Perhaps it all started too easily: five minutes into the match, Gideon Baah launched a long ball forward that evaded the entire Bethlehem Steel back line and was punched into the net by Brandon Allen. Up 1-0 thanks to the sort of defending school teams would be ashamed of, the New York Red Bulls II were maybe guilty of thinking they might get handed another such gift.
The first half saw NYRB II mostly laboring in the final third - trying to do a little too much at times, and far too little at others - while Bethlehem Steel puzzlingly appeared content to stick to a sit-back-and-counter game plan that let their visitors see a great deal more of the ball than seemed warranted.