Unless you are talking about a pitcher's earned run average, when you have a statistic of 0.5 in sports, it usually is not a good sign. However, in the case of the New York Red Bulls, it's an almost perfect statistic to have. The Red Bulls have only allowed four goals through their first eight games, which equals 0.5 goals allowed per game.
What might be most impressive about the Red Bulls' defense is they've done it with five different starting lineups in their eight games. Goalies Jon Conway and Ronald Waterreus have combined with defenders Todd Dunivant, Carlos Mendes, Seth Stammler, Marvell Wynne, Hunter Freeman, Jeff Parke, Tim Regan, Dema Kovalenko and Dave van den Bergh to comprise the five different starting lineups.
Even with all of the injuries the defense has been able to provide a spark for the Red Bulls' 5-1-2 start. Mendes gives credit to the whole team, including the reserves, saying in the long season it's important to have players come off the bench to play well in order to win a championship.
"We had Taylor Graham come off the bench for us last game and come in and get an assist. Dave van den Bergh is a smart player and a great player and can step in to different positions and help us," Mendes said. "It's a long season with a lot of games and you know there will be injuries ,so guys like that coming in and stepping up is huge."
Van den Bergh, who normally plays in the midfield, played in the back four for the first time in seven years on May 24 against the Chicago Fire.
According to Mendes, there is nothing specific the team has done differently than last year, in which they allowed 15 goals through the first eight games.
"I don't think it's anything with just the back four. As a group we have been defending well," Mendes said. "Our 'keepers have come up with big saves when we needed them. It's a group thing."
The "group thing" has already set an MLS record by starting a season with 420 consecutive shutout minutes, which lasted from opening day- April 7 - until the fifth game of the season. The previous record was 343 minutes, set by Dallas in 1999.
The Red Bulls' locker room treated the shutout streak much like a baseball dugout treats a perfect game, refusing to talk about it. The only thing that was mentioned about the streak was that everyone kept saying it was a group effort.
"We have been getting 10 players behind the ball and our 'keepers have been making big saves. It was more just an attitude that was a key thing; we're going to be a tough team to beat with our attitude," Mendes said.
The "group" is also only the third team in MLS history to allow only four goals in eight games to start the season, joining the 1999 Dallas Burn and 2000 Kansas City Wizards.
"It puts the feeling in the locker room that we're a tough team to beat. It's a great feeling," Mendes said.
The Red Bulls will be attempting to tie the record of allowing only four goals through nine games, held by the 2000 Wizards, on Saturday when they face Kansas City at 8 p.m. ET (TV: MSG).
If the Red Bulls are able to record their sixth shutout of the season, they will decrease their goals per game against average to 0.44, a number that yells failure to a college student looking at his GPA, but not a fan watching one of the best defensive efforts to start a season in MLS history.
