April 27, 2013: Toronto FC 1, Red Bulls 2
For the first 89 minutes it was textbook 2013 Red Bulls. They came out, scored a nice goal in the first half, only to squander the lead with a stupid, stupid mistake.
But then, Peguy Luyindula intercepted a Toronto FC clearance, slipped the ball through to Thierry Henry whose cross found the forehead of Tim Cahill, who, in classic Cahill form, put the header away. A few minutes later, the referee blew the final whistle and the Red Bulls walked away with all three points.
It remains to be seen, but it certainly looks like the Red Bulls have turned something of a corner here, snatching victory from the jaws of a draw, instead of the other way around.
Positives
- We've said time and time again Cahill would get his goals and Saturday afternoon, he did. Maybe now the critics will "shut the hell up" as Head Coach Mike Petke advised them post-game.
- Both goals were really, really nice...
- For a few seasons now we've had diminished expectations for the Red Bulls playing away from home. So far half their wins and seven of their 14 points have come on the road.
- For all the flack we gave Roy Miller after the San Jose game, he's strung together a series of good performances as of late.
Negatives
- Seeing Cahill's second goal was like watching something out of his highlight reel from his Everton days (maybe it was the shirt color) but truth be told, it never should've happened. After a string of good performances Luis Robles nearly gave the game away with a head-scratching decision that lead to Toronto's goal.
Notable Quotes
Petke, via MSG...
i'm very happy today, because maybe all the critics that talk about him not scoring goals can shut the hell up. To be honest with you, that's how I feel. He scored two goals today. And it's from someone I don't consider a goal scorer. He might've been back whenever. To me he does his job all the time. He lead the boys in the middle.
Lloyd Sam, via the New York Post...
Tim Cahill is a warrior. I'm so happy for him, he's not had many goals lately. He carried the team today and won us the game. Thierry had a bit to do with that too. They're so important to us.
Cahill, via the Post...
I think the main thing for us is we've dropped a lot of points on the road and we've played such bad football and today I thought especially in the first half we played some beautiful passing. I set one in there with Eric and pulled Johnny in from the left and had Lloyd breaking was a bit of a luxury today. It seemed really nice but the discipline and consistency has to be there and that's what we said before the game and I suppose a lot of people are looking at us to see if we could pull this off because Toronto is a good team and we did it. We made it difficult for ourselves. The only way they were going to score was us making a mistake. But in the end we kept knocking the door down and we got the win.
Relevant Statistics
| Toronto FC | Statistic | Red Bulls |
| 13 | Attempts on Goal | 10 |
| 6 | Corners | 3 |
| 12 | Fouls | 10 |
| 23 | Crosses | 17 |
| 72% | Passing Accuracy | 71% |
| 49% | Possession | 51% |