The execution was poor, but the end result was perfect.
The Red Bulls came out of the Copa America break the same way they went in, posting their fifth straight shutout with a 2-0 win over Seattle before 21,102 Sunday night at Red Bull Arena.
They got a brace from Mike Grella; and even though they saw their high pressure broken and conceded several dangerous chances, they ran their MLS shutout streak to 407 minutes, second-best in the league this season.
It’s the first time they’ve kept four straight clean sheets in league play since 2006, according to Opta. And including Wednesday’s 1-0 U.S. Open Cup win at Rochester, they’ve gone 497 minutes without conceding, and outscored their foes 14-0 in that span.
“We had a really poor performance, but somehow we come out on top with a 2-0 win. Soccer’s a funny game,’’ said Dax McCarty, who saw his Red Bulls get the last laugh.
“A lot of stuff to work on. We can be happy with the result, ecstatic about getting a good result … [but] the performance leaves a lot to be desired. We’re big boys. We need to recognize when we play well and when we don’t play well, and [Sunday] we didn’t play well. But we’re on the right side of a good result.”
That result vaulted the Red Bulls (7-7-1, 22 points) from fifth in the Eastern Conference all the way to second, just a point behind the first-place Philadelphia Union. And they got it thanks to the finishing of Grella, who had goals in the 18th and 59th minutes.
“This was a must-win game. We have two very difficult away games on the road [Real Salt Lake and Columbus] and nothing’s guaranteed, so this was huge for us,’’ said Grella, whose first goal was a tap-in of a rebound from a bending Sacha Kljestan shot off the post. His second came when the high press forced a sloppy pass and a turnover, and he chipped goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
“It was a 50-50 ball … and no way the keeper’s beating me there,” Grella said.
The defense held firm, despite a lack of possession and some dicey moments against a Sounders team that played without Clint Dempsey.
The Red Bulls rested centerback Aurelien Collin to spare him for two games in four days next week, and left back Kemar Lawrence is out with a hernia. But natural right back Chris Duvall held up fine at centerback, right back Connor Lade made a sliding block on Erik Friberg’s wide-open shot from the top of the box, and Ronald Zubar made a great long run to tackle the ball away before leaving with a calf injury.
“We’re putting ourselves closer to Philly, and that’s important. We go on a road trip now where we’ve got four games between two competitions on the road,’’ said Klejstan, pulled in the 60th minute to be rested. “It’s going to be tough, but we have a good mentality and a shutout streak going, so we hope to keep that alive.”