Top Stories

U.S. Open Cup: Red Bulls vs. Crystal Palace USA (Matchday Commentary)

Red_bulls_logoCrystalpalaceusalogo

Good evening folks. I’m coming to you from Lawrence E. Knight Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, where the New York Red Bulls will take on Crystal Palace USA in U.S. Open Cup action.

It was a smooth ride down from New Jersey and the best thing I can tell you about the stadium is that it’s a modest use of the word stadium. It’s a high school field with five bleachers one side and one bleacher on the opposite side (where the Empire Supporter’s Club will sit).

Crystal Palace USA is a USL-2 team with only a few players you may have heard of, such as former New England defender Ibrahim Kante and former Real Salt Lake forward Sergio Flores.

I will provide you with commentary throughout the night on everything going on here, from the quaint setting to the raucous performance of the ESC. Oh, and the game too.

Enjoy.

————————–

FINAL- Thanks for following along tonight, even if it was an awful night for the Red Bulls. Good night.

————————–

FINAL– So what happened tonight? Yes, the field was narrow, and the Red Bulls were missing their six best players, but it still came down to energy and execution. Too many players didn’t come to play tonight. The consolation is that there won’t be an extra game to worry about next week, but that’s not really much consolation.

Ultimately, only deep MLS teams can consistently do well in the U.S. Open Cup because congested schedules force MLS teams to use their bench and a team like the Red Bulls just didn’t have the horses on the bench to get the job done tonight.

————————–

FINAL- Crystal Palace 2, Red Bulls 0

————————–

90th minute– The Red Bulls could definitely have used Dane Richards tonight. And Dave Van Den Bergh. And Juan Pablo Angel. And Clau…okay, I won’t go there.

————————–

90th minute– Magee just got a red card for dissent. He’s been yapping at the ref all game long and the ref finally got fed up.

————————–

90th minute– The Red Bulls are still looking for a goal and can’t break through. On the bright side ESC is still singing.

WOW, Palace nearly scores again on a counterattack but the shot goes wide right.

————————–

89th minute– I have to say that Palace defender Andrew Marshall has looked solid tonight.

Corner kick Red Bulls

————————–

87th minute– For those of you keeping track at home, the Red Bulls have had a man advantage since midway through the first half and have fallen behind a goal further. Sergio Flores is entering the game. That’s quite a tumble, from MLS to late sub in USL-2. To be fair, he was with RSL during the really bad years (yes, I know, that can be every year except this one).

————————–

86th minute– Mendes forces a diving save.

————————–

86th minute– No change here. Had some connection problems so apologies.

————————–

79th minute– The Palace fans are starting to make some noise now. The "You only sing when you’re winning" chant was never more appropriate.

————————–

77th minute– Brooks re-directed a ball with a sweet little side-volley move that beat Thornton from about 15. Crystal Palace 2, Red Bulls 0.

————————–

75th minute- GOAL CRYSTAL PALACE. Gary Brooks.

————————–

74th minute– A Palace shots hits the left post and almost goes in. Red Bulls caught a break there. That chance came on a long ball and Brooks beating Parke. Palace has some speed up top and can create chances without much build-up. The Red Bulls could use some speed up top. Megaloudis hasn’t shown me much tonight.

————————–

71st minute– Red Bulls corner kick is caught by the Palace keeper and things get testy afterwards when Goldthwaite runs into the keeper.

————————–

69th minute– Red Bulls is starting to build some better attacks. Not sure if Palace is getting tired or the Red Bulls are just clicking. Wolyniec is playing well.

————————–

67th minute– Red Bulls corner after a nice passing sequence. Roth with a good touch. The corner is headed on goal but a Palace defender on the right post clears it.

————————–

65th minute– David Roth has come in for Danleigh Borman. Apparently there are more than three subs allowed in the U.S. Open Cup.

————————–

64th minute– Not a lot of positives from the Red Bulls tonight but Mendes has been rock solid in the middle.

————————–

62nd minute– Magee with a free kick that goes right to the keeper. Had some pace to it but wasn’t threatening the keeper.

————————–

62nd minute– Red Bulls with a long free kick straight on goal.

————————–

59th minute– The ESC just set off a smoke bomb and the smoke is making its way to the sideline. Great stuff from them tonight. They deserve better than the Red Bulls have given tonight.

————————–

57th minute– This is an ugly one. Ubiparipovic and Wolyniec haven’t added the punch you’d think they would add to the attack.

————————–

54th minute– Mbuta forces a save from Thornton. It isn’t so much that Palace is creating a lot, but when their forwards get the ball in the final third, they have the speed to create their own shots. Now, if they could finish those shots, they would probably be playing at a higher level.

————————–

53rd minute– Red Bulls are trying to work the flanks this half but not having much success early on.

Good job by Osorio to replace Kljestan and Gilkerson, who were just awful. Leitch didn’t do anything wrong, he just had to come out for the switch to a three-man defense.

————————–

52nd minute– Matthew Mbuta is a quick and decent player from Palace. He’s from Cameroon and has some wheels.

————————–

51st minute– Here’s the formation now:

————–Wolyniec———Megaloudis——————-

Borman—————–Magee———————-Sassano

——————Mendes—–Ubiparipovic——————

Goldthwaite————Boyens———————–Parke

————————–

50th minute– Andrew Boyens is in for John Gilkerson as well.

————————–

48th minute– Gordon Kljestan and Chris Leitch are out. The Red Bulls are running a 3-5-2 now.

————————–

47th minute– Wolyniec and Ubiparipovic are in the match.

————————–

46th
minute
– Nightfall has set in here and let’s just say the lighting is inadequate. I feel like i’m at a drive-in.

————————–

46th minute– We’re underway.

————————–

HALFTIME– For those of you wondering, I’m sitting at a table that’s five feet from the sideline. It would be a great view if the game weren’t so ugly.

————————–

HALFTIME– Yeah, that will be the only picture I take from here. My digital camera ran out of battery. Luckily for me, Howard C. Smith of ISI Photos is here so we’ll get some great photos later on tonight.

————————–

HALFTIME– The Red Bulls are losing the match on the field, but the ESC has crushed the Palace fans off the field. Here’s a picture of the Red Bulls fans:

Redbullsfans_4

————————–

HALFTIME- Crystal Palace 1, Red Bulls 0.

————————–

45th minute– Red Bulls corner. Goldthwaite heads it over and reaches for his back afterwards. He’s up and looks okay.

————————–

45th minute– The Palace corner is cleared but on the rebound Palace sends a ball in that Brooks finishes but he was offside.

————————–

45th minute– Palace with a corner.

————————–

45th minute– SAVE palace. Danleigh Borman with a great volley that forced a nice diving save by Brian Rowland.

Four minutes of added time.

————————–

45th minute– Someone should tell the Red Bulls they are still losing.

————————–

44th minute– The referee just booked another Palace player for delaying a restart. That’s about the fifth or sixth Palace card.

————————–

40th minute– Gilkerson isn’t playing well at all. He keeps getting his passes intercepted. Well, intercepted is a strong term. The passes are going right to the defense.

Kljestan gets a yellow. He and Magee are in the book now.

————————–

39th minute– Kljestan finally gets a touch. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t his first touch but it’s the first time I noticed him tonight.

————————–

38th minute– It was, in fact, a straight red card. The Red Bulls are knocking it around but the long balls in aren’t finding anybody. They need to keep it on the ground for a bit.

————————–

35th minute– Announcer called it a second yellow but it looked like a straight red. Maybe I missed the yellow being shown. Let’s see what the Red Bulls can do with the extra space.

————————–

35th minute– Kante just got a red card for a foul on Megaloudis. It was going to happen.

————————–

31st minute– Brooks almost has the last word with a dangerous chance, but he sends it wide.

————————–

30th minute– A little scuff ensues as Goldthwaite had words for Palace forward Gary Brooks. Kante gets involved and shoves somebody. The ref just gave out a handful of yellows and they all looked to be given to Palace players. Kante and Brooks get yellows.

————————–

28th minute– Sassano draws a foul. Borman’s free kick finds Magee, but his header goes high. The chances are there.

————————–

27th minute– Carlos Mendes has looked pretty good tonight, knocking it around well.

————————–

26th minute– Borman corner kick that Sassano heads wide. He had a good chance there.

————————–

25th minute– The kick hits the wall and goes over and sure looked like a handball.

————————–

24th minute– A Palace defender sends a backpass to the keeper that the keeper handles and now we have a direct kick in the box. You always love these.

————————–

21st minute– Gilkerson just got clocked and he’s down. Larry Mark gets the yellow for the kick.

————————–

20th minute– The crowd here did wake up on that goal. Although it got quit right away, except for one Palace fan with a drum.

————————–

19th minute– Danleigh Borman draws a foul on the left edge of the penalty area.

————————–

19th minute– Some bad marking on the corner and Marshall skies for a free header at the near post.

————————–

18th minute- GOAL CRYSTAL PALACE. Andrew Marshall with the header off a corner kick.

————————–

17th minute– Palace breaks in on goal but Goldthwaite makes a clutch tackle to set up a Palace corner kick.

————————–

16th minute– Not much going on as Palace struggles to build much. They’ve got some quick guys up top but nobody to get them the ball. And Sergio Flores is not in the lineup for those of you wondering.

————————–

13th minute– Mike Magee with the first decent shot. He sends a shot over the crossbar from 18.

————————–

12th minute– The Red Bulls finally string some passes together but Magee ends it with a bad ball in to Megaloudis.

Some better stuff from the Red Bulls offense. They’re keeping it and knocking it around.

————————–

11th minute– The game is ugly but at least it’s a nice day here. This is easily the smallest venue I’ve watched a game involving an MLS team. This place makes Rutgers’ Yurcak Field look like Old Trafford.

————————–

9th minute– The Red Bulls are basically kicking long balls to Magee and Megaloudis, hoping to get a good bounce. Kind of tough with Ibrahim Kante there. No, he’s not that good, but he sure is big.

————————–

7th minute– And finally, a strain of "Let’s Go Palace" can be heard from the opposite side of the field.

————————–

6th minute– ESC is throwing streamers. The streamers are yellow. Not sure if they bought them on Ebay from Crew fans.

————————–

6th minute– Not much soccer yet, the field is so small that players have no room to work.

————————–

4th minute– Not sure about the Megaloudis as lone forward look. Still waiting to see Gordan Kljestan get involved. The back-line has had most of the early touches.

————————–

2nd minute- Mike Magee is almost playing as a second forward and he’ll have the freedom to roam.

————————–

1st minute– Palace with a cross in but no one gets there. The field is painfully narrow.

————————–

PRE-GAME- The game is being played on turf for those of you wondering and it’s a nice clear day. The rain cloud passed and we should have perfect weather for this game.

————————–

PRE-GAME– The Crystal Palace lineup was announced and ESC serenaded them with a chorus of "Who Are Ya?"

————————–

PRE-GAME– The announcer is announcing the Red Bulls starters and doing so as slowly as possibly so as not to get the names wrong. Oh, and he has a British accent. You have to love that.

————————–

PRE-GAME– As you may have heard, the Red Bulls are holding a press conference tomorrow to announce the signings of Jorge Rojas as well as Argentine defender Juan Pietrevallo. It remains to be seen which player will be cut. Rojas will take up Jozy Altidore’s roster spot. Not sure who will be moved for Pietrevallo but someone will have to be.

————————–

PRE-GAME– A bit surprising to see John Wolyniec not get playing time. Could he be on the way out?

————————–

PRE-GAME– Reports of this game being a sellout were greatly exaggerated. I don’t think there are 500 people here and we’re 20 minutes from kickoff. The small crowd is also going to help ESC stand out even more.

————————–

PRE-GAME– The ESC is starting to march into the venue and they are definitely going to stand out in an otherwise quiet scene.

————————–

PRE-GAME– Here is the Red Bulls lineup for tonight’s match:

—————————-Megaloudis—————————–

——————————-Magee——————————

Borman————-Kljestan——–Mendes———–Sassano

Gilkerson———Goldthwaite——Parke————–Leitch

——————————Thornton————————–

————————–

PRE-GAME– Apologies for not posting yet but it has started to drizzle and the media table happens to be out in the open.

ESC is here. I haven’t seen them yet but I heard them.

Comments

  1. Ives,

    Thanks for the response.

    I anxiously await RBNY’s signings today. They need those guys in badly.

    Osorio has done as well as could be expected with this group. Actually he’s exceeded what could be expected if you consider Angel’s injuries and Jozy being sold and disinterested while he was still at RBNY. Better times lay ahead of the Metros I feel.

    Reply
  2. Disappointing result after all the comments from Osorio saying they were going to take it seriously this year. Not a surprise they lost, and I really hope some of these new additions can put some life into both sides of the ball. The offense needs some flair, and the defense needs to quit killing themselves with stupid errors that happen every game.

    Reply
  3. Kartik, I’m not sure what your point was but I made the same point about there not being much of a gap in talent between the bottom half of MLS rosters and USL a while ago. Some teams have more depth than others, but in general, a full-strength USL squad can beat an MLS second unit just as often as they lose to them.

    Reply
  4. There is nothing wrong with the Open Cup, and the MLS teams shouldn’t use their main players until the semis, so that means sometimes they will lose. Good or bad the Open Cup gives the MLS a chance to be seen in towns where they normally aren’t seen. It might also give some MLS teams a chance to see a good player or two from a lower division that they may not have seen. When the MLS teams go with their best line up they should win 8 out of 10 times. I believe Ives wrote a comment a few weeks back that show why upsets happpen. I believe the premise was the drop in talent from MLS reserves to USL starters isn’t that great, so when you are mainly using reserves against USL starters then it becomes a 50/50 proposition.

    Reply
  5. Ives, your knowledge of MLS is second to none of any journalist. However, I think you’re knowledge of USL is lacking. I have often said USL is better than the average 2nd division because of MLS’ salary cap. You see quality players in USL largely because they will make a better salary there. Obviously 1-12 or 13 is always going to be better on an MLS team, but after spot 12 or 13, MLS clubs are signing the cheapest possible players to fill the remaining salary spots, leaving other players, largely veterans to USL.

    Since in many cases our coaches choose the wrong players to keep and to play, USL ends up with some absolutely savvy veteran players. USL rarely gets the technical, potentially great youngsters MLS does, but when MLS sides play their reserves the USL teams actually have better players. That’s why USL teams should actually if anything be winning more in the Open Cup, but they suffer as has been pointed out above from even worse fixture congestion than the MLS Clubs and actually have to do more traveling with Puerto Rico and Vancouver in the league.

    BTW, the Whitecaps went to BMO and beat TFC last night in the Canadian Cup. That’s the type of result I expect from a USL team, not Miami cracking in stoppage time or Rochester getting beat 2-0. (In fairness DC and the Hoops played more regulars than most MLS teams normally do at this stage)

    Reply
  6. Drew, RBNY has the money to spend. They just have done a miserable job spending it.

    Kpugs, the five points in three games led to an attempt at positive thinking. But I should know better than that with this team.

    Reply
  7. the fire played a heavily reserves squad:

    Nick Noble, Austin Washington, Brian Plotkin, Daniel Woolard, Lider Marmol, Mike Banner, Stephen King, Peter Lowry, Chris Rolfe (Tomasz Frankowski 46), Calen Carr (Cuauhtemoc Blanco 85), Chad Barrett (Patrick Nyarko 46),

    2 by Banner

    1 by Carr

    1 by Barrett

    ———————————-

    seems like Noble had a good game,

    Reply
  8. Is this just a testament to how sh*tty the MLS really is?

    Posted by: Jr

    No. It just shows how our reserve salaries suck and when we play USL squads their advantage of time on the field as a team shows. As opposed to a mix of first teamers and reserves from the MLS squad that really have not played as a team.

    DC looked bad in the final third all last night against the Rhinos. Had to win on set pieces. Most of the MLS teams had problems playing with reserves last night.

    Reply
  9. Kpugs: Regarding the Euro league domestic cups, I see your point but it’s not an automatic. Of the four semifinalists in the FA Cup, 3 were from lower divisions. I believe 5 of the final 8 were also not EPL teams). Upsets happen in these one-off contests. But I understand it still stings.

    Regards,

    Reply
  10. “Is this just a testament to how sh*tty the MLS really is?

    Posted by: Jr | July 01, 2008 at 09:21 PM”

    Jr, the league is fine, it’s RBNY that’s the load of sh*t. Sorry to break it to you.

    Thanks be to God that I’m outta here.

    Hasta luego, b*tches.

    Reply
  11. WOW! I don’t think NY fans should be surprised. Osorio obviously didn’t take this game seriously. That line up was pitiful and they played very disorganized. Crystal Palace played their starters and played their game regardless of the team in front of them. Congrats to them. To see a real team take care of business, check out DC United who did exactly what they were supposed to do. They won without worry. Even after beating the pretty boys from out west, they were still able to muster up the strength to beat a team they were supposed to beat.

    The secret to this tournament is that whatever takes it seriously, will win it. Most MLS teams don’t take it seriously because they simply don’t have the depth to handle it (a severe definciency in MLS to put team in so many tournaments and not let them go get the players to handle it).

    So there should be no surprises from yesterday. NY got the result they intended. They didn’t take it seriously and they got beat by a USL2 team. It happens. Now go back to being DC’s whipping boy!

    Reply
  12. I would have liked the Red Bulls to advance further in the US Open Cup. I want the team to win some trophy or cup even if it is just the US Open Cup. Oh well…

    Perhaps the Red Bulls can qualify for 2009 Superliga.

    Reply
  13. The only thing I liked about Open cup was the fact that we played at Rutgers in years past. Too many injuries now, too many potential injuries from lower league teams with something to prove. Glad we are out early instead of late.

    Betters our chance to sneak into playoffs and Germany our way into the final.

    One can dream.

    Reply
  14. P.S. It doesn’t MATTER how much the lower division teams care about the U.S. Open

    Cup. Who cares? WHO CARES?

    Every single time an MLS team gets knocked out, which is almost always, it’s a joke. In theory MLS teams should be able to send out whoever they want and win, and eventually lose to another MLS team. This is never the case. Let’s not try to over-analyze this. The competition itself is a joke compared to “real” domesstic cups in Europe and South America.

    Reply
  15. Haig, as one of the few guys with stronger opinions than mine I almost don’t want to agree with you. Not only that, but I’m not a doom and gloom guy either. I pride myself (even in my bias) as being realistic.

    Having said that, I DO agree with you. I don’t think this team “sucks” like you do but they are far from good. I think the simple fact that I’ve missed, oh, maybe 5 home games since the first ever game is blinding me. And if that’s true, I’ll accept it.

    I’m not going to say they suck. But let me put it this way. Two draws (that were NOT wins because of two MONUMENTAL mistakes) and one win in a FRIENDLY and all of a sudden it seems all my fellow Red Bulls fans are strutting their stuff, full of confidence. I felt as if I was the only one who was disgusted by the fact that those two goals were given up and the games were draws instead of ties. I mean how in the name of all things holy can any true fan take heart in two draws that RBNY themselves GAVE to the other frickin teams? Thank god the team has trained me (every year in their entire existence) never to take positives for granted.

    Haig…we will probably disagree forevermore. But on this night my friend, we are brothers.

    Reply
  16. The lower division teams do care more about the Open Cup at least in the early rounds. In England it is the same thing the top level teams use their reserves, and sometimes they lose.

    The Schedule thing can’t be used by MLS teams as an excuse. For example seattle played last Tuesday (open Cup) hosted Montreal, Open Cup tonight Thusday in Charleston, Saturday at Carolina and next Tuesday open cup.

    I don’t know about the the other USL teams, but I will guarantee you they have fewer players than the MLS teams.

    Reply
  17. Guys, I’ll admit it here publicly, I doomed us tonight. As I now crack open a bottle to mourn the putrid display that was the Red Bulls, I notice that the vodka I had purchased earlier was… thats right, Crystal Palace vodka

    Reply
  18. holy crap. I missed this whole game with other obligations but holy crap. The posters comments above about USL2 also having a tough schedule were spot on.

    I don’t even know what this says about the team. About the league. I suppose there are always upsets in this kind of tournament and maybe this will be just a forgotten dark patch in a RBNY resurgence. But holy crap. Didn’t see the game so I can’t judge the run of play. Did I say “holy crap” yet?

    Wow, hang tough Red Bulls fans. Ain’t no fun when it’s like this.

    Reply
  19. kpugs: We’ve all seen losing streaks, but when we have been this poor in the past, our team has proven themselves to be bums and quitters.

    Most of our roster is made up of players who pretty much everyone knows aren’t very skilled at this “soccer” thing. But the good news, we thought, was that despite being on the whole totally inadequate, they fought like hell. Even down 4-1 to DC, they were getting stuck in.

    But this team sucks. Very few players would be first choice substitutes elsewhere in MLS, that’s how bad they are. You can’t put lipstick on this pig. The pathetic thing is that many intelligent fans expressed a feeling that this squad needed significant upgrades, and NOTHING was done.

    And, from what I’m hearing from Annapolis, much of the team quit tonight, totally outplayed.

    I wonder what Claudio Reyna was doing tonight. You would think that for a paycheck that comes to over $4,000 per DAY, he would take the bus ride down to support his team.

    But instead he seems to think he draws the world’s largest welfare check. His inadequacy has been pointed out for a year now, and rather than things getting better, they’re getting far worse. Those who tried to belittle Claudio’s detractors know who they are, and should take about five years off from publicly expressing any opinion about soccer, since they have shown themselves to be suck-ups, liars, or fools.

    Reply

Leave a Comment