10-man Metro fights back to earn draw vs Wiz
May 17, 2008
It seems absurd that seven games into the season, Danleigh Borman have more goals to his name than Juan Pablo Angel. Yet this is the state in the land of Metro, as the young South African scored in a second straight match, saving New York from a home loss to Kansas City. The goal came with Metro down a man, as Dave van den Bergh was shown a straight red card late in the second half. Coach Juan Carlos Osorio was also ejected, missing the final minutes of a 1:1 draw.
Another game, another lineup; this time it was a 3-4-3 with Jozy Altidore and Dane Richards flanking Angel up front. Kevin Goldthwaite moved back to left back, as van den Bergh moved up to left midfield. Hunter Freeman started on the right wing, and Andrew Boyens made his Metro debut at right back.
The Wiz struck in the 20th minute, when Metro defenders lost Jimmy Conrad on the corner kick, and he headed one in for the lead. Metro was completely lethargic in the first stanza; its best chance came ten minutes later, when Richards forced a turnover deep in the Wizard end. His cross from the right side was parried by Kevin Hartman, but Altidore's ensuing rebound was cleared off the line by a Kansas City defender.
Borman was inserted for Mike Magee at the break, the lineup was reshuffled, and it was a completely different Metro team in the second half. Did they ever have chances to score: early in second, what seemed like a minute-long goalmouth scramble off a corner kick ended with another goalmouth block. Hartman came up huge, making big saves on Angel from a close range and off a corner kick, as well as one on Borman.
Throughout the game, the Wiz resorted to clutching and grabbing, and in the 77th minute, van den Bergh had enough, retaliating to Davy Arnaud's advances with an elbow, and then receiving his marching orders from ref Jair Marrufo. But that didn't stop the Metro attack. Four minutes after the ejection, Altidore got the ball in the box, passed it off to Angel, who flicked it to Borman. The South African slammed it off Hartman and into the net for the share of points.
The scoring was over, but not the dramatics. Three minute after the goal, Altidore was fouled in the midfield and went down in pain, but not foul was called, and the Wiz failed to do the sportsmanlike thing and clear the ball. Osorio complained to the officials, and was sent off, meaning he will miss next week's game versus his former team, Chicago.
Lineup: Conway, Goldthwaite, Parke, Boyens, Sassano, van den Bergh, Freeman, Magee, Richards, Altidore, Angel. Subs: Borman.
|
