Red Bulls refuel for key clash at United

Soccer Betting Lines

08/22/2007 - Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Coach Bruce Arena is worried if New York will have enough "gas back in the tank" for Wednesday's key showdown at D.C. United.

New York won one of the best games in Major League Soccer history on Saturday, 5-4 over Los Angeles and David Beckham. But afterward, the coach knew the pace of the game would require New York to use a "couple new players" Wednesday for the first of two games this week.

"I think (the L.A. game) was a performance that took a lot out of our team and it's going to be important if we can recover physically," Arena said.

The Red Bulls got two goals apiece from Jozy Altidore - his second game in a row with two goals - and Juan Pablo Angel in the victory over the Galaxy. New York has scored eight goals in its last two games - which is the highest two- game total in MLS this season.

Keeping up that pace on tired legs won't be easy. Doing it against the hottest defense in the league will make it even tougher.

D.C. has posted three straight shutouts to set a team-record of 341 minutes without allowing a goal.

"I think that our performance defensively as a unit has been much better. Any time you're throwing shutouts, that is important," D.C. coach Tom Soehn said.

The teams have met twice already, splitting the previous meetings. This time, second place in the Eastern Conference is on the line and the winner could be at the top of the standings by the end of the week.

D.C. and New York each have 33 points - United has played one less game - and are six points behind first-place New England. United and the Red Bulls play twice this week while New England plays only once - vs. New York on Saturday.

In addition to recovering from Saturday's epic and relying on a few new faces, New York could be without midfielder Claudio Reyna on Wednesday because of a groin strain.

One thing Arena's not worried about is New York having a mental letdown.

"I don't think it's guarding a letdown as much as it's regrouping ... I don't think we'll have a letdown on the mental side; we just have to make sure we do a good job in making sure our players recover and get them physically ready to play," Arena said.

D.C. is riding its second three-game winning streak of the season, but lost a key part of its team in Saturday's 2-0 victory over Columbus. Joshua Gros left the game with a concussion - he's had a history of them - and has been ruled out of Wednesday's game.

Since missing the season opener because of concussion problems, Gros started the last 18 games for United. Only leading scorer Luciano Emilio, who has 19 appearances and 18 starts, has played in more games this season for D.C.

The only benefit for United was Gros was injured early in the victory over the Crew, so D.C. has more than 80 minutes of experience without Gros. United had both of their goals in the second half against Columbus.

"First half, we weren't very good with the ball and they came out with a lot of life. We have to get through stretches like that and contain the pressure, but we weren't good off of the ball at the start," Soehn said. "At halftime we made some tactical adjustments that opened up a lot of space for us. Along with that we were much better with the ball and created some room on the flanks and doing that relaxed some weaknesses of theirs."

In addition to the injury to Gros, D.C. midfielder Ben Olsen sat out the win over Columbus because of an injury. He is expected to be back in the lineup Wednesday. Olsen had a hat trick in United's 4-2 win over New York this year.

If New York needed anything else to worry about, it has to deal with Emilio - who leads MLS with 14 goals and has 12 in his last 11 games.

D.C., which lost the other meeting this year at New York 1-0, visits Toronto FC on Saturday in its second game of the week.

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