Greg Sutton blocked out reports of the Red Bulls acquiring a new keeper with the same aplomb he blocked shots last night. The Canadian veteran took the latest turn in the game of musical chairs that is the Red Bulls’ goalkeeping mess, and kept their first clean sheet since April in a 5-0 blanking of Toronto FC.
“I think we needed a shutout more than a five-goal thrashing,’’ said Sutton, who posted the team’s first shutout since April 30 against Sporting Kansas City. “It was well-deserved. The guys worked well and hard together. It was all-around a good, complete 90 minutes that was needed.’’
They clearly needed a solid defensive performance, from front to back. They’d coughed up 20 goals in their last ten games _ five more than Chivas USA, the next worst team in MLS over that span _ and suffered a series of terrible goalkeeping gaffes, the latest Bouna Coundoul going for a catch instead of a punch and eventually giving away a cheap score in last weekend’s 2-2 tie at San Jose.
Coach Hans Backe went back to Sutton, who’d given up seven goals in two games before giving way to Coundoul for the two in Chicago and San Jose. The result was five saves last night against Toronto FC, including a huge 52nd-minute parry on Javier Martina, where he parried a shot off the left post.
“You’re going one way, and the ball’s cut back the other way. It’s a difficult play for a goalkeeper. I was fortunate enough to get a finger on it, and fortunate enough the ball was ready to come back to me right off the post,’’ said Sutton. “It was a change of luck for us…a good surprise.’’
Moments later the Red Bulls got a counterattack goal from Joel Lindpere, and in that seminal moment, what very easily could’ve become a 2-1 nailbiter turned into a 3-0 cushion. They rolled to their biggest win since the 2009 season finale, but considering their recent penchant for blowing second-half leads, they know it very easily could’ve been different if not for Sutton’s save.
“Before we scored the third one, it could have easily been two to one. They hit the post. I’m sure we would’ve had a game like we’ve had since the beginning of the season where maybe we would’ve gotten scared and it wouldn’t have been five nil,’’ said Thierry Henry. “But Sutton touched the ball, it hit the post, and it came back to him. So for once we had good luck.’’
They were fortunate, and also compact and organized with twin holding midfielders Teemu Taino and Dax McCarty controlling the middle of the park in front of centerbacks Carlos Mendes and Tim Ream, the latter having a solid bounceback performance from last weekend’s rare subpar game.
But for his part, the 33-year-old Sutton insisted that while his form may have gone up and down, his confidence never did.
“My confidence has been pretty much the same throughout the year,’’ said Sutton. “Everyone says, ‘Well, he was down and out after the Seattle mistake.’ Anybody who’s been in this game makes mistakes. Every goalkeeper has made that mistake: It’s how you get back up and play after.
“That stuff is something that’s gone, and (it) happens. It’s not the first time it happened to me. I maintained a pretty good confidence during my stint here in New York. I just keep going, and doing the best I can. Whatever happens, happens.”
The veteran is taking the same philosophical view of GM Erik Soler saying he hopes to have a deal completed for another keeper within the next few days, and practicing with the team in a couple of weeks.
“You can’t worry about that stuff. That stuff, a lot of it is hearsay, a lot of it may be true. But whatever, it’s nothing I can control. I don’t get my head wrapped around that stuff,’’ said Sutton. “That stuff goes around every year. Every different club has those kind of problems (or) issues at times. You just have to go ahead and do your business and whatever happens, happens.’’
