TORONTO - Despite struggling, being outplayed and trailing by a goal at the half, Claudio Reyna was confident.
"At halftime we really felt good in here that we were going to do something," the New York Red Bulls captain said. "We went out there for one thing - to win the game."
Perhaps Reyna's confidence also had something to do with having Juan Pablo Angel as a teammate. In the span of three minutes, the Colombian international turned the game around, virtually securing three points away from home by himself Wednesday night at BMO Field as the Red Bulls claimed a 2-1 victory against Toronto FC.
In other words, it's exactly what the Red Bulls expect from the guy who scored 44 league goals for Aston Villa of the English Premiership.
"His quality is here to see. As soon as we signed him I knew he would score loads of goals in this league," Reyna said. "He's a great professional, a great team player and he cares more about winning than his two goals."
Angel leveled on 69 minutes on a free kick that was a stroke of brilliance. Even before he bent a 25-yard free kick over the Toronto FC wall and past a helpless and motionless Srdjan Djekanovic, he knew he evened the score at 1-1.
"Yes, I knew that it was going to go in," he said. "I hit it well and it was the right pace and the right angle. I had just one chance and sometimes you put it in the stands and today it went straight to goal."
Taylor Graham would find out soon enough, too. But his first thought was on protecting his face.
"I was actually standing at the end of the wall trying to block the goalie's vision, hoping he wasn't going to hit me and sure enough I just turned and looked over my shoulder and the goalie didn't even move," he said. "It was brilliant and that's he's here for. Not many people in the world can do that, so hats off to him."
Had they not been upset over the controversial foul called on Andrew Boyens on Jozy Altidore that led to the set piece, the raucous crowd would have sat in stunned silence.
And when Angel followed inside of three minutes by tapping Dave van den Bergh's deflected cross in for his second goal on the night and sixth in five games, BMO Field erupted, showering Angel and his teammates celebrating by the corner flag with beer.
It was a stunning turnaround for a Red Bulls team that looked disorganized and was outplayed in the first half. Reyna, Angel and Markus Schopp, who filled in at right back, in particular struggled in the opening 45 minutes, Red Bulls boss Bruce Arena said.
But that changed after halftime.
"In the second half they were all very good," Arena said. "I was pleased by that."
With three defenders and one goalkeeper out of the starting lineup to injury, in addition to a suspended Clint Mathis, there was extra pressure on the central defense pair of Carlos Mendes and Graham to step up, especially after being torched by Eddie Johnson for a hat trick Saturday and facing Toronto's dangerous duo of Jeff Cunningham and Danny Dichio.
"We have confidence in each other. I knew Taylor could come in and do the job. He's a good player," Mendes said. "I think he has confidence in me. It was tough for him to come in at halftime against K.C. But overall today it was good effort by the whole team."
Added Graham: "There was no place to go but up after the second half of the Kansas City game. We took a lot of extra incentive to make sure everything was right today. The combination of Dichio and Cunningham is one of the toughest in the league; they play off each other well. Carlos did a great job. I read off him and [Jeff] Parke came in and did a great job."
The win was especially critical for the Red Bulls, coming off a disappointing 3-2 loss at Kansas City and with a difficult match at D.C. United on the horizon Sunday, the club's third game in eight days.
"After 10 games to have 20 points I think is pretty good and we can play better," Arena said. "We need to get healthier, get all of our players in form and get better with each and every game. Obviously the next game at D.C. is going to be a very difficult one."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
