All three NYC area soccer teams played on the road Saturday, with varying results: the Red Bulls fought back to stay unbeaten, Raul opened his account in a Cosmos draw, and City couldn't hold on and lost late.

RED BULLS BATTLE BACK FROM 2-0 DOWN FOR DRAW AT DC

Coming off their second bye week, it looked as though the Red Bulls hot start was going to come to a abrupt stop in D.C. on Saturday. United took a lead in the first half on a Perry Kitchen header, who was criminally left unmarked. Kitchen would double the lead in the second half, firing a blistering shot from outside the box past a diving Luis Robles.

The two-goal lead only held for a minute, as Damien Perrinelle headed home a goal off a Felipe Martins corner kick shortly after the restart. And while DC goalkeeper Bill Hamid looked like he had stymied the offense, his bobble on a free kick allowed Lloyd Sam to poach a stoppage time rebound. Sam's third goal of the year let the Red Bulls escape the crumbling ruins of RFK Stadium with an unexpected road point.

The comeback "says a lot," reflected Lloyd Sam after the match. "We could've easily shriveled up and died. They could've maybe got another. It was always going to be difficult, but we stayed in there, for everyone. The whole team - the management, the bench, everyone - stayed in there, and we got our reward."

The Red Bulls sit second in the MLS Eastern Conference (2-0-2, 8 points).

RAUL FINDS NET AS COSMOS DRAW 1-1 WITH INDY ELEVEN

The Cosmos took to the road for the second straight week of the NASL Spring Season, taking on Indy Eleven at Michael Carroll Stadium.

Indy looked to have the Cosmos' number early. Cosmos goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer came way off his line in the 12th minute and got chipped beautifully by Brian Brown to give the home side the lead. On the other end, Indy goalkeeper Kristian Nicht fought off the Cosmos attack repeatedly.

It would take 65 minutes for the Cosmos to find their goal, and it came off the highly profile head of Raul. The Spanish legend rose to meet a Walter Restrepo cross, giving him his first goal since joining the Cosmos in the off-season. He needs just 322 more to match his competitive record for Real Madrid!

Unfortunately, for the second straight week, Raul was substituted off with an apparent injury, as was Restrepo. "Both of them just got a bit of a knock during the match and we'll re-evaluate them tomorrow," coach Giovanni Savarese said. "We'll see how they’re going to do during the week. We hope they’re going to be available. I think for sure Restrepo, but we'll just have to assess a little more Raul."

Let's hope Raul recovers in time for the home opener (more on that later). The Cosmos sit second in the NASL Spring Season table (1-0-1, 4 points)

NYCFC HAND PHILADELPHIA A LATE WIN

One win in five games. They call Yankee Stadium home. Offensive dry spells. Defensive errors. We don't want to say NYCFC are the spitting image of the Yankees, but their last minute collapse on the road at Philadelphia has a lot of people tempering expectations.

The Union had been winless to open the season, had not scored at home, and had just undergone a tremendous amount of goalkeeper drama. So when Philadelphia struck first, one could hardly blame Eric Ayuk from celebrating, even though the goal was credited to Zach Pfeffer:

David Villa would level the match in the 55th minute, after some neat passing and a spilled ball from Union goalkeeper John McCarthy. Given the Union's penchant for giving up late goals, it seemed inevitable the tie would be broken late - but it was NYCFC who would commit the defensive blunder. Josh Saunders failed to clear a cross from Andrew Wenger, and Vincent Noguiera streaked in to put it home in front of the River End.

Coach Jason Kreis seemed perplexed after the match as to why the club couldn't put together a 90 minute performance. "Another match where I thought we wasted 45 minutes. For whatever reason, I don’t know the answer to it, and I don’t think anyone has it quite yet, but we have to figure it out pretty quickly: we can’t seem to start a match the right way. We’ve had one good start to a match, and that was the home match we won. So we’ve got to sort through that. But, the reaction and response in the second half was very good. You walk away one half feeling very disappointed and disgruntled, but the other half says there’s still good stuff there and I see an end-product that we want to get to, but we have got to figure it out pretty quick."

NYCFC sit sixth in the MLS Eastern Conference (1-2-2, 5 points).

NEXT WEEKEND: FOUR MATCHES, FOUR DAYS

Do you like constant, dizzying, endless soccer? Do you like traipsing all over the NYC metropolitan area to watch it? Do you have four consecutive evenings with no other plans? If the answer to these questions is "yes", then we have great news for you: all three NYC teams are playing at home next weekend on four straight days:

  • Thursday gives NYCFC a shot at immediate revenge, as they host the Philadelphia Union at Yankee Stadium (7PM, TV: YES).
  • Friday allows the Red Bulls to play just their second home game of the year, this time against San Jose (7PM, TV: UniMas). The Red Bulls will be partnering with area charities for Autism Awareness Night.
  • Saturday finds the Cosmos finally opening at home, as the Tampa Bay Rowdies visit Shuart Stadium (8PM, TV: One World Sports). Pele and Franz Beckenbauer will be in attendance.
  • Sunday has NYCFC back at it on short rest, as Williamsburg's favorite soccer team, the Portland Timbers, come to town (7PM, TV: Fox Sports 1).

I'll be attending all four games because we love stunt journalism I love the sport; you can follow me on Twitter to watch my slow decent to madnesshear about my inevitable divorce get live updates from all four matches.