The Red Bulls overcame injuries to fight back from a pair of deficits to post a potential season-shaping victory, writes Goal USA's Ives Galarcep.

HARRISON, NJ — When Houston Dynamo midfielder Alex finished off a well-worked passing sequence with a goal just past the diving Luis Robles on Saturday night, the 3-2 lead it gave the Dynamo felt very much like the finishing blow that would leave the New York Red Bulls sitting with an improbable 0-3 record.

Sure, there were still 25 minutes left to play, but up to that point everything was going in Houston's favor. The Dynamo's attack had its way with a timid-looking Red Bulls early on, and the only thing causing the home team more trouble was injuries. One by one, Gonzalo Veron, Gideon Baah and Ronaldo Zubar all had to leave the match with hamstring injuries. Even when Mike Grella scored to make the match 2-2, the Red Bulls watched Alex's goal just two minutes later snatch the momentum right back.

The Red Bulls could have buckled at that point, and Houston's high-scoring attack could have blown the game wide open facing off against a patchwork defense, but rather than crumble, the Red Bulls showed a champion's spirit for the first time this season. It may have taken the sobering reality that a third straight loss to start the season was staring them in the face to help the Red Bulls wake up and play like the defending Supporters' Shield winners they are.

“In Montreal (last week), we went down 2-0 and we kind of rolled over and never had a chance to get back in the game,” Kljestan told Goal USA. “But tonight, we went down and it was like, ‘Okay, we’re going to get stronger and we’re going to come back.'”

The Red Bulls battled back not once, but twice, with the more impressive rally coming after that Alex goal made the score 3-2. The Red Bulls didn't look much like a team made for a comeback the way they played in the first half. Aside from a decent start that saw them score the opening goal, the Red Bulls were soundly outplayed in the first half by a Dynamo team that has scored more goals than anyone in MLS (and the most goals in the first three games of the season in MLS history with 11).

Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch could sense his team just wasn't into the match, and at halftime he begged his players to play with the same fearless approach that led the Red Bulls to the best record in MLS in 2015.

"The funny thing for me was watching our team play nervy and a bit scared in the first half," Marsch said. "We’d lost two games and guys don't want to lose balls and guys don't want to make mistakes. I just tried to say to them at halftime 'we've never been a team that plays scared, right?' The very first conversation I had with our team way back when was that the only thing there is no tolerance for around here is not playing with everything you have."

"I don’t think we had fear, we just didn’t move and didn’t play the way Jesse wants us to play," Felipe Martins told Goal USA. "We weren’t sharp enough, we weren’t fast enough, we weren’t closing down fast enough and we were making mistakes. In the second half we were alert, and everybody was on the same page."

As if the team's unsettled play in the first half wasn't bad enough, starters Veron and Baah suffered injuries that left Marsch with just one substitution left, which he wound up having to use on replacing Zubar in the 54th minute. With his starting center backs injured, and with no subs to use, Marsch moved Kemar Lawrence into central defense and stood back and watched his team respond to adversity in a way a true title contender does.

The Red Bulls rally was a true team effort, from Mike Grella helping provide a boost after Veron's departure, to the effort of the reconfigured back line, including a strong showing by Lawrence in central defense.

As much as their second-half was a team effort, it was the Red Bulls central midfield that really drove the recovery. Martins will grab the headlines for scoring a pair of beautiful goals to complete the comeback, but McCarty also played a key role, as he helped turn the tide by imposing his will late in the match, when Houston's midfield appeared to fade.

"The two guys on our team that have grit and competitive edge are Dax and Felipe," Marsch said. "The fact those two guys are in the middle of the midfield for us, I think that makes our team in many ways because they're just so gritty and they don't ever want to lose. I see it every day in training. Some days I have to like calm them down but that's what makes them special, and that's, frankly, what we need."

On a day when fellow East power Columbus stayed winless, and Montreal suffered its first defeat of the season, the Red Bulls provided the first evidence of 2016 that they are still a powerhouse. It may not have been a perfect performance, and there are still plenty of questions surrounding the Red Bulls as they head into a bye week, but Saturday's dramatic victory is just what the Red Bulls needed to restore some confidence and faith in a team that came into the year with championship expectations.

"I think this is what we needed," Marsch said of Saturday's comeback win. "I think this is the kind of game that can define a season in many ways."