The New York Red Bulls fell to 8-7-3 in Texas last night after a 4-0 offensive pummeling by the Houston Dynamo. With this result, Houston snapped a four game losing streak, while this comes as the Red Bulls second loss since May 8th. A total collapse in every facet of the game, the defeat comes on the eve of two massively important games against Atlanta United (July 7th) and the New York Derby against NYCFC (July 14th).
For the first 38 minutes, Houston controlled most of the possession but had yet to capitalize on the chances given. The 39th minute changed all that when Forward Alberth Elis perfectly timed a low cross to Mauro Manotas as he split defenders and put the Dynamo up 1-0 with a tap in goal.
The second half picked up where the first had ended. Houston bullied around a much changed Red Bulls side after Friday’s home win against the Chicago Fire. In the 56th minute, Houston’s Tomas Martinez calmly chested down a headed clearance by the Red Bulls’ Amro Tarek off a Houston corner. Martinez then swiftly pinged the ball low past everyone, including Red Bulls’ keeper Luis Robles, to find the bottom right corner of the net and give the Dynamo a 2-0 advantage.
Despite the second half substitutions of Kaku, Daniel Royer and the beloved Bradley Wright-Phillips, things would not get better for the NYRB as the Dynamo’s Alberth Elis was just heating up. He would make his presence felt with goals in the 72nd and 94th minutes. In the 72nd, Mauro Manotas returned the favor of an assist with a beautiful cross to find the forehead of a leaping Elis and sent the ball bouncing over the helpless New York goalkeeper. Again, in stoppage time, Elis took it among himself to pour salt on the already open wound by taking on the entire Red Bulls back line and squeezing the ball under a diving Luis Robles. Houston walked away with a decisive 4-0 victory in front of a gracious home crowd.
To make matters worse for New York, Panamanian Defender Michael Murillo and Kaku were both shown late red cards which means they will miss a currently undetermined amount of upcoming fixtures. Murillo picked up his second yellow after a mistimed challenge on Tomas Martinez in the 83rd minute and Kaku was given a straight red for violent conduct in extra time. Houston did not walk away unscathed either as Defender Maynor Figueroa was the other party to the Kaku red card and was shown one himself.
With consecutive games on the horizon against the two teams that are directly above them in the table, Red Bulls head coach Chris Armas will have to do some shuffling of his deck in order not to fall even farther below Atlanta and their crosstown rival, NYCFC.
By Nick Sbordone
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