RECAP: Michael Bradley’s Worst Loss Minted in Charlotte, 6-1
The Red Bulls had a similar lineup to the one used in the game at Toronto, except for two changes.
Cade Cowell came back after the birth of his child. The other change was having Gustav Berggren in for Justin Che due to injury.
First Half
This game started as if it were last week. At the beginning of the game, the Red Bulls carried the offensive load, but there was no goal for the team. In the first opportunity that Charlotte had after a free kick created by Matty Dos Santos, they scored the only goal of the day. This goal was scored by Idan Toklomati with a header right near the goal line. After the goal, the game evolved into a chess match as both teams thought alike in their tactics of retaining possession of the ball.
The next clearest chance for a goal came when the Red Bulls had a ball that passed through Kristijan Kahlina’s hands and was deflected by a Charlotte defender, which went out to the goal line for another corner. After that, it was a tale of moving chess pieces so that it was a stalemate to end the half.
Second Half
Dos Santos was subbed off to give way to Omar Valencia, and within a minute, Charlotte scored. The goal started from the back, with Kahlina playing the ball to the right side to Nathan Byrne, then a series of quick passes to Djibril Diani, and finally the last pass to Kerwin Vargas. Vargas got the ball via a bad step and a bad clearance by Valencia. In the 53rd minute, Gustav Berggren got a straight red after fouling Toklomati as a denial of a clear goal chance. In the following minute, Pep Biel scored the third goal, shooting the free kick to the same side, just past the post of Ethan Horvath. After the goal, the club made a double sub with Tim Parker in for Adri Mehmeti to fill the spot that Berggren left, and Mohammed Sofo in for Cade Cowell. This red card naturally led to a change in formation from 4-3-2 to 5-3-1 to strengthen the back line.
Interestingly, the team had some good chances after the red card, but that was a short-lived euphoria.
The fourth goal was a laser from Wilfred Zaha that was shot from about the end of the box. Archie Goodwin came in the 76th, and in the 77th, he scored on his first touch. This was Goodwin’s first goal since he was in his native A-League side, Adelaide United. In the 79th minute, Julian Hall scored his fourth of the season after a horrible mistake by Kahlina, in which Ronald Donkor passed it to Hall to score.
Overall Thoughts
This game still shows the same faults the Red Bulls have had this season: a lack of finishing plays. In the first half alone, they could’ve had at least two goals, which were near the three-yard box and three within the six-yard box. Ruvalcalba has still not lived up to the weight that comes of being a Designated Player in the MLS, though he played a little better than the game at Toronto.
This is the highest margin of loss that Michael Bradley has had this year.
The main things to worry about are: can they finish plays that reach the final third, and, lastly, the health of the center backs. The second question arises as there have been injuries to both Justin Che and Dylan Nealis, who did not play due to injuries, and now Berggren will miss at least two games because of the straight red card that he picked up today.
The Red Bulls will next play at home against FC Cincinnati on April 4th, following the International Break in March.
In this season, Cincinnati has only picked up one win and three losses as of the time of writing this post.
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