Union loses Le Toux, and game to New York Red Bull

HARRISON, N.J. - Union manager Peter Nowak was less than pleased with his squad after it lost Round 2 of its back-to-back road games against Red Bull New York.

Both clubs started a wealth of young talent in the play-in game for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, but the Red Bull youngsters led New York to its second straight 2-1 victory over the Union. In front of 3,105 at Red Bull Arena, the Red Bulls won on a pair of first-half garbage goals by forward Conor Chinn.

Nowak made the Union players run a series of Argentine box sprints after the game.

"If you don't want to run in the game, you can run after it," he said. "I thought the effort out there was not what we wanted from them during the game, so they can run after."

The Union is 1-4 heading into a Saturday date with the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Galaxy in Carson, Calif.

The Union opted to sit customary starting forwards Sebastien Le Toux and Alejandro Moreno in the first half to give youngsters Jack McInerney and Danny Mwanga a run up top. McInerney played relentless soccer, but a substitution in the 64th minute found Le Toux relieving McInerney.

It took only 4 minutes for that decision to pay dividends as Le Toux chipped Red Bull keeper Greg Sutton off a cross from defender Cristian Arrieta to put the Union within one. However, potential disaster struck in the 82nd minute when a vicious tackle by Red Bull defender Andrew Boyens left the Frenchman writhing in agony.

Le Toux hobbled off the field but medical staff later loaded him onto a stretcher and escorted him off the pitch. Preliminary evaluations speculate Le Toux' ailment as an MCL sprain to his left knee. He will be further evaluated today at Crozer Keystone.

Le Toux, 26, had already been playing with a slight ankle injury and was listed twice this season as questionable on the team's injury report. As a result of last night's injury, the Union found itself playing down a man for the third time this season as Nowak had used all three of his substitutions in the second half.

"He's our offensive leader; of course, it'd be tough without him," said Union goalkeeper Chris Seitz. "I just hope it's not serious and he can be with us in LA."

As for Union rookie Mwanga, his night featured a blast from the 25-yard mark that went wide of Sutton. Fellow rookie Amobi Okugo made his first start, but was not a factor up top. He proved more useful in a switch to a defensive-midfield role in the second half.

"I feel like we are on the verge of turning these games into wins, but it's getting really frustrating to play as tough as we do and keep coming up with a loss," said defender Shea Salinas. "We need to turn these little mistakes around. We do that and we will become a better team."

On the flip side, midfielder Brian Nielsen was the lone member of Saturday's Red Bull starting contingent to remain in the starting lineup. Along with Chinn, former Virginia product Tony Tchani played a major factor controlling the midfield, using his size to repeatedly find Chinn and fellow forward Juan Agudelo. Tchani, part of the Generation adidas pool in January's MLS SuperDraft, was the first overall pick for Red Bull New York.

Former Penn Charter star Chris Albright was a second-half substitute for Red Bull, getting his first game touch since a friendly against Rutgers on April 5. Albright started the season on the team's disabled list while recovering from offseason knee surgery.

"It felt great to be back out there and to get a chance to play against Philly," said Albright. "My main focus is to continue to rehab and hopefully earn myself a spot in [Red Bull coach] Hans Backe's lineup. But tonight felt good, I feel no pain and it was good to get back out there and compete."

The Union returns to its training grounds today in Wallingford for a light recovery session. The team leaves for Los Angeles tomorrow in preparation for its game with the Galaxy, which has been exceptional despite of the loss of star midfielder David Beckham, out for the season with an Achilles' injury. Forward Edson Buddle, who leads MLS with seven goals, spearheads a group that with fellow frontman Landon Donovan are the early favorites to capture the MLS Cup.

"We have a lot of things to work on in the next couple of days," Nowak said. "Our team mentality and team performance has to get better because the performance was not good today and can't continue this way for the rest of the season - it just can't."