Defense finally breaks in 3:2 loss to Chivas USA
May 15, 2011
Well, this game was bound to happen. The defense has been nothing short of spectacular so far this season, allowing just three goals in eight games. They matched that number tonight, allowing Chivas USA's Justin Braun to score a hat trick in the Goats' 3:2 win. Titi Henry and Dwayne De Rosario scored the Metro goals, the latter's first tally in a New York uniform.
"Clever" Hans Backe didn't have to be so clever, since Teemu Tainio returned from injury. The Finn slid into the lineup for Mehdi Ballouchy, reverting to the starting eleven that romped through three games in April.
The Goats struck just six minutes into the game. Jan Gunnar Solli gave Braun some space on the top of the box, and the attacker struck a shot that sliced through the penalty area and past a shocked Bouna Coundoul.
Metro answered in the 21st, when a precision long ball from Rafael Marquez, deep in midfield, found Henry running into the penalty area. The no-longer-maligned Frenchman made it look easy, tying the game.
The tie only lasted ten minutes, when off a Goats free kick, an unmarked Braun was left on the endline to tap it into the net. Four minutes later, the hardworking Luke Rodgers was brought down in the box, and De Rosario stepped up to the penalty spot. Unlike Henry and Marquez before him earlier this season, the Canadian did not fail, roofing the ball to tie it once again.
Alas, it was not to be. In the 56th minute, another Goats free kick, another lax marking, another ball bouncing close to the goalmouth, and another Braun launch that made it 3:2. Sadly, Metro could not break through. Rodgers' acrobatic kick looked to have tied the match, but was clearly offside. Later, the gritty Englishman came crashing into the goalpost at full speed, but it was all for naught. Fourteen corner kicks were completely wasted, and Backe doesn't have to be too clever to realize that Marquez should no longer be taking them.
Well, let's hope this got this out of the system early.
Lineup: Coundoul, Miller, Ream, Marquez, Solli, Tainio, Lindpere, Richards, De Rosario, Rodgers, Henry. Subs: Agudelo, Ballouchy, Keel.
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