3 Thoughts: Red Bulls down Dynamo, 1-0

The result is all that matters

The New York Red Bulls needed three points out of this game - and that's what they got. Goals for BWP; some confidence that there is a tactical alternative to BWP's finishing if he goes cold; the lingering sense that one goal doesn't hold up for the win against a more competent opponent: none of that matters. RBNY needed three points; RBNY got three points.

On to the next one.

Peguy is wonderful

It won't make the highlight reels, but Peguy Luyindula's stoppage-time run down the pitch to the byline to take the ball as far away from RBNY's goal as possible, kill the clock and win a corner was as important a contribution to the team as he has made all season.

If this squad does get blown up in the off-season, most of the talk will be about Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill, but Peguy will be missed. He isn't a superstar. He spent much of 2013 as a laughingstock. But he is almost as creative as the captain, nearly as non-stop as Cahill - and often he's a cooler head under pressure than either.

Looks like trouble ahead with Tim Cahill

Midway through the second half, Cahill looked to be warming up in preparation to take to the pitch. And then he wasn't. He sat on the bench in isolation while his fellow substitutes obediently ran their drills and Mike Petke stalked the technical area. It was hard to ignore the feeling that Cahill is on the outs with this club.

He vented his frustration in training this week, partially in response to what appears to be a dimwitted effort within RBNY to make him reconsider his commitment to his national team. And it is almost too easy to interpret his 88th minute lunge at Boniek Garcia as further evidence of the man's frustration with his current situation.

The challenge got Cahill red carded, which means he will miss the remainder of RBNY's make-or-break home stand (he's on international duty for Toronto's visit on 10/11, and will serve his suspension for this red card when Columbus comes to the Arena on 10/19).

And there will be many questions from the press over the next few weeks that are likely to annoy him further.

Petke's priority has to be guiding RBNY into the playoffs and past the club's now-traditional first round exit. And it looks like he'll have to do it with a man-sized, Australian question mark in his squad for the rest of the season.