Red Bull pulls another draw & Houston survives the chaos
4/15/23
J.J. Pavlick
The game between the Houston Dynamo and the New York Red Bull has been pushed back a little. The stadium is in a severe weather delay, fans have been allowed to enter but no one is permitted to be in the seated sections of the arena. The game sees a Houston team who is 3-0-0 at home while 0-3-0 on the road. Houston has an explosive offense and when it's firing, they're hard to stop. The Red Bull have struggled everywhere they've played this season, the only time they've scored multiple goals was their home opener verse Columbus. The supporter's section for Red Bull has threatened to walk out at kickoff and asked all fans to follow them. Will be interesting with the long delay if they will even stay till kickoff.
The game is underway with just a minor delay in start time, during the anthem the supporter's section started its protest chants, and the fans in the building bit back at the supporter's section. Not all the supporters left the arena, and they waited till 20 seconds into the match to start leaving. Fans took over the area and removed any banners and posters left behind by the supporter groups. The arena was a little quieter than usual but not a huge difference, throughout the match the fans that stayed cheered the team on. The Red Bull came out strong but struggled to convert many close-range shots. Houston without Hector Herrera looked average and beatable, yet Houston hung around and survived the first half of action.
"It's going to be a battle, it's going to be a fight, you have to withstand the chaos in this building. The Red Bull thrives in chaos." "I feel a little bad for Steve Clark." Houston Head Coach Ben Olsen
The second half of play was like the first half, lots of blown opportunities by the Red Bull, and Houston in the 68' found the back of the net when Reyes miss playing the ball and sent A. Carrasquilla straight in on goal and he didn't miss. Tolkin tried to help Coronel out but was to no avail. The backline yet again seems to break when the team needs them the most and while Reyes was fighting an injury bug days before it's been a theme this season. Houston finally broke in the 89' when Tokin took a corner from the left side of the goal and found Omir Fernandez who headed the ball in from 2 yards out. The Red Bull had a few more chances to win the game but like before struggled to finish inside the box.
"It was the game we expect from Houston in a low block, in a deep block. We played our style, but my boys worked really hard." " It was a difficult week, they handled it well. A draw doesn't make us happy, but we can't forget the circumstances." when asked about supporters chanting for his firing " It was a painful feeling, not a good feeling." -- Red Bulls Head Coach Gerhard Struber