MONTCLAIR, N.J. - It's official. After four missed penalty kicks, including one in the first half of a U.S. Open Cup play-in game against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Tuesday night, Bruce Arena is concerned.
It started in the preseason, when Claudio Reyna and Dave van den Bergh missed from the spot in exhibition matches. It carried over to the regular season, when Clint Mathis' attempt was saved by Houston's Pat Onstad and continued Tuesday when Jozy Altidore was denied by Steve Cronin.
"That can't be the story of this game, who's going to take the next penalty," Arena said. "It is once we miss the next one. The odds are we're going to make the next penalty kick. We should make the next 80 actually."
So who's next?
"I think Juan Pablo is next up. He's next and then me," said Reyna. "It shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully it's not some mental thing that creeps onto the team, but we need to score them. We're getting PKs, which shows we're getting in the box and being dangerous. Now we just have to put them away. It's as simple as that."
One thing is for certain: whoever takes the next attempt from the spot won't take it softly.
"The lads had the courage to take them and we've had a bad run at the moment, but eventually it will change, either with the same lads who missed them or anyone else," Angel said. "But it will change."
What Arena isn't worried about is that the Red Bulls have allowed six goals in the past two games - including three in extra time at The Home Depot Center on Tuesday - after opening the season with 360 consecutive scoreless minutes.
"Two were penalty kicks, two were offside so it's not as bad as it looks," Arena said of the goals the Red Bulls allowed in a 3-3 league draw at Real Salt Lake and a 3-1 Open Cup loss against the Galaxy. "After the 90 minutes in L.A., fatigue was just going to be there and we were going to break down a little bit and we did."
And, as Arena pointed out, the Open Cup game was scoreless at the end of regulation.
"I count that as a very good fitness workout, the L.A. game," he said.
The Red Bulls will play their third game in eight days when they play host to Colorado at Giants Stadium on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. The Rapids are in a similar boat, having played at home last Saturday against Houston and at Salt Lake Thursday night. So fatigue, according to Arena, is not an issue.
"I'd really be concerned if our opponent had a week off, but our opponent is dealing with the same issues," he said. "If we use that as an excuse, we're pretty foolish."
What is a bit worrisome for the Red Bulls is the injury bug that has struck the backline. Goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus sprained his left ankle against Salt Lake and is listed as questionable. Jon Conway started the Open Cup match for Waterreus, who didn't train Friday.
Right back Hunter Freeman will miss Sunday's match, also with a left ankle sprain suffered against the Galaxy. Versatile Seth Stammler will likely slide back to fill the void on the right, especially since there appears to be a logjam in the midfield.
What will be intriguing is to see how Arena plans to utilize Altidore, Mathis and Angel, who will make his MLS debut against the Rapids. The Colombian international, who arrived on a free transfer from English Premiership side Aston Villa, received his work permit Monday. He came on in the 62nd minute and scored on a free kick in the 109th minute.
"It was great for him to get some game training in and some match practice because he's been itching to get on," Reyna said of Angel. "He was very desperate to play the first game in Salt Lake, but you can see the quality he has already. He's only going to get sharper."
As for Angel, he was happy to finally get on the field and is anxious to make his Giants Stadium debut Sunday.
"It was all right to get a few minutes on the field, to get to know the players even though I have trained a few times now. It was great just to get involved and obviously to score," Angel said. "The result was a little bit disappointing, but it was good. I wanted to get as much minutes as I can just to get used to the league, get used to the team. The players will get used to me eventually as well."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
