the middle where Hopkins and Klich have displayed some skill, they might have a chance to upset Miami.
