Wow, well hopefully you haven't been using the Offside as your sole source for MLS news (as I
know many of you do), because I haven't been very diligent in updating you on all things Red Bull
New York. With the Bulls facing some adversity (understatement of the year?), the front office
has taken action and enlisted the help of German backstop Frank Rost.
Hans Backe - Mr. Mediocre
I've been absent from The Viper's Nest for far too long, weighed under by this, that and the other.
But I'm back, and I'm determined to bring you a regular, more consistent British perspective of the
Red Bulls.
So, have I missed much?
Yes, but most of it bad.
It took less than 12 minutes for Seattle to launch themselves out 2-0 in the early going. Roger
Levesque played hero.
New York was without some of their bigger guns, Thierry Henry and Luke Rodgers were both out of the
starting lineup as were Tim Ream and Rafa Marquez. Ream and Marquez were away on national team
duty, with both their respective teams in the final.
This one was always going to be difficult. With the Red Bulls missing both starting forwards (Henry
and Rodgers), their main striking option off the bench (Agudelo) and the central defensive tandem
of Marquez and Ream, getting the full three points in Seattle was a tall order. Factor in an MLS
record crowd of 46,505 and relatively short rest after Sunday's wild 3-3 slug fest in Portland and
even a draw may have been a lot to ask.
Good afternoon! It's a beautiful day here in Red Bulls land. Our team has made it's way out to the
Northwest, for a Father's Day encounter against the Portland Timbers. As we await that one, let's
get to some Red Bulls news from the past week:
The week started off with a bang, as Vettel-gate drew the anger of many a RBNY fan (including
myself).
Greg Time?: Sutton Came Up Huge for the Red BullsThe Red Bulls finally got a badly-needed
2-1 victory over New England Revolution last night at Red Bull Arena, but they sure didn't make it
easy on themselves or their 21,000+ supporters in attendance. Wasteful early in the match and then
again in the final 20 minutes, RBNY was nearly made to pay for their profligacy when the Revs
appeared to have equaled the score 2-2 in the 87th minute.
The three-game winning streak of last month seems so distant now, doesn't it? For that matter,
so does my last blog post, but that's neither here nor there (but apologies, nonetheless). The
Red Bulls now find themselves in a precarious situation. They are no longer getting the results
that seemed to come so easily earlier in the season, and the defense has been suspect to say the
least.
After all the trade-hype eventually died down, it was time for the Red Bulls to take the field.Â
With Dwayne De Rosario in tow, New York was looking to get off on the right
foot. But the Dynamo proved that there is plenty of work still to be done during the long season
that lies ahead.
After it was announced that five starters from their first game against Seattle would missing on
their trip to Columbus, Hans Backe was forced to put together a makeshift lineup that would
severely test New York's depth. Even with all these changes, the Red Bulls still managed to get a
result in enemy territory, a sign that perhaps this team has what it takes to be championship
caliber.
There was a bit of an uneasy feeling that the Red Bulls would fail to get another quality
scoring chance after Thierry Henry squandered a PK chance to put New York up front
early on, but rookie sensation Juan Agudelo would have none of it.
After a seemingly endless offseason, the 2011 season got underway with a 1-0 win in favor of the
home team, but not without all the drama that usually surrounds a Red Bulls fixture.
The hectic preseason continued for New York as they wrapped up their final trip in Arizona this
week. The only thing is, did this long preseason leave us with more questions than answers?
Last time we spoke, the Red Bulls just finished up winning against Ft.
Well, at least I know the latter part for sure. Seriously, what the hell was Don Garber
thinking? But I'm getting ahead of myself here; we still have two games to break down...
New York got its first taste of MLS competition yesterday when they took on the Chicago Fire in
two separate games.
The 2010 season may be only be a few days dead, but the 2011 season has already kicked off with
the Expansion Draft.Â
The Vancouver Whitecaps and the Portland Timbers added ten players to their initial MLS rosters
on Wednesday as their clubs began to take shape for the 2011 season.
I believe our team is heading down to Florida this weekend to continue their pre-season training.
Hopefully we'll get some news on new trialists and potential signings soon.
Today's Links
Amado Guevara has rejoined us from international duty with Honduras. Yesterday was his first day
back in pre-season training.
A very interesting week in Major League Soccer. While the goal of the week was easy to figure out
after reviewing the week's 19 goals, the player of the week winner is a little tougher to decide. A
few guys had quality a quality game over the weekend or Thursday night for some Rapids fans. But
[...]
The last time Canada went undefeated in Gold Cup group play was 2000. Just saying.
What a strange feeling going into a game knowing you have already secured a spot in the
knockout. It's not something I am used to and I have to say it actually took a bit of an edge off
watching it. Still, any time we get a result against Costa Rica it is good.
Ahhhh, revenge is tasty. Canada opens the 2009 Gold Cup with a 1-0 win over Jamaica. The
CONCACAF goal scoring machine Ali Gerba was the man who inflicted the damage at the 75th minute
after being beautifully set up by Mike Klukowski.
Overall, a decent game from the boys, but not a commanding performance.
Canada kicked off the biennial Gold Cup 2009 in California with a hard fought 1-0 win over the
Reggae Boyz. Tactically, Canada played a great game and deserved the victory. Greg Sutton repaid
Coach Hart's faith in him with a man of the match performance.
I've previewed every single MLS club - except ours. Time to start previewing Toronto FC. I'm
obviously going to go a bit more in-depth with our own team than I did with the other MLS clubs. As
you could probably tell by the title of this post, I'm going to start with our goalkeepers.
Depth Chart: Greg Sutton / Stefan Frei / Brian Edwards
It took us three seasons, but we finally have some goalkeeping depth.
Rice-Eccles Stadium was left pleased, but hungry for more after last night's game. Heading into a
team record 18 day layoff, fighting an impending charge by Houston and Los Angeles who remained a
mere point behind in the standings, and a 10 game home unbeaten streak on the line, the US Olympic
Team [.
I was annoyed earlier this year when Clavijo apologizes, people experienced in the pro game, were
claiming the Rapids had injury problems and that Clavijo shouldn't be judged until he had a fully
non-injured squad. It bothered me because at the pro-level, that rarely happens. The coaches job is
to find ways to get the team to win despite it's obstacles.
With only a couple weeks left to vote, fans are starting to pile on the votes for their favorite
players in Major League Soccer for this summer's All-Star game in Toronto. Not a lot of changes at
the top of the overall voting list.In fact that top three remain: David Beckham Landon Donovan
Cuauhtemoc Blanco Once you get by the [.
There's really no drama in this news or any surprise for that matter but David Beckham leads the
way in the MLS All-Star voting after two short weeks. Landon Donovan was second and Cuauhtemoc
Blanco was third. Again, shocker, I know. Here is a look at the top 10 after two weeks of voting:
1. David Beckham, Los [.
In a home match the Colorado Rapids could ill afford to lose the team got a 3-2 win over the
expansion Montreal Impact thanks to a Southern wind and atrocious officiating on Saturday
night.
Tied at 2 and down a man with the 61st minute ejection of Tyrone Marshall, the Rapids got the
victory off an 83rd minute free kick that a strong wind kept the ball dancing along the crossbar
until Jaime Castrillon headed it into the back of the net.
