The New York Red Bulls players were challenged by head coach Juan Carlos Osorio following a 4-1 drubbing by D.C. United at RFK Stadium Saturday.
Sure, his team was missing both of its designated players to injury and is still looking to replace Jozy Altidore, who was sold to Villarreal in La Liga. Sure, they were going to play the hottest team in Major League Soccer in a venue that has historically been a house of horrors.
But all Osorio wanted was a better showing, a better effort than his team displayed in Washington, D.C. The first-year Red Bulls coach got that, and nearly saw his team come away with its first victory at Gillette Stadium in six years.
The Red Bulls players took the challenge to heart. And it showed on the turf at Gillette Stadium in a 1-1 draw against the Revolution Wednesday night.
"After a performance like that we had to look in the mirror and really come out and give a better effort," Carlos Mendes said. "We knew we had to compete better today, come in fighting and we did that."
Osorio juggled his lineup, in part because of the poor performance in D.C. and because his team was playing the middle game of a stretch of three games in eight days. There were five new starters, including Mendes, who had the unenviable task of marking Steve Ralston.
But Mendes shut down the Revs' playmaker and Osorio's diamond formation in the midfield wreaked havoc on New England's attack.
"If you look throughout the 90 minutes, I think Carlos did a very good job against Ralston," Osorio said. "If you take away the goal he scored it's difficult for me to remember that he had any other opportunities."
If not for a late defensive breakdown, the Red Bulls would have left Gillette Stadium with their first win in six years. But Jay Heaps had time to serve a ball toward the back post where Kheli Dube headed it back to Ralston. The veteran found space in the box and turned it past Jon Conway in the 79th minute.
"I thought he was going to shoot it," Conway said of Dube. "It just kind of popped over to (Ralston) in an opportune position. Obviously it was a bit unfortunate, but we can all do better and get tighter on the ball, especially on (Ralston) so close in. He's deadly from there."
The Red Bulls are still winless in 14 consecutive games in Foxborough, but they snapped an eight-game losing streak there and earned their first point at Gillette Stadium since May 22, 2004.
"Overall I thought it was a pretty good effort and a pretty good result on the road here where we haven't had the best of results, we lost a lot of games here," Dave van den Bergh said. "This is a step toward the right direction."
Seth Stammler scored his first goal since May 24, 2006, his first-time strike at the edge of the six-yard box bouncing past Matt Reis in the 39th minute. A play that started with a Conway distribution ended when van den Bergh served the ball toward the back post.
"I saw Dave getting the ball outside and I thought he was going to whip it in right away," Stammler said. "When he whipped it (in), it had some height under it, so I kind of figured it was going to get the back stick so I just kept going. I called (Mike) Magee off so he let it go and I obviously just tried to get good contact with it and was fortunate to put it in the lower right corner."
And Conway made sure the Red Bulls came away with at least a point, first making a diving save on a header by Ralston and then getting a piece of Dube's rebound in the 89th minute.
"Good goalkeepers make big saves when a team needs it," Mendes said. "He made a save on the original shot and got a piece of the rebound. He's done it all year."
Added van den Bergh: "He saved us a point there."
Despite giving up the late equalizer, the Red Bulls view the glass as half full as they return to New Jersey Thursday and begin to prepare for Saturday night's home game against FC Dallas.
"If you had told us before that we were coming to get a point we'd be happy but to have the lead for so long and to give up the type of goal we did it was a bit unfortunate," said Stammler, who wore the captain's armband Wednesday. "At the end of the day we did what we came to New England to do, we got a point."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
