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Red Bulls Wreck The Crew In Third Straight Blowout Victory

By

Dan Dickinson

Published Apr 8, 2012

Modified Apr 8, 2012

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By

Dan Dickinson

Published Apr 8, 2012

Modified Apr 8, 2012

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MLS defenses, take notice: Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper are coming for you. For the third straight week, Henry and Cooper combined for four goals, as the New York Red Bulls rolled into Columbus Saturday and brought down the Crew 4-1, improving their record to 3-2-0.

Injuries and performance concerns forced some changes in coach Hans Backe's lineup. Defender Wilman Conde was ruled out with a groin injury, with Stephen Keel getting the nod. Teemu Tainio twisted his knee in practice mid-week, ruling him out for up to six weeks but allowing Rafa Marquez to slot back in following his groin injury. Perhaps most surprisingly, Coach Backe benched team regular Joel Lindpere in favor of Mehdi Ballouchy, citing not injury but a lack of performance. It is the first time Lindpere did not start since joining the Red Bulls, a run spanning 67 consecutive starts across three seasons.

Kenny Cooper put New York out of reach before a quarter of an hour had elapsed. Cooper found his first goal just three minutes in after receiving a long pass from Thierry Henry just inside the penalty box. With his back to the goal, Cooper powered off Columbus defender Eric Gehrig, and drilled a shot into the lower corner. Ten minutes later, Cooper would again find the net under bizarre conditions. A Dane Richard's shot was deflected, but somehow fell directly to Cooper, who headed it downward. The ball looked to be going wide, but a tremendous amount of spin saw the ball trickle over the line past keeper Andy Gruenebaum.

New York dominated Columbus in the first half. The home side foolishly gave RBNY a wide berth to control the passing game and create chances, and New York took advantage, holding 60% of the possession and creating nine attempts. Thierry Henry was sprung free by Roy Miller late in the half, and beat Gruenebaum as he had beaten so many goalkeepers in the Premier League to extend the lead to 3-0.

With their backs to the wall, Columbus came out swinging in the second half. The Red Bulls seemed somewhat comfortable with their lead, and New York's occasionally porous defense got a workout. Ryan Meara held strong, making five big saves in the second half, and helped by the Crew's inability to finish good chances. It looked as though Meara would get his first shutout of the season, but Columbus' Chad Marshall notched a consolation goal, heading in a corner kick right before stoppage time. The goal seemed to enrage Thierry Henry, who responded mere seconds later by smashing a wickedly powerful shot that somehow didn't take the goal down with it. There was no joy or celebration from the captain - just the determined look of a player who wants to win.

While many other teams are content to grind out 1-0 results, the Cooper-Henry pairing has been explosive and caused fans and media around the league to take notice. Henry's contributions over the last month had earned him the MLS Player Of The Month Award, making him the first New York player to achieve the honor since 2007. To put New York's attack in perspective:

• Henry and Cooper have scored as many goals as DC, Philadelphia, New England, and Chicago combined.
• With seven goals and four assists, Henry has hit 50% of his 2011 goal total and matched his assist total.
• With six goals, Kenny Cooper is just two goals off his 2011 total at Portland just five weeks into the season.
• New York has won three consecutive games by a three goal margin - a first in team history.
• The Red Bulls have scored 1 goal every 32 minutes of play since the start of the season.
• NY's strikers are responsible for 1 out of every 8 goals scored in the league so far this season.

With three dominant performances at their backs, the Red Bulls will strive to keep the momentum going as they return home to face the Western Conference leading San Jose Earthquakes next Saturday.

POST-MATCH REACTIONS

Striker Thierry Henry: "I thought we played a great first half. I don’t think we played well at all in the second half. We invited them too much into our box. They should have and could have scored two or three goals to come back into the game, but they didn’t. Ryan (Meara) made a couple of saves to keep us in the game. Overall, we are happy, but personally, I’m disappointed in the second half."

Striker Kenny Cooper: "We didn’t start the season like I think any of us wanted to, but we went home and got great results at home. Maybe we came into this game with some good momentum and confidence. It’s nice to get the first road victory."

Coach Hans Backe, on performance on the wings: "Dane [Richards] is definitely improving. It’s more end-product in his game now. Mehdi [Ballouchy] is very composed, as we know when he gets time and space on the ball. He’s very precise. He gave us very good possession the first 60 minutes."

Crew Coach Robert Warzycha: "You can't play and give up two goals like that against a good team, but we did. That put us on out heels in the beginning. We tried to go forward and tried to pressure, but (New York) was always finding a way to get out of the pressure we put on them. The second half was much better."

Crew Center Back Chad Marshall: "We didn't come out with any energy. We just came out flat. We didn't match [the Red Bulls'] intensity. We didn't get pressure to them at all. The could do whatever they wanted to and we had nothing going offensively. It was the perfect storm of things against us."

Next Match: April 14th, 7PM vs San Jose (TV: MSG)

Tagged

columbus crew

kenny cooper

mls

rbny

red bulls

soccer

thierry henry

Dan Dickinson

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