By BRIAN LEWIS
Dave van den Bergh’s hernia surgery last week _ and to a lesser extent Danleigh Borman’s rolled ankle today in practice _ leaves Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio with a tough decision on where to deploy Jorge Rojas: Central midfield or left-wing? Where he’s best or where he’s needed?
“Hopefully (Borman) is OK to go; if that’s not the case, we’ll go with Plan C,” Osorio said. “But we have players who can play there. I think Rojas could be very good in that position, provided we find him early on and facing the play. But if every time we give him the ball he’s playing with his back to goal, plus a defender on his back, then it’s very difficult. That was one of the reasons things didn’t work out well for us.”
After watching Borman practice out wide today _ before he rolled his ankle _ and hearing Osorio talk, it’s pretty clear the speedy South African rookie was Plan B and Rojas Plan C. And it’s equally clear why; both Rojas and the Red Bulls are much better when the Venezuelan is in the middle of the park. “Yes, yes, absolutely,” Osorio acknowledged. “I was the first one who told you how effective he can be in that position. But when you don’t have David and you want an experienced player (wide left), right away you have to think of Jorge. That’s where he’s played probably 80 percent of his career.”
There’s no doubt Rojas has been the Red Bulls’ talisman. They’ve scored a dozen goals in his six starts, going 3-1-2; but they’ve mustered exactly a goal a game in their 19 games he didn’t start, going just 6-7-6. And the numbers are far more glaring specifically with him in the center of the park.
“Nothing is certain. (Osorio) hasn’t been given me a position yet. They’re going to discuss tomorrow what position I’ll play, but I’ve been training everywhere,” Rojas said. “Even though I trained in the middle today, coach told me to keep my options open because I might have to play on the left.
“I like (playing centrally) a lot, not only the position but being able to look at the forwards. I’ve had a lot of space to play, and Osorio has given me a lot of freedom to what I want to do when I have the ball. I like both positions. I have more space in the middle, just because I don’t have the sideline; but I want to play whatever helps the team the best.”
To this point, that would be as a central attacking midfielder, tucked behind two forwards. In five starts centrally, the team is 3-0-2 and outscored its foes 11-5.
Including the fact he came off the bench in one game, moved wide left at halftime of another and then started on the flank before shifting centrally for the final 30 minutes of their last game, the Red Bulls have outscored their foes 11-5 in his 455 minutes centrally, but been outscored 20-28 otherwise _ including 1-3 in his 105 minutes logged as a left winger.
But in the 3-1 loss to Columbus _ the only one of his starts where he opened the game out wide, before moving inside upon Mike Magee’s departure _ the Red Bulls didn’t play the ball to Rojas on the move out wide, and he had to spend much of the game defending all-energy fullback Frankie Hejduk.
“When you play a 3-4-1-2 or 4-2-3-1, the wide players have to do a lot of defensive work, and he’s not reluctant to do it,” Osorio said. “Against Columbus, he found himself competing against a very good fullback who goes on the attack all the time.
“But if we manage to give Jorge the ball that we’ve managed to give in the past to David, facing the goal, then he’s just as good, just as effective, because he’s very good going 1 v 1, he’s capable of crossing the ball and he can keep possession like David has.
“In the last game we couldn’t find him facing the goal, and every time we gave him the ball he had a defender at his back, and that’s difficult for him or for anybody else.”
Part of the issue is also that no other Red Bull has shown the ability to hold down the No. 10 spot. Mike Magee has played much better as a support striker but readily admits he’s struggled as a central attacking midfielder. Check back later as I take a look at the longest-tenured Metro, er, Red Bull, and where he might fit into the puzzle Saturday.
Where do you think Osorio should play Rojas, assuming Borman can go? Out wide left? Behind the strikers? Check in with us….
