Carlos Coronel was at the top of his game for the Red Bulls. (Kevin Sousa-USA TODAY Sports)
The two worst teams in the MLS Eastern Conference were pit against one another on Wednesday night and quite appropriately, the game ended in a tie.
Worse, it was a scoreless draw between the visiting Red Bulls and Toronto FC at BMO Field in Toronto, Canada.
If we had to pick a winner, it probably would go to the 14th-place Red Bulls (2-4-7, 13 points, who managed to pick up an away point and kept Troy Lesesne unbeaten in league (1-0-1) and across all competitions (2-0-1). Toronto has an identical 2-4-7 record and 13 points, but remained in the conference cellar because New York had a better goal differential.
Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel was solid in the nets, making three saves, as did Toronto FC goalie Sean Johnson.
Three minutes into second-half stoppage time, Themi Antonoglou found himself with a marvelous scoring opportunity, but he shanked his shot wide right.
“I’m very pleased with the performance, another clean sheet,” Lesesne said. “That’s the third match in a row. I think again, we continue to make progress towards some of the things that we want to improve on with the ball in terms of creating just some different looks and different ideas.
“I love the way that our press looked in the second half in particular towards the end of the first half the second half in particular, I thought we were really in sync with one another. It’s a chance or two that we have that we could win the game. I think to be fair to Toronto, we also, had some moments where they were dangerous, and transition moments and they could have won the game as well.”
Both teams limped into the match with under-represented lineups due to injuries, suspensions and international duty.
The Red Bulls were without 12 players.
The missing included:
* Serge Ngoma (hamstring)
* Luquinhas (adductor)
* Lewis Morgan (hip)
* Matt Nocita (hamstring)
* Steven Sserwadda (knee)
* Frankie Amaya (ankle)
* Kyle Duncan (knee)
* Dante Vanzeir (suspension)
* Sean Nealis (yellow card accumulation)
* Andres Reyes (yellow card accumulation)
* Cristian Casseres Jr. (yellow card accumulation)
* Daniel Edelman (international duty with USA squad at Under-20 World Cup)
To fill out a full roster, the team signed three members of Red Bulls II on short-term loans – defenders Davi Alexandre and O’Vonte Mullings and midfielder Amos Shapiro-Thompson.
Mullings made his MLS debut in the 73rd minute, replacing right back Cameron Harper.
Jayden Reid of Elmont, N.Y. also made his league debut, as he came on for Omir Fernandez, the goal-scoring hero of Lesesne’s first two wins, two minutes into second-half stoppage time.
