It's not a great result, as results go, but the New York Red Bulls showed something they've been missing for months in their 1-1 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday evening - some effort. It took a while for it to come out, however - the hosts went down fairly early thanks to a close-range finish by Davide Chiumiento, and worse was to come after a farcical display from referee Terry Vaughn saw New York reduced to ten men.
New York Red Bulls Vs. Vancouver Whitecaps: 10-Man Red Bulls Salvage Draw
It's not as though they didn't deserve it, because they totally did, it's that the wrong person entirely was sent off. First Rafael Marquez, who was sitting on a yellow card, performed a beautiful example of the good old tow-footed scissor lunge on Eric Hassli, who was minding his own business when he was basically assaulted from behind. As Hassli was writhing on the ground in some pain, the referee happily pointed out that in the process of attempting to detach the Frenchman's legs, Marquez managed to nick the ball, and the defender went unpunished.
The fact that something was slightly off about this must have dawned on the hapless Vaughn a few minutes later, because he then decided to give a straight red card to Jan Solli for what one would call a 'denial of a clear goal-scoring opportunity' only because one has evaluated all other options and found them to be even more insane. Which is to say he bundled over Camilo Sanvezzo thirty yards from goal with adequate cover. It remains to be seen whether or not Vaughn's 'penultimate man' interpretation of the rules will form a precedent, but I would guess no, because it was pretty stupid.
Anyway, that was NYRB down to ten, with Solli falling on his sword to make up the karmic gap created when Marquez wasn't sent to an early shower, and they were also looking at that 1-0 deficit as well. Not to worry - they decided to actually show up in the second half, putting the Whitecaps under sustained pressure for long periods of time before finally making the breakthrough via substitute Juan Agudelo in the 69th minute. It was a deserved reward for some very positive play in the second half, and the Red Bulls nearly added to it before the full time whistle went (and Vancouver also came close in injury time, when a curling effort from Sanvezzo buzzed Bouna Coundoul's far post).
A point’s not a good result, but the fact that New York managed to come back at all was pretty impressive. However, when showing heart in the face of adversity in a 1-1 draw against rubbish opposition is one of the best parts of one’s season, one has had a rubbish season.
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