When Kenny Cooper was traded from the Portland Timbers to the New York Red Bulls in the off-season, reactions were mixed. Despite being Portland's leading scorer in 2011 with 8 goals, his cold streaks lead some Portland fans to celebrate his departure and RBNY fans to wonder how he would fit in. But Cooper proved the doubters wrong Wednesday night, scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo, and matching his 2011 scoring total in 24 fewer games.
Coming just five days after the coast-to-coast trip to Los Angeles, coach Hans Backe made no changes to the lineup, sticking with a 4-5-1 formation. While Rafa Marquez was expected to return from his three game suspension, it was announced shortly before the game he had picked up a soft ankle injury in training on Tuesday and was not selected. (Both Rafa and Thierry Henry took in the game from the team skybox.)
New York started in fine form, controlling the attack and finding their seventh early goal of the season in just seven minutes. Capitalizing on a slow backpass from Corey Ashe, Kenny Cooper rushed goalkeeper Tally Hall from the top of the box and leapt in front of his attempt to clear the ball, deflecting it into the net.
Houston roared back, not unlike LA and New England before them, and the RBNY rookie defense once again flew into action, denying crosses and blocking shots. Both sides struggled to put together flowing attacks, and while New York's inability could be blamed on fatigue due to the schedule, Houston - who hadn't played since April 28th - had no such excuse.
The second half saw the return of Juan Agudelo for 45 minutes, with both sides battling to add to the scoreboard. Both teams created nine attempts on goal, although only a few were on target. Some bad touches from a tiring Red Bulls midfield gave Houston opportunities to equalize, but five straight attempts in the final ten minutes of play went high or wide. Ryan Meara nearly lost his clean sheet when he couldn't quite get control of a stoppage time header from Brad Davis, but the rookie managed to keep it out of the net with a juggling save.
In the waning moments of the match, a sign of Houston's fraying nerves came not from players on the field, but their coach Dom Kinnear. After endearing taunting from a fan in the VIP seats behind the away bench, Kinnear snapped and started shouting and pointing at the section - demanding their ejection and cursing them out. Security was summoned to the section but no ejections appeared to be issued.
The Red Bulls' three game win streak moves them to 6-3-1, and raises them to second place in the Eastern Conference. The team also extends their unbeaten home streak in league play to eight games, dating back to last September. Their three-game week comes to a close on Sunday, as the team travels to Philadelphia to take on the Union. While Philly have underwhelmed so far in 2012 - scoring a league low 5 goals - schedule fatigue and a hostile crowd at PPL Park are likely to keep this game from being a cakewalk for the boys in white.
POST MATCH REACTIONS
Coach Hans Backe on the result: "I myself am quite impressed with these young guys with three clean sheets, inexperienced guys working very hard to win this game. Of course you need a little bit of luck, but overall I must say I'm pretty pleased with the number of injuries we have and with these young guys coming in. We didn't create that much attacking wise, we had a lot of giveaways, unforced errors, no rhythm, but sometimes you just need to step up."
Kenny Cooper, on what about New York has increased his production: "My teammates are fantastic. I'm surrounded by an incredibly talented group. We have young players, we have experienced players. It's a deep squad and there's a lot of quality around me, and I think that's obvious. I really enjoy playing my soccer here with these guys."
Goalkeeper Ryan Meara, on closing out the game: "I try to keep talking to them. I know they were pretty tired - it was kind of a humid night, plus long trip from LA, a midweek game was always going to be tough. But I think everyone really dug in and found it in themselves to keep going for the full 90."
Dax McCarty, on how he feels after three tight wins: "I don't want to be too negative after a win, because three 1-0 wins, you have to do that sometimes in this league...if I'm being honest, I think we're not good enough with the ball. You lose a guy like Thierry Henry, and it really changes how we play. He's so good with keeping possession for us, he's so good at dropping back and helping us keep the ball. At this point right now, we're a little bit timid. I think we're a little bit scared. Some of the new guys are really focused on making sure they don't make mistakes, and when you play like that, it radiates throughout the team. I think we need to do a better job of trying to keep the ball and create chances when we're up 1-0."
Defender Connor Lade, on breaking into the starting XI: "I think we're all fortunate enough that he gave us a chance. We all have to take advantage of this opportunity he's given us. Maybe in the past he hasn't played young players, but hopefully we've proved to him that we can play at this level, and hopefully we can stay in there as long as we can."
Next Match: Sunday May 13 12:30 PM, at Philadelphia Union (TV: ESPN2)
