it is with a heavy heart that i write to say farewell. the past several years have seen many changes (players, coaches, team names, even our post-season records), and i've been proud to witness them all and give you my thoughts.
while my blog was never the best resource for red bulls information, it provided my take on each and every game, as well as the changes in the team we all weathered. all in all, i'm happy to say that i think that new york is in as great a place as they have ever been (whether metrostars or red bulls) and that osorio and the team he has begun to put together will accomplish wonderful things moving forward.
however, i'm going to stop writing regularly about the red bulls. it was a hard decision to come to, but a move to another city and the birth of my daughter have all eaten away at the time i have available.
don't fret though, i'm still going to watch as many red bull games as i can and will always remain an avid soccer fan. who knows - i might even find time again to put down my thoughts on how the red bulls are faring. but the weekly, if not more frequent, posts on this blog are done for now.
there are plenty of great places to read about the red bulls, and i happily point you in their direction now:
- Soccer by Ives: http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/ - NY Post Extra Time: http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/soccer/ - Offsides: http://redbulls.theoffside.com/
it's been a busy off season for the new york red bulls, with announcements about players coming at a brisk pace.
it's also been a busy off season for yours truly, who had a daughter added to his family and is now moving away from our fair city to another metropolis by the water - philadelphia. don't fret, i'll still be a red bulls fan and watch as many games as i can from afar - i just might not be as prolific as in years past.
but we'll cross those bridges when we get to them. let's take a quick look at some of the highlights of what's transpired over the last few months:
parke is gone
petke is back
dvb is gone
kandji is back
magee is gone
angel is intersted in another season
conway's still a red bull, but will have to serve out his suspension before getting back between the pipes; in the meantime, expect cepero to try and continue his excellent reliever role from late last season
our back line is still in flux, but osorio swears he's got things under control and his eye on a nice left back
we added a few highly-touted prospects from the draft, most notably oduro up front and hall in midfield
overall, here are my impressions:
osorio is making this team over to what he wants. he did well with what he was given last season, but this year is all him.
we've got some young players from the draft with high expectations and in true red bull fashion (i.e., from necessity b/c of a thin bench), don't be surprised to see them get playing time early in the season
the back line still feels wobbly to me. i know we now have petke and goldwaithe, leitch, and boyens are still there, but remember last year?
we must concentrate on the midfield this year, which as everyone knows controls the field and affects the effectiveness of our backline and front players. i hope that osorio can find the right mix and formation that plays to our strengths. can rojas finally become the central guy we need or will ubi step up and send rojas wide?
oduro sounds good and is already practicing with angel, but is he the replacment for jozy? can kandji make the leap and be the consistent playmaker we need?
we have speed in droves this year, which is good - but which will also burn us if that's all we rely on.
i have a good feeling about this year and am excited for the season. i'll continue to post my thoughts as i can, but also pay attention to the news titles i post to the right menu all the time from other sources as well. the red bulls have a lot to build on, and i hope that with an "osorio" team we can make progress.
red bulls reader has just posted a video (see below) that has a virtual tour of red bull arena (which was announced in january wouldn't be ready until the 2010 season). still, if it comes out anywhere near what this video shows, it will showcase the beautiful game...well...beautifully.
Image via Wikipediaon the heels of the new york red bulls losing jeff parke to seattle in the expansion draft comes news that the man parke almost caught on most games played all-time for new york (mike petke) is coming back to new york for the 2009 season.
petke might be the person who most comes to mind to fans of the club when you talk about new york players, the others being cleetus and angel. petke was a stalwart of the early metrostars and has seemingly only gotten better and more experienced as a defender while he's been away.
with a back line that is in dire need of solidification and leadership, petke could be the answer. not only have we lost parke, but cichero was also waived (no surprise there). i don't know what other personnel changes are on the way, but the addition of petke in the back can only be good for the club.
this season saw parke move up in more ways than one: he is right at the top in the number of games played for the new york club ever (second all-time), and he became a regular starter and dependable central defender. this after being picked last in the draft 4 years ago.
he scrapped his way into playing time, fought his way into being a starter, and earned his spot and the recognition that came with it. he has become a great central defender.
of course, after all that, he ended his season with a drug suspension and missed our incredible run through the playoffs and into the mls cup.
on wednesday (who in the mls front office thought that the expansion draft should be held the day before thanksgiving?), parke was picked by the seattle sounders.
parke was always one of my favorite red bulls, and his presence in the back will be missed. best of luck jeff.
after a cinderella-run (on the road) through the playoffs, we were poised to knock off the best team in mls this year. it also seemed scripted (and not just because of the giants parallel i mentioned in last week's post) because we had started our season against columbus, and now we were going to end it against them.
and what better place to watch the final than nevada smith's. i showed up a full 2 hours before kickoff and the place was already buzzing with fans, much less the red bull-attired gangs coming from every direction on the street. the place was hopping and by game time the bar (upstairs and downstairs) was packed to capacity.
of course, we all know how the game went. the red bulls came out looking aggressive and got the better run of play in the first half. we watched in horror as moreno slotted a nearly horizontal ball to give the crew the lead. we then cheered and pounded on the ceiling when woly put home the equalizer. but that was short-lived as we weren't even done celebrating when columbus went ahead again. and that was really the back-breaker. the third columbus goal didn't help, of course, but that second one really took the wind out of our sails and we never looked the same again.
however, i'm still proud that the red bulls got to the mls cup final after 13 years, and after one of the longest, strangest, and most trying seasons we've had. and credit osorio for sticking with the line-up that got us through the playoffs - which consisted of several players who should be considered rookies.
in the end though, let's face it: columbus played consistently and well for the full 90 minutes. plus, i don't know why we waited until the last 15 minutes to put subs in, we needed fresh legs and attitude a lot earlier than that.
either way, it was a great end-of-season run and it really got the new york fans excited. i can't wait to see how we get ourselves situated over the off-season and get ready for another run next year - a year when we'll see our brand new stadium.
if you wanted some evidence that the new york red bulls actually had a following in our fair city, check out this video of soccer-bar-extraordinary nevada smith's on saturday night as fans packed the bar to celebrate the victory. about 1:40 in is when the ref calls the game and the place erupts.
wow, i wish i could have been there. but i will be this sunday.
Image via Wikipediamiracle of miracles, we're going to the cup. the new york red bulls have made it to the mls cup final. the new york red bulls have made it to the mls cup final.
i'm still a bit in shock this morning. i was on pins and needles during last night's game, especially when we apparently decided in the 63rd minute to get into a defensive shell. that seemed a tad early to me. but somehow we weathered nearly 20 minutes of attack from real salt lake to emerge with a 1-0 win and claim the western conference championship.
kudos to our backline. they seemed a bit confused in the first half, but they regrouped admirably and ran their asses off to stymie the real attack.
cepero continued to look good and make ridiculous saves.
cepero continued to scare the bejesus out of me and make ridiculous decisions.
the goal post has become our 12th player and best friend. three times? seriously?
angel didn't have much of an attacking presence in this game, but give this awesome player the credit for not pouting too much and working the other side of the ball all night. whether it was backtracking into the midfield or defending in the box, angel showed why he is our captain and quite possibly the best player in the league.
ubi went out with a hamstring injury, and osorio put rojas in. was the time on the bench enough for him to play better? sort of. he got himself involved in a few plays moving forward, but i felt that he got lost through most of the rest of the game.
then osorio's other high-priced boy who's been in detention - pietravallo - was subbed on in the waning minutes to help protect the lead. and he immediatley fouls somone outside our box. seriously? did your time on the bench not teach you that you need to play smarter?
sassano played another spot-on game. you can't ask for more from a 23-year-old who was suddenly thrust into the limelight and told to stand in front of our backline and stop anyone not wearing the same jersey as him.
we are moving on to play in the mls cup final. and let's be honest about last night: we played well, but luck was on our side. and it's about time. for 12 years, our luck has sucked donkeys. it's about time some things started breaking our way (not counting of course, a year which included: the retirement of our central midfielder, the sale of our young striker to europe, the drug suspension of our starting keeper and central defender, the 400+ injuries we've worked our way through, the 300+ hernia operations, and the resulting constantly-changing line-up).
nonetheless, we need to steel ourselves up for this next game. we're going to have to play the columbus crew who, by all accounts, are going to wax the field with us. however, let's rememer a few things going into this game:
we got our first win of the year in our home-opener against them.
they're pretty cocky right now. that plays to our advantage.
and we have recent history on our side. just this past year, a team from new york who was so-so throughout the regular season snuck into the playoffs as a wild card, played all its games on the road, and miracuously made it to the final game, only to face an opponent who could not lose and was the poster child for perfection. and what happened? the new york giants beat the patriots.
let's go take down these gay-bees in their little yellow uniforms.
Image via Wikipediahere's a 5 minute video with the highlights from sunday's new york red bulls game against the houston dynamo - now being called the greatest upset in mls playoff history.
btw, it's in spanish, but who really cares? the red bulls look great, and soccer always sounds better when the announcers are speaking spanish. as a matter of fact, maybe our english-language announcers can start getting a bit more excited when they're calling games too.
Image by eschipul via Flickrthe unexpected has happened! for the first time in 8 years, the new york red bulls have advanced through the first round and will play in the conference finals this saturday. are our playoff woes finally over? the next game will tell. but let's take a look at sunday's game.
we beat the houston dynamo 3-0 (4-1 aggregate) on the road. and the key was tenacity. they came out strong the first 20 minutes, but we weathered the storm. i know that games have momentum swings, but it was nerve-racking watching us have such a slow start. but once we got through the worst, we seemed to wake up - in a big way.
dane richards was the mvp of the match, being involved in all three goals and giving the dyanmo defense fits all day long. the first goal - a slicing pass that he ran onto between two defenders utilized what dane is best at: running really, really fast. the second goal (a pk) was because of a handball off one of his crosses. and the third was again because of him beating the defense d0wn the wing and getting the ball in to a wide open woly.
our defense looked a bit wobbly at times, and cepero gave me a few heart attacks, but he more than made up for it with his stellar play in the net. how many times did cepero save a shot and keep the red bulls in control of the game? impressive game for this rookie. he showed determination and, most of all, he didn't quit on the ball.
osorio actually started the same exact line-up for two games in a row (a first this season) and it paid dividends. the red bulls looked comfortable and worked together as a team in keeping the game firmly in their grasp.
we didn't stop attacking the whole game. i was so glad to see that osorio didn't pull us back into a defensive shell after the second goal. an entire half was too long to play like that, but stranger things have happened with the red bulls. instead, he kept us pushing forward, which resulted in the final goal which slammed the gate shut on the dynamo.
derosario and ching again came up short against sassano and our back line. they had their chances, but they were shut down time and time again and couldn't make an impact on the game.
this is a milestone win for the red bulls. as i said in my last post, we have the talent to win games, as long as we play together, and keep the pressure on. this line-up did not give up, nor did we become complacent. the late addition of mendes and kandji put fresh legs on the field without forcing us to stop attacking.
next up is real salt lake, whom we played well against this season - a win and a tie late in the season. with the game less than a week away, do the red bulls stay out on the road and make the short trip to utah instead of flying back and forth across the country? i vote that they stay focused. as crash davis said: "a player on a streak has to respect the streak." let's keep ourselves focused for the next game. but let's also not get too cocky.
Image via Wikipediared bulls reader posted the fan appreciation video that was played at the end of the red bulls' last regular season home game against columbus on october 18.
it's great to see the club recognizing its fans, because its their support that makes going to the games so much fun. i can't wait to see what sort of atmosphere we'll be able to generate next year at red bull arena.
Image via Wikipediathe red bulls are heading down texas way this weekend to face the houston dynamo in the second leg of their playoff series. after a heart-breaking late goal tied the game at giants stadium, the red bulls go into houston needing to win outright to advance to the next round. here's what i think they need to do:
play aggressively. the new york red bulls have been a bit schizo all year, playing one game offensively, playing another game defensively. as we saw at the end of last week's game, settling back into a defensive posture is not always the answer, especially when your attack is working and keeping the other team in their end of the field. they can't score on you if they don't get to your half of the field. osorio needs to push his team forward all game. we've got the talent to do this up top, as well as enough good players in the back to save any counterattacks.
play the players that will play. sounds obvious, but it's not. a lot of young players we have are hungry and haven't been used in the stretch run. take advantage of their energy and their desire to make a mark. look at last week - ubi and sassano played excellent game. put kandji in up top. let rojas prove himself and put him where he belongs: smack dab in the middle of the park and pushed forward. put sassano back in. have ubi and mbutu ready on the bench to enter in the second half and give you that needed energy to keep houston on their heels.
don't leave angel alone up top. put kandji up top with him so that defenders don't triple-team angel. give him someone to play off of. and as a bonus, kandji is pretty good at scoring too.
use our wings. we have 2 of the best outside midfielders in the league. dvb has been the unsung hero all year, constantly pushing up that left side and sending in dangerous crosses. richards is fast and likes to take on defenses - which leads to fouls, which leads to set pieces. put the ball wide and stretch the field.
keep the same back line. our back line performed admirably last game. reward them by keeping them in the same line-up and let them stop houston.
keep possession. i like long balls that lead to goals as much as the next guy. but putting up long balls every time we have the ball is just giving the ball away. build up the attack from the back, through the middle, and push houston back and let them make mistakes. also - and i'm just spitballing here - if we keep the ball, houston doesn't have it.
this is it. we win or go home. even though i've given our boys some criticism for how they ended the season, our club is capable of beating houston on the road. it's time for the new york red bulls to stop being a middlng team, and demonstrate to the league that we want to be champions.
Image by eschipul via Flickrwell, after wiggling our way into the playoffs one more time, the new york red bulls ended up with a 1-1 tie with the houston dynamo in the first game of the playoff series. and it was a crushing tie.
after a scoreless first half that saw the red bulls playing some rather sloppy soccer (though the defense did keep houston's weapons out of our net), red bull fans were rewarded early in the second half on a gorgeous header from angel. that put us up and positioned us to go into houston with a lead in the goal aggregate.
we played well throughout the second half and looked like we were going to close out the game with a 1-0 win over the defending mls champions. however, in a tactical decision, osorio pulled ubi from up top and replaced him with pietravallo in the back as another defensive midfielder to shut down the houston attack.
unfortunately, all that did was let houston push further into our end - as opposed to the rest of the half where we actually were pressuring houston (it looked like we might actually get another goal) and (wait for it) - didn't have the ball in our half of the field.
well, we all know how this ends as houston got the ball bouncing around in our box and with a little tap, the score was tied LATE in the game and we head to houston absolutely needing to win the game (or in the case of a tie, the penalty shoot-out).
a few thoughts:
danny "i'm still in middle school" cepero rebounded well from his shellacking in chicago (as i thought) and looked confident in goal (more or less). as the game wore on, he played better, and the late goal was not his fault. i'm feeling good with him going into the second game.
osorio benched rojas, pietravallo, and cichero - the three players brought in right before the transfer deadline in july. these were the three international veterans that he had fought for and wanted to play for the red bulls. but after a great start, all three started showing signs of wear and osorio took the unexpected move of benching all of them for the first playoff game. is he saving them for the second? is he not letting houston get a look at them just yet? is he pissed that he brought them in and they're not living up to expectations? is he hoping to inspire them by letting them ride the pine for a game? we'll see.
ubi up front looked good. he still is hit and miss at times, but he looked hungry this game and came up with lots of energy and chased that ball down. great job.
sassano gets a start in the back after a long abscence from the line-up - and he did a sick job keeping derosario in check throughout the game. sure, he got burned a few times, but he filled in admirably for a injured stammler.
dvb and richards looked good, but they didn't get enough looks. we have two great wingers - let's use them to our advantage.
we're heading to houston next sunday to see if we can pull a major upset: 1) we'd beat the mls defending champions, 2) we'd beat the best team in the west, 3) we'd be a last-place wild card team getting through the first round, 4) we'd be winning on the road (something we've done once this year), 5) we'd get past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in a very, very long time
to do that, we need to remember that we have the talent, we just need to play together. and we need to come out with some fire in our guts. we also need to get that ball to angel's feet (and head) as often as humanly possible.
well, my friends, i didn't watch the new york red bulls's last game of the season against the chicago fire (i've got a really good excuse), but it sounds like i didn't miss much. a 5-2 drubbing is not a good way to end the season, much less a good way to enter the post-season.
as it happens, our loss left us not in control of our own destiny, and in dc united's hands. fortunately, they flubbed up and we got into the playoffs by default. we drew the last position in the west and will face the houston dynamo in a two-game series.
from what i read, it sounded like the chicago fire had this game well in control by the end of the first half. a few bright spots might be kandji's goal in the second half - proving that he could be the antidote for what ails us up front if he can get the support from the midfield.
another bright spot could be cepero's shellacking (let me explain.) he was coming off a pretty well-touted mls debut, stopping shots and scoring goals. but let's all remember this kid is, well, just a kid. i think a nice spanking might be just right to keep his head screwed on straight as we enter the playoffs and he gets set to face derosario and ching.
but i have to admit i have mixed feelings about us getting in the playoffs this year.
1. i'm a fan, so i'm thrilled that we made the playoffs.
2. on the other hand, the way we backed into the playoffs reeks of the way we've done the same in years past. i love the thrill of the playoff hunt as much as anyone else, and a last minute win to get in is very exciting. but backing in because another team lost and we couldn't step up to the plate seems bittersweet.
we were riding high in august with our new players and seemingly boundless optimism about our play. and then we came crashing back down to earth. players who showed promise began to stagnate. out lively games became tiresome affairs and made fans (like me) wonder if we really had it together or not.
granted, this year has been full of ups and downs. injuries, trades, shifting line-ups, and a new coach take their toll. i hope that osorio is given another season to put the players he has finally gathered (and still will) together into a team. all the components are there, but something is still lacking - teamwork. it appears from time to time, but needs to be a more consistent part of our club.
we also ended the season with the 10-game suspensions of parke and conway. what inopportune timing, and what poor judgement. i believe them that they didn't knowingly buy performance-enhancing drugs, but they should know better anyhow. there are resources available to them through the club and league to double-check over the counter supplements. and we lose them just when they could have served us best.
but maybe they are just a metaphor for a team that doesn't do its homework. we have talented players (maybe the most talented in the league in angel), promising rookies, developing players, and international veterans, but we can't get the pieces to work together.
we'll see if we can get a handle on ourselves against houston in the playoffs, but i'm already looking to an offseason where the team can regroup itself, put the right people in the right positions, and get ready for a 2009 campaign that red bulls fans can be proud of.
Image via Wikipedia![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=dbf5f920-3e4c-4099-9d38-a666e3e22df9)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=c8f5894e-2696-46b9-9299-f7cb30ae4b91)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=68ddfc17-173e-45f4-b182-f8145df5513e)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3155f0b6-9645-4dcc-b49d-c7704047d864)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=df1652fb-bf10-42b8-8422-52e3dbea9569)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=7567c11d-fa71-45fd-8123-d8788aa0dc6f)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=36c1b02b-d17a-4feb-a74c-346fcd29d1de)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=a82c956a-134e-441f-9478-ac2efb5798cf)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=c6237af4-9d3a-44bc-8ed9-afd6cd1b7837)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=2c99b837-90cc-4eec-a416-eddb6c8a5657)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=78c063aa-681b-48ee-adf3-36632e773103)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=c5cb0346-df48-490c-8b3f-3a322dcc184e)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=1a507228-0b06-44c6-b191-b5c3e60f02bb)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e8f20026-7583-4977-bd40-a4d751fdeca5)
Posts
