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Red Bulls' winless streak reaches 12

Jul 26, 2009 - 5:20 AM By DALE BUBLITZ STATS MLS Correspondent

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (STATS) - During their latest league-record winless streak, the New York Red Bulls have been victimized in a variety of ways. According to Juan Carlos Osorio, their most recent defeat had elements beyond their control.

"Playing in the altitude and against a good team like Colorado presents a difficult time," the Red Bulls coach said. "Unfortunately the decision made in the 43rd minute of the first half completely changed the whole game. A game that in my opinion was very close."

The decision to which Osorio referred was when midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic received a red card ejection from referee Jasen Anno. New York trailed 1-0 at the time and never recovered.

"We had two great chances before that, one when Juan Pablo Angel hit the crossbar," Osorio said. "We couldn't score after that decision. The complexion of the whole game changed."

The New York Red Bulls tied their league record with a 12-game winless streak with a 4-0 loss to the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night.

"I'm not one to complain about anything, but I think it was appropriate," Osorio said. "It did impact the game in a very dramatic way."

Jacob Peterson, Pat Noonan, Nick LaBrocca and Mehdi Ballouchy scored for Colorado (7-5-6), which completed a two-game season sweep of New York. Goalkeeper Matt Pickens had his fourth shutout of the year and 15th of his career.

"They are going through a difficult time," Colorado coach Gary Smith said. "We certainly took advantage of it."

The Red Bulls (2-15-4), a season after reaching the MLS Cup final, lost their fifth straight and have gone 0-10-2 in MLS and 0-11-2 overall including the U.S. Open Cup since beating San Jose 4-1 on May 8. They have been outscored 26-7 during the league winless streak, which equals the MLS record they set during the 1999 season.

New York is also 0-18-6 in its past 24 MLS road games since winning at Los Angeles on May 10 last year.

"These are times that just haven't gone our way," New York defender Mike Petke said. "There is a feeling that we don't deserve to have the record we have."

The Rapids grabbed the lead when Peterson beat goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul in the fifth minute. Omar Cummings drew two defenders and found Peterson in front of the crease for his second goal of the year.

"Scoring first was huge for us," Peterson said. "They are going through a rough patch and any time a team is like that, they are a little bit vulnerable."

Pickens maintained Colorado's lead with a diving stop of Macoumba Kandji's low left-footed kick from 30 yards in the 19th minute.

Though Coundoul came out of the crease to smother a breakaway attempt by Cummings in the 32nd minute, the Rapids extended their lead in the 47th minute on Noonan's first goal of the season off a pass from Pablo Mastroeni. LaBrocca scored an unassisted goal in the 61st minute and Ballouchy had one in the 67th minute.

Colorado lost defender Julien Baudet in the 35th minute after colliding with Ubiparipovic. It was originally called a left elbow injury, but post-game X-rays revealed breaks in both bones in Baudet's left forearm.

The Rapids were missing leading scorer Conor Casey, who served a one-game suspension.

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Story from: STATS LLC, http://www.stats.com.