Red Bulls Beat Earthquakes In MLS Playoffs
SANTA CLARA (AP) -- Joel Lindpere picked up the slack with Thierry Henry and Tony Tchani out with injuries.
Lindpere scored in the 55th minute and the New York Red Bulls beat the San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 on Saturday night in the opener of the two-game, total-goals Eastern Conference semifinal.
The Red Bulls, the top team in the Eastern Conference during the regular season, had to make do without international star Henry and midfielder Tchani. They still had enough firepower to beat the Quakes, who were the lowest-seeded team to make the MLS playoffs.
"I think we played really well," New York coach Hans Backe said. "It's probably one of our best away games. (We were) so composed."
Game 2 is Thursday night in Harrison, N.J., where the Red Bulls went 10-3-2 this season, including a 2-0 win against the Earthquakes on Aug. 28.
"It's a great, great win to start with, but it's only the first half," Backe said. "If we can play so composed as today, I think we will be hard to beat."
Lindpere scored after the Earthquakes were unable to clear a cross from Juan Pablo Angel. The ball fell to the feet of Lindpere, who carefully placed a low shot to the far post to beat goalkeeper Jon Busch.
"Often, the difference between who goes on and who doesn't are the plays in front of goal," Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez said. "They got a goal, and we were chasing it, looking for it and couldn't find it."
New York was an MLS-best 14-0-1 when scoring first in the regular season.
Lindpere almost put New York ahead in the 44th minute when he got the ball 9 yards away from net with Busch off his line, but San Jose's Jason Hernandez was able to clear Lindpere's low strike off the line.
San Jose nearly tied it the 83rd minute when leading scorer Chris Wondolowski banged a volley off the ground. Eduardo had a good look at the uncovered rebound, but his shot caromed off the post.
"We said we have to try to stress them high, force them as much as possible to long passes," Backe said. "Don't give them time and space. The work ethic was great today, the pressing game from the whole team, and that's the key to the defense."
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