May 8, 2013: Red Bulls 2, Impact 1
There it is.
The Red Bulls come away with a 2-1 win over the Montreal Impact.
You could say the nice little run the Red Bulls have put together over the last few weeks has been more a function of luck against poor teams than it is evidence of the Red Bulls' quality. But you can't say that after they knocked the Impact, who occupied the East's top spot along with the Red Bulls until last night, down a peg.
Sure, wins against an improving-but-still-not-great Toronto FC is nice, and stealing one from the Columbus Crew is useful, too. But last night's win over the Impact was bigger, as it came against one of the league's better teams.
Positives
- That Thierry Henry goal. 'Nuff said.
- Jonny Steele continues to look good.
- With that win, the Red Bulls sit on top of the east, ahead of the Houston Dynamo, albeit on a tiebreaker.
Negatives
- Another game, another gaffe by Luis Robles punished with a goal...
- Peguy Luyindula hasn't been amazing this season for the Red Bulls, but if he's out, that might make things difficult this weekend against the New England Revolution.
- With that late goal, the Red Bulls almost let the Impact back into it. I'm not sure if I'm saying this out of worry over those two posts hit moments later from Marco Di Vaio or what, but five more minutes and we might be having a different discussion.
Notable Quotes
Henry, via the New York Post...
I have to say it's not an easy team to play against when you play against Montreal. They pass the ball well. As you saw when (Marco) Di Vaio came on is very lively around the box. So we battled, we battled in the second half. I thought in the first half we matched them up in terms of how we were passing the ball around and in the second half I guess, maybe because we were one up I don't know, we were a bit too low in terms of how the unit was on the field. But, you know, we managed to defend well together and win at the end...The most important thing is that we won. That's the most important thing.
Markus Holgersson, via the Post...
It's the effort. We're working so hard together, we're fighting on every ball and if we do that we can go really far. We always have to understand that we have to have our feet on the ground and do the dirty work and then the rest will come because if you have players like Juninho and (Thierry) Henry then we always know that we are going to create chances.
Relevant Stats
| Red Bulls | Statistic | Impact |
| 13 | Attempts on Goal | 17 |
| 7 | Corners | 6 |
| 9 | Fouls | 5 |
| 16 | Crosses | 15 |
| 82% | Passing Accuracy | 82% |
| 48.2% | Possession | 51.8% |