When you need three points and have a 2-1 lead with 20 minutes to play, a draw just won't do. The New York Red Bulls came away from their 2-2 draw Wednesday at Kansas City still in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings and still one point behind the Wizards.
"Most likely we are going to have to pass them in the standings if we are going to make the playoffs. Stealing three points from them (in Kansas City) would go a long way toward that," Red Bulls forward John Wolyniec said. "One point is not bad considering we're on the road, but we can't let three points escape us when we have a chance to grab them."
And the way the Wizards tied the game was annoying, especially to goalkeeper Tony Meola.
"It was disappointing with the way they were gifted the points at the end. Yeah, that part was disappointing," Meola said. "Neither team was super, but there was no way we should be losing points."
Josh Wolff's goal in the 71st minute tied the game. Wolff deflected a left-wing cross from Jose Burciaga Jr., into the Red Bulls goal from point-blank range. Television replays appeared to show more than one player in an offside position and the referee's assistant raising his flag for offside.
Meola trotted over to the referee's assistant to appeal, but referee Marcel Yonan broke up the meeting.
"The linesman put his flag up and stopped. We have to do a better job, maybe of continuing with the play but we've been told they would wait and then put the flag up," Meola said. "(The referee) had no explanation. He said (the assistant referee) only put his flag halfway up. That's what he told us."
Coming off their six-goal explosion Saturday against Real Salt Lake, the Red Bulls attacked effectively enough to at least come close to that goal total again.
Wolyniec scored in the 30th minute to tie the game after Scott Sealy put the Wizards ahead in the 28th minute. Wolyniec had two other shots stopped by good goalkeeping by the Wizards' Bo Oshoniyi.
"Bo's been around the league a long time. He is a smart 'keeper. He knows to be smart with his positioning. He was in the right place at the right time," Wolyniec said.
Wolyniec was not the only Red Bulls player who had a good chance to add to the squad's goal total in the game.
"We had plenty of chances to score. If you get two goals on the road, I think it's a good chance to win, especially if you are leading 2-1 in the second half," Wolyniec said. "We should have closed it out, but we stopped playing, stopped moving around the ball. We let them play. They are a good enough team that if you keep letting them knock the ball around they have talented played up front. They are going to get one if you keep giving them chances."
The Red Bulls will meet the Wizards one final time on the final day of the season. It might be a one-game showdown for a playoff spot.
Last season, the Red Bulls edged the Wizards out of a playoff spot on the final day of the season.
"There are still a lot of games to be played," Wolyniec said. "The good points are we played good offensive soccer at times and created a lot of chances."
Robert Whitman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
