The challenge for the New York Red Bulls came at halftime. It was from coach Mo Johnston and the PG version is that he wanted his team to show more heart, more desire.
And while it wasn't pretty -- and downright scary in the final 10 minutes of the game -- the Red Bulls managed to hold onto a lead and win their second game of the year, beating the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 at Giants Stadium on Saturday night.
"I think we can't just win games with fight, with big heart, with big other things," Youri Djorkaeff said. "Sometimes you have to keep in control with your head."
Rather than take the lead and squander it, this time the Red Bulls played from behind for just the second time this year. Both of their wins have come at home, and both have come against teams that call The Home Depot Center home.
"Overall we got off to a slow start and had a better second half and closed out the game better, which we needed to do," Carlos Mendes said. "We've been giving up leads and it was good to finish it off strong."
Johnston has stressed to his team to be better on the ball, to keep possession, especially when they have a lead. It wasn't quite Holland's "Total Football," but it was an improvement over past games.
And one reason for that improvement was Mike Magee, who played for the first time since May 24. Magee, who has been sidelined with hand surgery and a bothersome ankle, replaced Mark Lisi, who has been suffering from an abdominal strain. Magee entered the game in the 56th minute and was a calming influence in the middle with Danny O'Rourke.
"He wins a lot of balls and does a lot of the dirty work," Magee said of O'Rourke. "If he's doing all work, that leaves me to string some passes together."
But things weren't all rosy with the Red Bulls. There was a concern over not closing the game out. Twice Djorkaeff had chances and once he placed the ball wide to Kevin Hartman's left and the other time he was swallowed up by the Galaxy defense.
"Usually Youri sticks that one in the corner," Johnston said. "Another time, Youri took the ball and tried to do too much with a ball that usually he sticks in the goal. Sometimes people miss chances but we came away with three points."
Johnston also wanted to get a more consistent effort from the forward pairing of Edson Buddle and Jean Philippe Peguero, although they did score the two Red Bulls goals after the Galaxy took the lead in the 25th minute.
"I sat both of them down this week and told them that they're an exciting partnership," Johnston said. "But for me, it's 90 minutes. There were times in the game that we didn't have that, but there were times in the game where you could see they are very explosive."
That was evident in that 69-second stretch midway through the first half. First it was Buddle, who scored his first goal since capitalizing on a Troy Perkins gaffe on opening day in D.C. Djorkaeff played an exquisite ball that landed on Buddle's foot and the New Rochelle, N.Y., native chipped Hartman to level the score.
Peguero then scored his sixth goal of the year, finishing a give-and-go with Seth Stammler in the 28th minute. It was the third time in club history when New York scored one minute apart. On May 27, 2000, it was Clint Mathis and Steve Jolley and on August 18, 1998, Giovanni Savarese scored a late brace against Colorado.
More importantly though, the Red Bulls held onto the lead, got a win and are out of last place in the Eastern Conference standings. After Chicago's loss and New England's tie, the Red Bulls are tied for fourth place with the New England Revolution.
"We definitely needed a win, we've had a lot of tied games, not finishing games out," Magee said. "We were just missing that taste right there. Now that we got it, hopefully we can go from there and win a couple more."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
