They had more of the possession and had the edge in shots, but the New York Red Bulls again couldn't find a way to beat the New England Revolution as the two sides played to a scoreless draw Saturday night in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series at Giants Stadium.
That puts all the onus on the return leg at Gillette Stadium next Saturday night. And considering the Revolution's dominance of their I-95 rivals in Foxborough, New England has to fancy their chances at advancing to the Eastern Conference Championship for a sixth consecutive season.
The Revs fielded the same starting XI as they did down the stretch of the regular season, with Steve Ralston serving as an attacking midfielder in front of Shalrie Joseph and Jeff Larentowicz.
The Red Bulls came in as healthy as they've been all year and, perhaps with understanding that a win at home is absolutely critical, Bruce Arena put his best attacking side on the field with Juan Pablo Angel, Jozy Altidore and Francis Doe all starting. Doe partnered Angel in attack with Altidore playing wide on the left of midfield.
Claudio Reyna returned to the lineup after sitting out the end of the regular season because of turf toe, playing alongside Dema Kovalenko as central midfielders. Seth Stammler returned to the defense, playing centrally with Jeff Parke.
The Red Bulls dominated possession in the opening half and had a 10-2 edge in shots, but went into the locker room with nothing to show for it.
Almost immediately off the opening kickoff the Red Bulls had their best chance of the opening 45 minutes when a sublime back heel flick by Angel freed Doe on goal. But the Liberian forward had his angled shot from the right side of the area stopped by Matt Reis, who came out to cut down the angle and kicked the effort away.
A nice combination between Altidore and Angel resulted in a powerful left-footed shot by Altidore from the edge of the penalty area that sailed over the far post in the 16th minute.
Angel, whose 19 goals was good for second in the league, had three chances in the span of nine minutes, but the Colombian international missed with an off-balance volley, then couldn't settle a deflected cross off a corner and finally couldn't connect with a driving header from the top of the box in the 29th minute.
Hunter Freeman's service from the right flank caused problems for the Revolution defense and he nearly added a goal in the 32nd minute with a long distance drive which was saved by Reis, who dived to his right to keep it out.
After absorbing a few quality punches from New York, New England took a few of their own after the break. On 59 minutes, Khano Smith blew past Freeman down the left side and sent a cross intended for Taylor Twellman, but Parke tracked back to clear the ball over the goal for a corner kick.
New York shouted for a penalty in the 61st minute after Michael Parkhurst took down Angel after the Colombian improbably settled the ball inside the penalty area. Referee Jair Marrufo took a long look at the incident but waved away the protests.
Arena made the first change of the game, an unusual one at that, bringing on rookie Sinisa Ubiparipovic for Doe in the 68th minute. Chris Leitch then replaced van den Bergh, who limped off the pitch with a left calf strain, 10 minutes later.
The final New York substitution came four minutes from full time, when Clint Mathis came on for Reyna. One minute later, Adam Cristman came on for Noonan and in the 90th minute James Riley replaced Wells Thompson.
Arena thought his team had earned a stoppage-time penalty kick, when the ball deflected off Avery John's arm after tangling with Dane Richards. But referee Marrufo called a foul on Richards on the play. Arena jumped off the bench to argue the call and had a few choice words for the officials after the match, as well.
But he had nothing to show for it, just like his team.
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
