Red Bulls midfielder Omir Fernandes (21) is defended by FC Dallas midfielder Facundo Quignon. (Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports)
Here it is, the Ides of April and the Red Bulls still haven’t won a home game this MLS season.
It’s not for their lack of trying.
On Saturday night, they dominated the match at Red Bull Arena from start to finish, but had nothing to show for their efforts in a scoreless draw with FC Dallas on Saturday night.
The Red Bulls did everything but score before a crowd of 14,456.
Out of a possible 12 home points, the Red Bulls have accrued only two because they have a 0-2-2 record at home. If if wasn’t for their perfect 3-0-0 road mark, they would be at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
The Red Bulls (11 points) are 3-2-2 overall while Dallas (12) moved to 3-1-3.
Red Bulls head coach Gerhard Struber admitted the team is feeling the pressure of failing to win at home, but he was optimistic the squad could turn into around.
“I think that pressure will grow when we don’t win,” he said. “I think in this direction we make the pressure for ourselves bigger and bigger. But I think me and the coaching team have so belief in my team and so big trust. I think it would be a completely different situation when we have a lot of problems to create something or we have a lot of problems that we have no organized sessions on the field. This would be a bigger problem.”
The Red Bulls outshot Dallas, 20-5, and enjoyed a 56-44 possession advantage.
Not even could Ashley Fletcher’s first Red Bulls start could help the team find the net.
New York just couldn’t cash in on close encounters – Omir Fernandes somehow miskicked the ball from point-blank range in the second half. Add some timely saves by Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes, a shot off the woodwork and a few more missed opportunities and hence you have frustrating nil-nil result for the home team.
“At home we just need to create a few more clear cut chances for our strikers or someone’s got to put the team on their back end and get us one,” team captain Aaron Long said. “We need to be scoring goals at home. We weren’t as sharp as we could have been in a lot of those transition moments.
“We definitely had a lot of the ball, and we dominated a lot of certain moments. We could have been a little bit more dangerous on set pieces, could have been a little bit more dangerous in transition but I think that’s coming. For the most part, again, it was a pretty decent performance for us, so we have to be semi-happy here.”
The visitors’ scoring opportunities were few and far between.
One of their best scoring opportunities came in the 26th minute when Lewis Morgan ripped a 24-yard free kick heading toward the left corner. Paes dove and parried it away. Another chance can with Paes out of the net, but Matt Hedges headed the ball out of harm’s way to keep the game scoreless.
New York dominated the second half so much, there had to be worries that they would have worn out the grass in front of the South Ward.
They did everything but score.
Struber said that not “a lot of goals at home is at the moment not everything sexy but I can tell you that … the goals will come and no one can stop that.”
The visitors almost did as keeper Carlos Coronel knocked away Franco Jara’s attempt before he pounced on the loose ball in the penalty area.
But for the most part, the Red Bulls closed down the Dallas front three of Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola, who are both U.S. men’s national team players, and Alan Velasco.
“It was a big effort from the team to to get a lot of pressure on them early on,” Long said. “We won our first duels in the back a lot.”
FrontRowSoccer.com editor Michael Lewis has written a new book, ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. You can learn more about it or purchase it here:
