Red Bulls rue missed opportunity

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The chances were there for the New York Red Bulls. One more goal from a bevy of scoring opportunities, two more minutes of solid defending and the Red Bulls would snap a three-game winless streak and beat the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 for the second time this season.

But the Red Bulls, which came into the match having scored one goal or less in the last 10 league games, couldn't score a third goal and they let a Landon Donovan cross to the far post sneak past Jon Conway and it's more squandered points, more disappointment.

"Either you bury the game early where you score the third one and we had plenty of opportunities to do so or you kill the game defensively," Dave van den Bergh said. "We failed to do either. A lot of positives, but still you've got to be critical of your own performance and we didn't get a win."

There were positives, of course. Jorge Rojas, who was signed to be the playmaking midfielder the Red Bulls lacked this year, showed his class, setting up both Red Bulls goals and Juan Pablo Angel is getting back to form, putting his stamp on the game with what should have been his third consecutive game-winning goal against the Galaxy.

And defensively, the Red Bulls did a solid job on Los Angeles' big three of David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle for most of the match. Beckham had limited touches because of Dave van den Bergh's defending and Donovan was quiet until second-half stoppage time.

But all the Red Bulls could think about in the locker room after the entertaining draw played in front of 46,754 fans, the largest single-game attendance in Major League Soccer this year, was that they threw away two points and blew an opportunity to move out of the Eastern Conference basement.

"We're scoring goals again, getting organized again and we're actually starting to play some football for long periods of time," Andrew Boyens said. "Now the mentality really has to be that we need to die on the defensive end, give everything you've got and make sure if we score two goals we're winning games."

Aided by Ante Jazic, whose overlapping run gave him time to deliver a cross, Donovan sent the ball from the left flank. Jon Conway stayed on his line, appearing distracted by Edson Buddle, who was crashing the far post.

"It was a good ball, one of those balls, as a goalie, you can't come out and get it," Jeff Parke said. "Edson made a good run across and threw Johnny off his spot because he thinks if he gets his head on it, he's putting it far post. It's a tough decision for him."

The Red Bulls 'keeper would pay for that hesitation, as the ball landed into the side netting and Donovan celebrated his league-leading 12th goal of the year.

"You put those balls in to ask the goalkeeper a question and Jon was asked a question and I think at the end nobody touched the ball and that ended up in the goal," Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio said.

But the Red Bulls contend it shouldn't have even come to that, that the game should have been over long before Donovan's late equalizer. Sure, New York scored two goals for the first time since it beat the Galaxy at The Home Depot Center on May 10, but there were opportunities to get a third and perhaps a fourth.

"When we create that many opportunities we need to bury one more and kill the game early," van den Bergh said. "If you score the third one, you break them and you might bury one more and kill the game early. If you score the third one, you break them and you might even walk away four or 5-1."

The best chance came to Rojas in the 58th minute when a cross by van den Bergh left him alone in front of the net with the ball on his foot. But he said the ball took a bad bounce off the turf and it went off his ankle and over the net from the top of the six-yard box.

"Jorge had a lot of quality balls tonight and he was able to break the team down," Osorio said. "Unfortunately, and Jorge will be the first to agree with this, he had the chances come to him too and couldn't finish them."