Despite trailing early and playing down a man for nearly the entire second half, the New England Revolution rallied to salvage a 1-1 draw against the New York Red Bulls Saturday night at Giants Stadium.
After Jozy Altidore put the hosts in front with a first-half wonder goal, Jeff Larentowicz equalized for New England on a controversial free kick just 10 minutes after Revs midfielder Mauricio Castro was sent off by referee Ricardo Salazar.
The Revs continued their dominance of the Red Bulls, who last beat their I-95 rivals on Sept. 17, 2005.
In the first meeting since the Revs ousted the Red Bulls from the playoffs last year, there was little love lost between the Eastern Conference rivals.
Both teams came into the game off losses -- the Red Bulls fell 2-0 at Dallas and the Revs lost 1-0 at home against Colorado. The Red Bulls are now 1-1-1 on the season, while the Revs are 2-2-1.
Juan Carlos Osorio tweaked his lineup with the return of Angel from injury and Jeff Parke from suspension. Carlos Mendes made his 2008 debut, playing on the right of the Bulls' three-back formation with Parke and Goldthwaite.
Leitch moved to the right side of midfield while Sinisa Ubiparipovic played as a holding midfielder with Seth Stammler in front of Reyna. Re-aggravating a left hamstring strain, Angel was only able to play the opening 45 minutes, replaced by Wolyniec at halftime for Osorio's first change.
It didn't take long for Ubiparipovic to make his way into Salazar's book, earning a yellow card for stepping on Castro's ankle in the ninth minute. The second-year midfielder then had the Red Bulls first attempt at goal, taking Leitch's cross and lifting a shot well wide of Reis in the 13th minute.
Three minutes later, Revs left back Amaechi Igwe unleashed a shot from distance that was sailed to the left of Conway and out.
Altidore found success running at the Revolution defense in the first half and it resulted in the game's first goal when he took a pass from Claudio Reyna, turned around Igwe, split him and Jeff Larentowicz and then rifled a 17-yard shot under the crossbar for his first goal of the year on the half hour.
The Revs played most of the second half down a man after Castro was sent off in the 46th minute for a kick to Kevin Goldthwaite's groin after he was fouled by Goldthwaite, who received a yellow card on the play.
The Revs equalized on 56 minutes on a Larentowicz free kick after Salazar called a foul just outside of the 18-yard box, though it appeared Revolution striker Adam Cristman stumbled on the turf. Chris Leitch jumped off the wall, and Larentowicz beat Conway inside the far post for his first goal of the year.
Danleigh Borman replaced Ubiparipovic in the 61st minute. The rookie midfielder nearly set up second-half substitution John Wolyniec for the go-ahead goal, but the veteran striker's sliding shot at the six-yard box sailed over the net.
Wolyniec had another scoring chance in the 79th minute when Dave van den Bergh got off an open cross from the left. But his downward header was saved by Reis.
Jay Heaps nearly gave the visitors the lead in the 68th minute, but his bouncing shot from distance rolled just wide of the far post.
One minute later, Revolution coach Steve Nicol, who had started the same team as the weekend before, made his first change, replacing Cristman with defender Chase Hilgenbrinck as New England looked to secure the road point.
If not for a quality save by Reis, Altidore would have had a brace and the likely winner, but his shot from the top of the 18 was kicked away by Reis in the 71st minute. Altidore had another chance one minute from full time, but his shot was again saved by Reis.
Both clubs made changes in the 77th minute, defender Kheli Dube came on for Kenny Mansally and Mike Magee replaced Reyna for the Red Bulls' final substitution. Nicol made his last change five minutes from full time, bringing on Wells Thompson for Khano Smith.
Wolyniec had the Red Bulls last quality scoring chance, but his shot across the goal in the third minute of second-half stoppage time rolled just wide of the net.
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
