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Haitian-American Josmer Altidore score an NYRedBulls lost to DC United (4-3)

AGAINST UNITED, THEY FALL

Red Bulls lose 4-3 in D.C.; lose ground to K.C.

Sept. 23, 2006

Washington, D.C. -- Needing at least a point to keep pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the New York Red Bulls left RFK Stadium with none on a frustrating Saturday night.

For the second time in four days, the Red Bulls' playoff quest hit a major bump in the road in a 4-3 loss to D.C. United at RFK Stadium.

At least the Bulls made it interesting as Amado Guevara struck twice and 16-year-old Jozy Altidore scored two minutes into stoppage time.

But that didn't help the Red Bulls (7-11-11, 32 points), who remained in fifth place, still trailing the Kansas City Wizards (9-13-6, 33) for the fourth and final playoff spot with three games remaining. The visiting Wizards played the New England Revolution to a 1-1 draw. First-place United (15-4-10, 55) solidified its lead.

"The name of the game today was how inconsistent we were and our inability to sort some things out in the second half," Red Bulls coach Bruce Arena said.

"It's disappointing. I think it's a process with some of our players in trying to understand how to deal with games like this, situations like this, etcetera. . . We have a number of inexperienced players on the field, combined with not always good performances at the right time from some of our veterans."

Another problem with the team was the team's fitness or lack thereof, especially with playing two key games in four days. The Red Bulls lost at home to the Revs Wednesday, 2-0.

"one thing that was obvious to me when I came in was that we have a very poorly conditioned team," Arena said. "You can see at the ends of these games how they break down.

United took advantage of a Red Bulls own goal in the 10th minute. Christian Gomez swung in a free kick from the left side to an onrushing Jamil Walker. But defender Carlos Mendes got into the way and deflected off his right knee the ball past his own goalkeeper, a stunned Tony Meola.

The Red Bulls equalized on Amado Guevara's penalty kick in the 20th minute. Youri Djorkaeff swung a corner kick to Seth Stammler that United defender Facundo Erpen handled. Guevara beat goalkeeper Troy Perkins to the lower left corner.

Gomez, however, turned goal-scorer in the 60th minute after several quick short passes. Jaime Moreno, who had just entered the match, fed Gomez and the Argentine native beat Meola from seven yards on the right side for his 11th goal of the season for a 2-1 advantage.

Arena thought Guevara did well offensively, but reminded reporters that "he was also part of the big goal that D.C. United scored. But out of a player like Amado, those are plays he's got to make. I know you don't see that from the stands or the press box - you'll see the two goals he scored, but we want Amado to make that other play as well where he got beat by Gomez and it resulted in their second goal, which hurts us."

Only a minute later, the Red Bulls when Erpen stomped on John Wolyniec at midfield and was given a red card, allowing the visitors play the remainder of the game with a man advantage.

It didn't help.

It was United that found the back of the net. D.C. intercepted a midfield pass from the Red Bulls. Moreno raced toward the goal, found midfielder Ben Olsen on the right side and Olsen passed back to Moreno, who beat Meola from close-range for a 3-1 lead in the 73rd minute.

The goal was Moreno's 11th of the season and 21st in his career against the MetroStars/Red Bulls.

Arena became animated off the bench in the second half, particularly because of the performance of his defense.

"I got upset in the second half because I was telling our backline to step up their play," he said, adding that United] is playing a man short and our back line never moved. (They) would be playing balls into Moreno and Gomez and they'd turn and they'd break us down. We need to be releasing our whole back line. There's no sense in having a back line just standing back there. And they didn't do a good job in dealing with that part of the game. Again, inexperienced players don't yet have good habits as professionals in terms of being able to talk and sort things out."

Altidore, the hero of last week's 1-0 victory over the Columbus Crew, made his presence felt only two minutes after replacing Wolyniec in the 74th minute Saturday night, forcing Perkins to make a save.

Guevara made it a one-goal game in the 82nd minute after Djorkaeff was fouled just outside the right side of the penalty area by Olsen. Guevara pushed the ball to Dema Kovalenko, who shoved it back to Guevara. The Honduran international fired a hard shot past a leaping Perkins into the upper right corner.

But United regained its two-goal margin in the 89th minute. Matias Donnet picked up a loose ball at midfield and blasted a 25-yard shot past a stunned Meola into the upper left corner for a 4-2 bulge.

"It's a lack of concentration," Mendes said. "We were a man up and we didn't press as a team. At the back, we didn't press up high enough. We didn't stay organized. We gave up bad goals. It's definitely a tough loss."

Altidore cut the lead to one two minutes into stoppage time. He has scored twice in only 70 minutes over four games.