That sound you hear coming from the Garden State just might be the beginning of a goalkeeping controversy.
With starter Tony Meola sidelined with a bacterial infection in his ankle and foot, Jon Conway has stepped in and led the New York Red Bulls to three consecutive shutouts for the first time in 10 years.
And now that Meola is off the injury report, who will start when the Red Bulls play Dynamo on Saturday night in Houston?
Interim coach Richie Williams isn't saying, but he'll probably go with the hot 'keeper in the Red Bulls final MLS game before the All-Star break. After that, who knows -- but one thing Williams does believe is that competition is good.
"It's a good problem to have when you have two guys who are very good goalkeepers," Williams said.
With a defense that has limited its mistakes and a 'keeper who has come up big when needed, the Red Bulls have shot up the Eastern Conference table thanks to three wins in eight days. They went from sixth to third and are just two points behind second-place New England.
"It's not my decision, it's a coach's decision and whatever goes, goes," said Conway, who is 4-0-1 with a 1.00 goals against average as a starter this year. "I just go in there and do my job and I think I've been doing that. Obviously I don't think it's fair for a person to lose their position because of injury so we'll see how things go."
If Williams starts Conway Saturday, then that decision will be passed on to Bruce Arena, who takes over as head coach Aug. 7 and who has a long history with Meola, going back to the University of Virginia.
"It was unfortunate what happened with Tony, he's been very good for us this year and Jon's come in and done a very good job," Williams said. "They've both done very well and we'll make a decision tomorrow on who's going to be starting and in no way does that means whoever starts is necessarily the No. 1 goalie for the rest of the year."
With Youri Djorkaeff still away from the team because of personal reasons and Jean Philippe Peguero's transfer to Danish side Brondby finalized, Mike Magee will again be a big key to the Red Bulls attack. The transplanted forward has three goals and scored the game winner against Kansas City last Saturday and he's a better compliment than Peguero was to Edson Buddle.
"At times Edson and Pedro [Peguero] have done the same things, whether it was checking for the same balls or try and make the same play on the field," Williams said. "Mike is different and I think that is a positive. Mike has a good understanding of the game and he's done well."
But as well as the Red Bulls are playing, there are some very real concerns about playing Houston. Dynamo saw their 10-game unbeaten streak come to an end Wednesday at Colorado. But Houston is lethal in the attacking third with Brian Ching, Dwayne DeRosario and Brad Davis.
"They definitely have a bunch of really good players," Williams said. "We talked about needing to make it hard on them and playing well defensively as a group to limit their opportunities to goal."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Majore League Soccer or its clubs.
