The New York Red Bulls were handed their worst loss of the season 5-2 at the hands of Orlando City... at home. The five goals were the most they've given up all season. It's only the third time they've allowed three or more goals. Orlando outpaced RBNY most of the night, similar to how Chicago beat them two weeks prior. RBNY controlled 60.8% of the ball, but when Orlando had possession, they made it count.
However, not all was lost... DC lost. Columbus lost. New England drew. Vancouver lost. Seattle and SKC drew each other. And LA defeated Dallas. So even though it was a very bad loss to Orlando, the Red Bulls are still in a good position. LA took over the top spot in the Shield race, but they are only two points above the Red Bulls, and the Red Bulls have two games in hand. At 1.66 ppg, the Red Bulls still have the highest points per game in the league, so they control their own destiny. Here were this week's top performers:
Dax McCarty (MID, 8 points): Dax, as well as the rest of this list, benefitted from MLS Fantasy's scoring rules that they didn't get negative points for allowing five goals. Dax scored on his hometown team for the first time this season. Off a fancy designed free kick play, Klejstan played a ball right to where Tally Hall hesitated if he should come out of net or not. It found Matt Miazga's head, where he played a ball back across goal for a diving McCarty to tie the game in the 29th minute.
Sacha Kljestan (MID, 7 points): Sacha redeemed himself a bit with his assist, but Orlando had his number all night. They figured out that if they allowed Klejstan to attack space, then close the gap when he started to make his mind up where he would pass the ball, they could force him to turn the ball over.
Lloyd Sam (MID, 7 points): Sam scored in the 58th minute after Gonzalo Veron played a ball right into the mixer. Sam received the ball with his back to goal, spun quickly and put it past Tally Hall seven yards away. He played all 90 minutes, but didn't contribute much else most of the game.
The Red Bulls have five games remaining, three of which are at home, and they are all against Eastern Conference foes. They're remaining opponents (and their current Eastern Conference ranks) are: Columbus (2nd), Montreal (6th), Toronto (5th), Philadelphia (9th) and Chicago (10th). They can get another 15 points, which will put them at 63 points for the season and 1.85 ppg. That would be just shy of the 1.88 ppg that Seattle posted in their Shield win last year. Who thinks they can do it? With all of the results this week, it's a good time for the team to dust themselves off and face a new day.
