Four hours before kickoff, midfielder Joe Vide wandered into the New York Red Bulls' pre-game meeting before being pulled aside by assistant coach Richie Williams. Williams told Vide the words that any fresh-faced rookie would want to hear: "You're starting."
"I had absolutely no idea [I was going to start] to tell you the truth and then I came down and Richie brought me over and was like, 'You know, we're going to start you out wide.' I knew it was a big game and hopefully, I was going to do all right," Vide said.
Vide made his first career start for the Red Bulls on Sunday night after making four previous MLS appearances as a substitute and played 89 minutes before being replaced by Blake Camp.
"I'm very proud of Joe. He's one of my good friends on the team, I'm glad he was able to get out there and get his chance," said defender Marvell Wynne.
The midfielder drew praise for his performance and most notably played a hand in the Red Bulls' 77th minute goal, as he crossed the ball to Dema Kovalenko, whose subsequent shot was saved by goalkeeper Matt Pickens before John Wolyniec knocked the rebound in.
"I just saw Dema making a good run behind the defense and I tried to [get it] to him and the keeper made a good save and Woly was just able to finish it," Vide said.
"He obviously got a little tired at the end, but a really good game by Joe," said head coach Bruce Arena.
Vide's last league game came on August 16 in a 0-0 tie with D.C. United, when he played 27 minutes as a substitute for Mike Magee.
Red Bulls look to build on performance
Though the final result on the scoreboard did not go New York's way, Arena said that there were certain areas in which he was pleased with the team's play.
"At times tonight, we were a little bit sloppy with the ball but I thought we responded quite well in the second half and despite giving up that second goal, [we] had a pretty good second half and showed a lot of character," Arena said.
One positive over the past few games has been Wolyniec, who now has three goals in three games.
"Wolyniec did not have as many chances as he had in the previous game but he's got a mentality to be in front of the goal and he did well," Arena said.
These past three weeks has been a non-stop rollercoaster for New York as they have played six games in 20 days. They will have a full week to train and rest before playing New England on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
"It's about time. We've been working ourselves like dogs. It's time to get a little bit of time off, relax, just get our bodies restored and bring it all next weekend," Wynne said.
Other notes:
Wolyniec's reaction to the play and whether it would've been a penalty kick if he fell down after the contact: "I knew if I turned [the defender], I was in and he got a piece of me. The problem was that he hit me just outside the box and I wasn't sure if I would've gotten the PK. If I go down and [the referee] takes it outside, who knows what happens if we get a free kick."
But then, Wolyniec looked at it another way: "It's funny how much you can think in a split second like that, but if I put that ball out in front of Edson a little bit better, he's going score."
