RBNY 1-0 Revs a Review

The term bittersweet has been used quite a bit in describing Saturday’s match, and if you ask most RBNY fans they would agree.  The bitter, Thierry Henry went down in the 22nd minute with a hamstring strain.  The given estimate on Henry’s return is three to four weeks, but we will have a better estimate this week when the Red Bull’s get a full medical evaluation done.  Now for the sweet,  Henry scored an early goal in the seventh minute, on a great touch.  The defense held on, and Ryan Meara played phenomenally to get his first career clean sheet. The match ended that way 1-0 Red Bull over the New England Revolution.

The defense may have not conceded any goals, but it had more to do with Meara’s job between the posts.  A couple of times throughout the match the back line left him out to dry and he played like a veteran goalkeeper.  The back line can’t completely be faulted, considering how green the line actually was Sunday.  There was eleven total MLS starts between all four members.  Also to be fair to them, in the second half it seemed as though the entire team was content to sit back and just defend the onslaught from New England.

Henry leaving with injury did eventually change the tempo of the match, and slowly but surely New England took control of the match.  With Henry in the match New York was in full attack mode, and looked like they were going to make it a long day for the Revs.  After the injury fans were treated to a game of “see how long the Red Bulls can hang onto a one goal lead.”  The one player who seemed to know what was at stake and how to get it, was Dax McCarty.

Dax played like an interim captain, even though Holgersson received the armband after Thierry’s departure (I will get to this later).  He came back and bailed out the back line consistently.  He was also was trying to fire up the team throughout the second half.  Dax was the man of the match followed closely by Ryan Meara.

Holgersson getting the armband was questionable in my opinion.  As I thought about it yesterday,  I decided that it was either more Backe love for Holgersson, or a brilliant move to try to force the center back to step up his game.   I would like to believe it was the second option, but most likely it was the first.

RBNY vs NE Revolution

After last weeks drubbing at the hands of DC things could only get better for the Red Bulls right?  Well maybe not,  the injury bug is still biting apparently, and the Bulls could be without two more defenders for Saturday afternoons match.  Stephen Keel & Jan Gunnar Solli could both be sitting out this week.  Not really great news considering the back line has already been prone to lapses.  Now there is the possibility to have two green players added to that line.  Considering Connor Lade got his first start last week the back four are showing a lot of inexperience.

The Red Bulls opponent is the New England Revolution.  The Revs seem to be a team in a state of flux continuing from where they off last season.  They seem to lack an identity, a team owned by Robert Kraft.  The same Robert Kraft who owns the New England Patriots, who as long as they are the American Football juggernaut, is fine with treating his Revolution as second-rate citizens.  New England currently sits in eight place in the Eastern Conference Table  with six points in six matches.  Those six points came in two wins.  One of those wins was an impressive display against the LA Galaxy in LA. They have only scored five goals all season, and three of those came against the Galaxy.

This would seem like the perfect time for the Red Bulls to shake off the bad mojo acquired last week against DC.  New England is a small rival match compared to DC and now Philly, but a rival none the less.  It would also seem like a perfect match to get Ryan Meara his first clean sheet.  It all seems perfect, and that is the problem.  Red Bull is the one team in the league that loves to let its fans down when everything seems perfect.  Like I said last week, if there was a time when New England (just like DC) wanted to find its scoring edge they have found the perfect team to do it against.  Holgersson, just like he was last week by DC, will be targeted by the Revs.  No matter what Hans Backe seems to think about Holgersson he needs to step  up and start playing soccer instead of two hand touch.

I am sure none of the players were pleased about what happened down in RFK Stadium on Sunday.  If they take that experience and use it to motivate them then they could have a great day.  They need to come out early and strike first.  They also can’t let their foot fall off the gas pedal as they have before. The Red Bulls suffer from multiple personality disorder sometimes, they need the side that showed up for three weeks to show up again.  They have been undefeated at home and should continue that streak in my opinion.

Look for the score to be 2-1 like last year.  Sorry Ryan I still don’t see a clean sheet this week.

I will be sitting in section 228 Row 11 seat 3 or 4 if you want to come by and say hi during the match.  Also if you don’t have the fortune of going to the match you can catch it on the NBC Sports Network tomorrow at 3:30 PM

R&BHY Episode Two

In the second episode we talk some UEFA Champions league.  We talk Philly Union and Red cards. I try to avoid talking about Sundays Red Bull Match,  we give are predictions for this weekends action, and we offer our Warnings, yellows and Reds.

Any Questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

Download Episode 2 MP3

Philly Highlights

Sorry No Red Bull Highlight

Luke Rodgers telling Donovan off.

Follow Noah on Twitter @RealAceSpade and Sean @SMcG29

Moving Forward RBNY Review

This was going to originally be a review post for Sunday night’s Red Bull clash with DC United.  Unfortunately the New York Red Bulls never got the memo, and therefore never showed up.  So there isn’t a whole lot to review about Sunday.

For those who may have not heard, the final score was RBNY 1 – DCU 4. Three of the DC goals came in the first half.  It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t good soccer from the perspective of Red Bull fans.  I’m sure DC fans were thrilled, but I don’t really have any insight to the DC fans. There was a small silver lining in the second half for the boys in white, in that Thierry Henry had a goal, and technically the second half was a draw.  That is the only good to take solace in.  The rest completely bad, the ball being lost in Red Bull’s half of the pitch, a defense that couldn’t have stopped a beach ball, and poor weather just to make the supporters day all the more miserable.

So instead of breaking down the entire match to see what was good, bad, and terrible, I would like to offer a word on where the teams and fans go from Sunday night.  As a fan I believe we move on, we accept that the team had a bad night.  As another RBNY writer put this is no time for panic.  This is a time for the fans to rally around the team, get loud, and make the New England Revolution quake as they hear the crowd on Saturday.  I don’t go to every Red Bull match, but I know the first thing I said after Sunday’s loss is “I am going to the match on Saturday.”  Maybe it’s because I need to let out aggression because of how bad they played Sunday,  maybe it’s because I actually feel that Saturday you are going to see an angry Red Bull team punish New England.

That is what the fans will do,  we will pull together behind the team.  It was only one loss after a mini streak of three great games and one mediocre one.  Now for what the team needs to do after Sunday.  They need to show that the have passion.  They need to go out and punish New England just because that’s who shows up at Red Bull Arena.  Anger, hate, and passion may lead to the dark side, but that’s what needs to happen.  This team needs to embrace that and use it to crush opponents.  We have already watched Henry bury two goals, in two different games on pure hate and anger alone.  Now it’s time that the rest of team follow suit.  It will be tough because of the injuries,  but these are the times where tough teams show how tough they really are.

If the team doesn’t use this past week to motivate them, and they continue to be okay with the same old routine, then the fans will eventually lose their passion.  It is still early in the season, and the hard summer months are still to come.  The Red Bulls have time to get it together, but for the fans sake they need to show that they learned a lesson Sunday.

Preview: Union v. Chivas USA…

This is a bit of a nothing week to me, beyond an obscure grudge which I’ll lament later.  The boys in blue are heading out to the Home Depot Center in sunny Carson, California to go up against Chivas USA – Snakes v. Goats, if you can dig it.

Chivas USA is coming off of two years in a row ranking 8th (read: last) in the West, currently at the middle table with a 3-3-0 record, with two wins in their last three (although their loss was against Sporting KC who are apparently a juggernaut this early, and their last win was against TFC who have become something of a punching bag).  The Union (as I continue to gripe about) have a 1-3-1 record, but had clean sheets for MacMath in their last two matches.  Make of this what you will.

Honestly, I’m not too worried about these guys – the Union has been improving with every game, MacMath has been gaining confidence and earning the respect of the fans, and our mid-field isn’t quite the black hole it once was.  It still is a black hole, but no longer a supermassive black hole – the type from which no ball can escape no matter how hard you work at it.  The key – not just to this game in particular but the whole season so far – has to be shots on goal.

That bit has me worried – it’s a young squad, fairly healthy, and it’s clear that they know the plays that they want to set up – but it seems like no one on the team wants to take more than one attempt per game.  It’s going to be interesting to see what Kai Herdling adds to the mix, and if Danny Mwanga is back on the pitch, I’ll keep my mutterings about a lack of Captain Califf (again) to a low rumble.

We’ve got a spotty history against Chivas USA, but I’m making for 1-all for the game (subject to change if Mwanga gets confirmed).

…ok, now my gripe with Chivas USA is this: Chivas USA is sponsored by Corona, owned by Grupo Modelo, which is 50% owned by Anheuser-Busch.  Anheuser-Busch, of course, has a fairly nice contract with MLS which is all well and good if you like beer that tastes like water before the stadium adds water to it in an attempt to increase profit while decreasing the number of time customers leave with keys (possibly their own) protruding from the wreckage of what was once an eye socket.  But this (again, descent) contract kept the Philadelphia Union from having Yuengling as a sponsor.  Again, not the greatest beverage in the world – but a nice bit of American history in general, and Pennsylvania in particular.

So, Chivas has a popular beer as their sponsor – but the economic gods mock Philadelphia once more by refusing us the chance of having a cool psudo-Mexican Flag (The Union represented by a snake, Yuengling by an eagle) within the twin crests, and instead making us have Bimbo Bread as a sponsor.  In Chester, PA. A PORTION OF THE CITY SCAPE WHICH DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A THRICE DAMNED SUPER MARKET. Bimbo is also known for its anti-union stance among towards its employees, so…once again the Universe has crapped in our collective corn flakes.

C’mon the U!

-SM, 2012.04.20.20.00

Preview RBNY vs DCU

This is one of the weeks I look forward to in soccer.  Hate DC week, it’s the week where my twitter stalker reappears and tells me that RBNY is terrible.  I tell him it is only a matter of time before DCU becomes the Baltimore Wanderers.  It’s the week where I am reminded of how much I hate DeRo, and how he never really fit in with the Red Bulls.  This is the week where I am reminded of the drubbing Red Bull put on the Scum last year.  More importantly it gives me a reason to call a sports team Scum.

First let’s get the serious preview out-of-the-way, so we can get to the fun stuff.  In all honesty this could go either way depending on which Red Bulls team shows up.  Will it be the unit that crushed three teams in a row.  All while riding Thierry Henry’s hot hand.  Will the team that played those first two matches show up.  If the second shows up get ready for a rough night.  If the first shows up, we will be able to pick on those poor DCU fans for a little while longer.

DC is coming off a draw on Wednesday night against a poor Montreal side.  They have been widely inconsistent this year, with some poor results and one really great result against FC Dallas.  Will DC come out with something to prove Sunday against the Bulls or will their inconsistent play continue.  If they come to play, the Red Bulls defense might be ready for the picking, and could make this ugly.

The Red Bulls have no problem finding the back of the net.  Kenny Cooper and Henry are tied up on top of MLS Goal Scorers along with San Jose’s Wondolowski.  So the offense should be able to get going and hold up their end.  The defense I am not so sure about.  That back line for the Red Bulls has looked like the Pittsburgh Penguins Marc-Andre Fleury against the flyers.  If DC ever wanted a perfect defense to get their scoring hot, they found it this week.  The key for the defense is for Markus Holgersson to get caught up to MLS speed this week.

My final prediction on the Match is RBNY 2 – DC 1

Now for some more DC Hate.  Dwayne De Rosario may have won the golden boot last season, but has failed to find the back of the net so far this season.  He has also only managed three assists.  Now, Dax McCarty who came to Red Bull when they got rid of DeRo has found the back of the net once and assisted on another.  In one less game mind you.  Dax also isn’t the big star of Red Bull, like De Ro is for DC either.  Viking Army, Empire SC, Garden State Supporters going down to the match, please be careful when jumping up and down in RFK.  First you don’t want to accidentally kill any of the rats trying to run under your feet.  Also you don’t want to bring the stadium down.  Supporters please be kind to the DC fans, they may not have a team in a few years, and we don’t want to seem like bullies.

To the Red Bulls themselves, go pound the snot out of the Scum.

The Problem with Rafa

Well the MLS Disciplinary Committee came down with their rulings from Saturday’s RBNY match, and much to nobody’s surprise Rafael Marquez has been suspended.  As a side note, he was not the only one suspended from the match.  San Jose’s Marvin Chavez has also been suspended for his challenge on Roy Miller.  Rafa received a three match ban, and Chavez has been given a one match ban.  Both players will also be fined an undisclosed amount of money. Fair or unfair, harsh or lenient the issue has been dealt with, and I am not here to offer my opinion on the suspension.  I am here to give my opinion on why I think Rafa Marquez is bad for the New York Red Bulls.

The biggest problem with Rafa is he is extremely selfish.  It is not the first time that he has been the talk of the MLS for all the wrong reasons.  Last year not once but twice made headlines for selfish acts.  The first incident he publicly called out a teammate for what he described as “infantile” play, and saying that some teammates were not up to his level.  The second incident was after the first playoff match against LA Galaxy where Marquez threw a ball and Landon Donovan, and then faked getting punched.  Both incidents were embarrassing as a Red Bull fan. Worse than embarrassing they were poorly timed. The first during a push for the playoffs, and the other during the playoffs. Now that a new season had begun and Rafa finished his suspension from the Galaxy match you would think that he had learned his lesson.  This past Saturday proved that he had not.

It would be one thing if in the course of play he was on the wrong side of poorly timed plays or only made bad decisions once in a while.  This isn’t the case, Rafa makes bad decisions on what seems like a monthly basis.  It would not be so bad if he wasn’t one of the key players in the starting eleven, but he is.  When Rafa screws up, it doesn’t only affect him it affects the team.  It puts the team in a bind.  Now for three weeks the Red Bulls are without one of the better midfielders.  On a team already suffering from the injury bug, this could not have happened at a worse time.  None of that seems to ever matter to Rafa.

The easy solution would be for the front office to ship him down river.  This at the moment is easier said than done, with a few things getting in the way.  The first and biggest reason is he is an international star.  Big name faces are always hard to get rid of, especially when the Red Bulls are trying to put butts in the seats.  The Second reason is the Red Bulls payed a small fortune to have him play for New York.  Another reason has recently popped up today.  The Wall Street Journal posted a story today on how Rafa will be part of Red Bull’s next big marketing push.  So it seems like for the time being we are stuck with the man.  I just really hope it doesn’t come back to bite the team too hard.

Episode one.

Noah and Sean’s distracted first episode – one’s drinking, the other is sick.  Have Fun!

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http://archive.org/embed/RabhyEp1

Show notes:

MP3 Download

The New US Soccer Kit.

Rafa Marquez foul

Dealing With the Snobs

Well I did have a big Rafa Marquez article all planned out for today, but at the time of writing there has been no decision from the Disciplinary Committee.  I will still be writing an article on the Rafa drama, but after all the facts are in.  So instead I have something I want to talk about.  If you are reading this I assume you are a fan of soccer in some capacity, and probably know a person who suffers from what I am about to talk about.  The affliction is snobbery.

Every soccer fan has come across somebody who has turned their nose up at them at some point.  Fans of the MLS it is the EPL guys, fans of the EPL it is the La Liga guys.  As a fan of the MLS I usually sit at the lowest part of the totem.  I can’t tell you how many times I have been told that the MLS quality of soccer is lacking.  This used to bug me when I first got back into watching soccer.  I mean who are you to tell me what I am watching wasn’t worth watching because it wasn’t the best out there?

The critics are partly right, the Red Bulls aren’t on the same level as Man United or Barcelona.  MLS may not be up to other leagues standards yet,  but it is getting better.  A couple of months ago I asked a girl I knew what she thought about how the Red Bulls were performing, and if she had, had a chance to go down to Red Bull Arena.  I knew she was a soccer fan, she had played all her life, and followed all the big clubs.  What I didn’t realize was the amount of Euro Snob that had developed over the years.  She told me she had stopped really following the MLS and only really liked watching “good” soccer.  In her mind Man United, and Real Madrid were the teams worth watching.  Euro Snobbery like a thick, hard callous had grown.

I have never understood Euro Snobbery when it comes from soccer fans who are United States citizens.  It really blows my mind,  because I can go and watch my club team any week that I really want to.  Red Bull Arena is about a two-hour trip from where I live, and tickets are reasonably priced.  I can’t go see Arsenal play with out spending a mini fortune, or waiting for them to make an US tour.  Why wouldn’t you want to pull for a team you can conceivably go watch anytime you want.  Why wouldn’t you want to pull for the local team.

I actually feel bad for snobs.  They are to stuck up in their ways to actually go have fun and enjoy the sport locally.  There is always someone who thinks that in order for MLS to really grow that we need to convert Euro Snobs over.  I say forget them, they aren’t worth having.  Give me fans who are new to soccer, and want to give their all for the home team.  Fans who want to watch the best soccer in the world are only fair weather fans anyway.

2012.04.17.21.13 (Blue on the Mission Statement)

I’ll keep this brief, as I tend to annoy people.

I love soccer.  If it weren’t for the fact that middle school teams wanted good players, I’d probably never gotten away from it.  That’s life for you.  But I’ve never forgotten the game during the long years of waking up early on the off chance of catching Newcastle, Liverpool, or Glasgow Celtic on one of the various ESPNs.  It’s one of the things that I’ve stuck with, and have mostly been rewarded for.

For one thing, it gave me another reason to yell at Noah.  You can never have too many of those.

So, beginning this week, we’ll be producing Red & Blue Hate Yellow – two guys bound by their love of sport and their mutual contempt for one team in particular.  It should be noted that Noah has (over the two years we’ve been discussing this) become very good at dissecting the game – noting patterns, recurring themes during the run of play, and knowing how to sum up a player’s merits and faults in a quick, “well, there you are” manner.  I mostly hoot and holler.  Well, holler, anyway.

Hope you enjoy.

-SM