Things were bouncing the New York Red Bulls' way as they approached halftime against Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center on Saturday night.
Midway through the first stanza, midfielder Dave van den Bergh sent a cross into the Chivas USA penalty area and, despite skipping past his teammates, the ball nevertheless wound up inside the goal to give the Red Bulls a 1-0 lead.
The Red Bulls continued to pressure the Chivas USA defense and midfielder Dane Richards just missed a breakaway opportunity on the Chivas USA goal.
It all fell apart moments before the intermission, however. Red Bulls defender Kevin Goldthwaite dribbled the ball unopposed on the left flank deep inside his own defensive half before sending a soft pass back across the top of the penalty area towards Jeff Parke. Parke, however, did not see the pass and jogged right past the ball as it rolled behind him. Chivas USA forward Ante Razov seized the opportunity and raced towards the loose ball before hitting a shot past an onrushing Jon Conway to tie the game at 1-1.
The score stood and with it the Red Bulls missed a chance to sweep its season series against Chivas USA and move into third place in the Eastern Conference standings.
"When you go up in a place like this against a tough opponent and you have a chance to take the lead into the second half but you give up a childish goal like we did, you're disappointed," Van den Bergh said.
Osorio was equally upset at the result.
"I'm very disappointed," he said. "We could have made better decisions and we let them off the hook by giving them that goal. After that it was just a sloppy game. There are many things that you can say about the goal and miscommunication is one of them."
In the time leading up to the goal, the Red Bulls were consistently pressuring Chivas USA, with Richards the main threat.
On two consecutive plays the speedy midfielder got past Chivas USA defenders. On the second one, Jonathan Bornstein was forced to commit a foul, setting up the Red Bulls' ensuing goal.
Van den Bergh took the ensuing free kick and sent a pass into the Chivas USA area. The ball sailed past a lunging Goldthwaite and a stationary Brad Guzan, who was positioned to defend the shot.
"If somebody gets a head on it it's always on target and if it skips, we try to aim for the second post," Van den Bergh said. "It skipped and even a great goalie like Guzan couldn't make the save."
The goal proved to be the last highlight of the night for the Red Bulls -- save two great stops by Conway in the second half.
"We had the game in hand but a little bit of complacency set in after we went up 1-0," Richards said. "I got behind them a lot in the first half but I have nothing to show for it. One more goal would have put the game away."
Added Van den Bergh: "Usually when you give up one goal to Chivas on their field it's not that bad, but when you give it up like we did, it's a big deal."
Danny Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
