E. RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Having secured 10 out of a possible 12 points to start the season, the New York Red Bulls enjoyed the best start in club history and were riding high one week ago.
But in a span of eight days, the Red Bulls blew a late two-goal lead at Real Salt Lake, were eliminated from the U.S. Open Cup by the Los Angeles Galaxy, and then Sunday afternoon suffered their first loss of the MLS season, falling to the Colorado Rapids 1-0 at Giants Stadium on a first-half goal from Nicolas Hernandez.
New York went from unbeaten in five matches to winless in their last three in all competitions. Meanwhile, the Rapids bounced back nicely from a 3-1 loss to defending MLS Cup champion Houston to tie RSL and beat New York in less than 72 hours.
Red Bulls manager Bruce Arena was forced to tweak his lineup after captain Claudio Reyna strained his groin in training Saturday. Dema Kovalenko and Seth Stammler played in the middle of the park, while Clint Mathis played behind Juan Pablo Angel, the lone striker, who was making his regular season debut. Dave van den Bergh wore the captain's armband.
Ankle injuries to goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus and defender Hunter Freeman kept them off the field and they were replaced by Jon Conway and Tim Regan, both making their first regular season starts of the season.
The game's only goal came in the 24th minute on a beautiful buildup through the midfield. Kyle Beckerman stripped rookie Dane Richards and hit Herculez Gomez with a pass down the left side of the field.
Gomez played a perfect ball inside the box that Hernandez chipped past Jon Conway. It was the first time in the regular season that the Red Bulls trailed in a game.
Carelessness then nearly led to a second Colorado goal when a sloppy and soft pass from van den Bergh back to Conway was nearly intercepted by Gomez inside the 18-yard box.
The Red Bulls had a golden opportunity to tie the game in the 48th minute as Richards ran down the right side, sent a cross to the far post corralled by van den Bergh. Two passes later, Angel had a shot at the open net, but his attempt was cleared off the line by Dan Gargan.
Mathis found space down the let side and cut the ball back to Richards, who tried to chip Bouna Coundoul. But the Rapids 'keeper dived to his left to make the stop in the 57th minute. On the play, Greg Vanney suffered a left ankle sprain and was replaced by Chris Wingert on the hour mark.
Two minutes later Colorado nearly made it 2-0, but Roberto Brown sent Gomez's cross wide to Conway's left. The Red Bulls then had a chance to equalize in the 70th minute as Angel laid the ball off for substitute Sinisa Ubiparipovic. But the rookie, who came on at the start of the second half for Regan, put the ball directly into the arms of Coundoul from 25 yards out.
Three minutes later, Richards sent a cross to the far post for an open van den Bergh, but the Dutch winger's bouncing shot was saved easily by Coundoul, who made seven saves to earn his second clean sheet of the year.
Jozy Altidore came on the 77th minute, replacing defender Carlos Mendes as the Red Bulls pushed numbers forward in an attempt to net the equalizer. At the same time, Ugo Ihemelu replaced Terry Cooke as Colorado tried to kill the game.
Richards had one last chance, but his shot from the right of Coundoul was gobbled up by the goalkeeper in the third minute of stoppage time.
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
