The Video Thing

It might not have been the nine-goal barrage of a year ago, but the New York Red Bulls were one minute away from back-to-back one-goal wins against David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy in front of a large crowd at Giants Stadium on Saturday night.

And for a second consecutive year it looked like Juan Pablo Angel would be the hero for the home team. But Landon Donovan equalized two minutes into second-half stoppage time on a seemingly harmless cross from the left side that somehow evaded Jon Conway to forge a 2-2 draw in front of 46,754 fans, the largest single-game attendance in Major League Soccer this year.

Donovan nearly gave the visitors all three points, but he hit the base of the left post in the dying moments of stoppage time.

The Red Bulls should have won their first game at Giants Stadium since defeating Chivas USA on June 5, a game that saw Angel score the winner and then limp off the field with a hamstring injury that would sideline him for a month.

Angel's go-ahead goal in the 71st minute was set up by Venezuelan international Jorge Rojas, the Red Bulls' most recent signing, who played in the attacking midfield role vacated by Claudio Reyna, who announced his retirement Wednesday afternoon.

Angel took on Greg Vanney, deftly dribbled around him and then chipped the ball clinically past Steve Cronin in the 71st minute for his fourth goal of the year.

The Galaxy pressed for the equalizer and nearly had one in the 78th minute, but Carlos Ruiz, who put Los Angeles in front on 29 minutes with his first goal of the season, twice twisted Jeff Parke around but Jon Conway came off his line to make the save.

The entertaining first half ended tied at 1-1 after Ruiz gave the Galaxy the lead and Dave van den Bergh equalized six minutes later.

In his first start at Giants Stadium in more than a month, Angel had a very active first half. In the 19th minute he cut inside of a Los Angeles defender and unleashed a blast from just inside the 18-yard box that Steve Cronin parried away.

Two minutes later, Donovan broke free down the left side of the field and played a sublime ball to an open Ruiz inside the box. But Conway came off his line to make the save with the inside of his right leg and then he covered up the rebound.

In the 25th minute, Beckham took his first free kick of the match from 22 yards out. But the ball deflected off Jeff Parke on the wall and out for a corner kick.

Four minutes later, the Galaxy took the lead as Beckham played the ball to Edson Buddle, who dribbled inside the left side of the box, around Parke and his cross from the endline found Ruiz, who headed the ball in for his first goal in just his second start of the season.

Rojas made his impact felt immediately, setting up van den Bergh's equalizer in the 35th minute. He played the ball between his legs to van den Bergh and the Dutch midfielder beat Cronin inside the near post with a low shot from 35 yards out. It was van den Bergh's team-leading fifth goal of the year.

Van den Bergh nearly returned the favor 13 minutes into the second half, but Rojas chipped the ball over the net with his left peg from inside the six-yard box. And in the 69th minute, Rojas' header off a van den Bergh cross forced Klein to dive to his left to make the save.

Donovan took a pass from Klein in the 39th minute, but hit a first-time volley wide of the net from 14 yards out. And in the first minute of first-half stoppage time, Angel made a powerful run down the right side, cut the ball back inside the box to Oscar Echeverry, but his shot was blocked by Troy Roberts.

Juan Carlos Osorio made several changes to his starting XI following a 2-1 loss at Kansas City last Thursday. Most notably was the inclusion of Rojas, who most recently played for Union Atletico Maracaibo in his home country. Rojas started as the attacking midfielder in the 3-5-2. Andrew Boyens replaced Chris Leitch in the back and Dane Richards started on the right side of midfield, with Echeverry and Angel up front.

But Richards' day came to a painful end in the 49th minute, when he sustained a freak hip injury on a bad cut on the turf. Hunter Freeman came on for Richards one minute later. John Wolyniec replaced Echeverry in the 63rd minute and newly signed Juan Pietravallo made his MLS debut in the 89th minute, coming on for van den Bergh.

The Red Bulls, which played their lone home game in July, are now winless in their last three games, could have moved out of the Eastern Conference basement with the victory.

Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.