Photo by William Hauser/USA Today Sports
Prior to Mike Grella’s equalizer in the second half, the New York Red Bulls were down a goal and all three substitutes against the Houston Dynamo because of injuries.
While the cards were stacked against Jesse Marsch’s side on Saturday night, the home side displayed great resilience and scored three goals after halftime en route to their first victory of the new MLS season.
“The fact that there were no subs left in the second half and that we had to claw our way back in to the game and we gave a goal back right away,” Marsch said. “At halftime I told them that if they could go on the field and believe and not play scared that we were going to win the game.
“We got ourselves back in it and went back down again, but the fact that we kept going after the game was good. Again, without any subs it was up to the 11 guys out there to make it happen.”
Grella, who replaced Gonzalo Veron just after the half hour mark, put his stamp on the match with a goal in the 63rd minute. While the midfielder admits he didn’t know much about the finish after it took a deflection off his cleat from an attempted Dynamo clearance, it certainly was a contributing factor in the Red Bulls comeback.
The Dynamo immediately responded after the Grella goal, though, again putting the Red Bulls on the back-burner.
While the deficit wasn’t ideal, the energy and resolve that the hosts exhibited was something that the side has prided itself on dating back to last season.
“It’s a game where in every single way we should probably lose,” Grella said. “We lose our two starting centerbacks. You lose Gonzalo so early in the game. It’s a game you should probably lose and every guy could have had excuses as to why we should have lost, but we kept fighting and we felt a tie wasn’t enough.”
With both sides creating chances, it was the Red Bulls that found themselves on the front foot as the match wore down, then an unlikely source took over.
Felipe, who scored the team’s tying and game-winning goals in the final quarter hour, plays a critical deep-lying position for his side in the midfield. However, his offensive contributions were vital against the Dynamo.
The 25-year old tallied just three goals last season, and looks to be well on his way to surpassing that total in 2016.
“Felipe has so much quality as a player,” Grella said. “A lot of times you don’t get to see that because he sits deep in the midfield doing the dirty work, winning balls and keeping plays flowing for us. He scores goals like that in training and to me it’s not a surprise in the least. I’m just happy he did it in the moments that he did it. We desperately needed a win so his performance was key.”
With Bradley Wright-Phillips, Sacha Kljestan and Grella in the attack, Felipe isn’t necessarily expected to carry a hefty offensive burden on most nights. That wasn’t the case though in their victory.
The versatility that the Brazilian displayed on both ends of the pitch further personifies his value to Marsch’s side, and he recognizes that he doesn’t see himself as a one-way player in the Red Bulls’ unique system.
“I try to help our team in as many ways as I can,” Felipe said of his performance. “My position usually makes me play further back, but there are times, like tonight, where I am able to move up the field and help the team in the attack.
“We had a lot of chances tonight, but I was just happy to be able to contribute. The chance with Bradley [Wright-Phillips] in the first half was disappointing to not go in the goal, but it was a good save. We kept pushing as hard we could though, and I think we did a good job of not giving up on the match.”
