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Red Bulls notes: Celades, Galaxy and D.C. United rematch

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BY DYLAN BUTLER

New York Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio addressed a number of topics in a conference call with beat writers ahead of tomorrow night's match against the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Home Depot Center.

On the injury front, Osorio said Carlos Mendes (shoulder), Seth Stammler (knee) and Albert Celades (hamstring) are progressing well and each will be in contention on Saturday. Osorio said he also hasn't decided who will start in goal after Danny Cepero performed well against the San Jose Earthquakes in a Lamar Hunt/U.S. Open Cup match on Wednesday.

Osorio, though, did say he was looking forward to a rematch with D.C. in the next round of qualification after the Red Bulls suffered a devesating defeat at home on Sunday.

"I want to play them again," Osorio said. "Every football game is different. We certainly could have and should have won the last game against them. Going into their place, I think it will be a good chance for us to progress into the Cup and to show that we can play with them or anyone else in the MLS."

A week ago, Osorio said he targeted Saturday's game against the Galaxy for Celades' return and that hasn't changed.

"He trained with us yesterday," Osorio said. "We did some tactical sessions with a lot of playing in it and he did very well. We're feeling confident he's on his way to full fitness."

The only question for Osorio is how many minutes Celades will be able to play. That's the reason Osorio said the Spanish midfielder was left off the game-day roster on Wednesday.

"I originally had him on the bench with the view to play him for the last 30 minutes. But then we went into discussions that if the game would have gone into overtime, then he would have ended up playing not 30, but maybe 60 (minutes). That's the reason he wasn't on the bench."

Osorio said he is also likely to bring Mendes and Stammler back into the fold.

"Carlos is improving. He practiced with the team yesterday and I think he's looking better," Osorio said. "Seth is also doing quite well. The medical department did something with him, it alleviated a lot of the problems he felt. He was feeling not so much pain, but uncomfortable. Now he feels a lot more at ease."

Comments

  1. it doesn’t matter what the team is, it;s still the metro area, and the team may not be metro anymore, but in a few years time you guys won’t even be DC anything so just some important information for you.

    Reply
  2. By the way, you’re not the MetroStars anymore. So “Metro till I die” is now irrelevant.

    Just some important information for you.

    Reply
  3. lou:

    I don’t think anyone’s bragging about our amazing attendance this year. We’re only getting about 14k.

    However, we are still not moving to St. Louis, we still have 12 more trophies than you do, and we still have much better fans than you do. I like your devotion to your team, but I just don’t see you doing any better in the stands next year. Who knows, maybe I’ll be wrong.

    But probably not.

    Cheers!

    Reply
  4. LOL lou I really hope we run wild on you guys,who do you have on your team that in even worth mentioning apart from Angel, Rojas (when he is up for it) and maybe Kandji?

    You guys start Khano Smith FFS, De la Garza looks like Messi compared to him

    Reply
  5. That’s ok sean, LA has a lot of players out there that are about as good as a bunch of rocks anyway, so i think your nick names are spot on. As for DC, if i was given the choice between some silvewear or moving into a new stadium, and staying in the same state, i think i would choice the later. You all preach about your amazing attendances at games, but let’s see how well you draw in st. lou, and let’s see how well we draw in our brand new stadium not located in a swawmp, that has ways for mass transit to get there. Oh and congrats on that lucky win you guys got against us last week, you should send you thankyou cards to the turf at the stadium, becuase without that turf the ball wouldn’t have played wierd on that last play and someone would have went for it. You could win every trophy there is to win I don’t care, metro till i die.

    Reply
  6. Your hearing it first right here (Im not that drunk….I think)

    Your 2009 MLS cup champs Starting 11

    1. Gk- Donovan “The Rasta” Ricketts

    2. RB- Sean “The Rock” Franklin

    3. CB- Omar “The Goob” Gonzalez

    4. CB- Gregg “Jersey Boy” Berhalter

    5. LB- Todd “Ironman” Dunivant

    6. CDM- Dema “I Break Your Leg” Kovalenko

    7. RM- Chris ” The Rock” Klein

    8. LM- Eddie ” The Good Guy” Lewis

    9. CAM- David “Not So Golden Balls” Beckham

    10. FWD- Edson ” Clinical” Buddle

    11. FWD- Landon “The Messiah” Donovan (C)

    hope to see you guys tomorrow

    Reply
  7. Well remember my DCU BUMS, or maybe I should say MY St. Louis BUMS:

    orgoglio precede la distruzione

    or translated:

    Pride goes before a FALL (destuction)

    Reply
  8. i do apologize for disparaging a team that had the genius to select Alexei Lalas as General Manager, before it was cool.

    by the way, has anyone seen the SBI Jersey-based fantasy picks for this week? I’d like to know from which team to pick three players (I mean except for the Galaxy, surely no Jersey website would pick the team playing the local team, right? that would be ridiculous.) anyone catch the team I’m looking for?

    Reply
  9. how many stars do you have?
    not a f**king one.

    hey, let’s sing that again!

    how many stars do you have?
    not a f**ing one.

    just out of curiosity, who won the last Red Bulls-DC match? I seem to remember turning off the TV with the Bull ahead 2-1 in the 90th. anyone catch the end?

    Reply
  10. don’t go personal Kev, I meant “you” as a team not you personally, I would not disparage where you live just the team you support.

    Reply
  11. Geez, Smith, what is you problem with the “ghetto”? I mean, every insult you are hurling at the United players is that they are supposedly “ghetto”. What does that mean? Does that mean they earn less money than middle class people, and therefore cannot afford to live in prosperous neighborhoods? And wouldn’t the same be true the Red Bull players then, too, because of the very restrictive MLS salary cap?

    In addition, you are obviously not a lyrical mastermind. Don’t quit your dayjob.

    Reply
  12. In fact, I DO live in a state! It is named Rhode Island. Still a DCU fan.

    When was the last time you won the Cup? Oh, that’s right. You were “finalists” last year. That’s such an achievement, you should definitely emphasize it by putting a huge sign right in the middle of the field at the Swamp.

    And regardless of what stadium we play in, we will always have the consolation that our fans are vastly superior to the 23 that the Red Bull New York MetroStar Red Bulls of Harrison, New Jersey can boast.

    I would also advise that you look at the standings. You will find New York somewhere near the bottom, and DC United in playoff contention. Just like it’s been for 14 years.

    Reply
  13. yeah your right, but by the time you win your next MLS cup (when was that again? 5 years ago?) your team will be called the St. Louis kickers or something.

    whatever! comon’ you don’t even live in a state!

    Reply
  14. DCU fans are just jeleous that RBNY are getting a stadium! YES DC SCUM a real stadium!

    oh I heard about Maryland (what a joke, they did not want you).

    The only place that would take a dump of a team that you have become is St. Louis! HAHAHAHAHA!!

    Please tell that greasy haired wanabe football player you have to make sure he is fit for the beating that he will take on the pitch!!

    GO RED BULLS!!

    Reply
  15. While we’re at it, let’s sing:

    DC is ghetto

    Very Very Ghetto

    Jaime Moreno

    Is also very ghetto

    St Loo is ugly

    But better than your ghetto

    Woly is ugly

    But cuter than Moreno

    DC is ghetto

    Very very ghetto

    Off to St Loo-ie

    You’re ruining Missouri

    Olsen is ghetto

    And also a cripple

    When you leave the ghetto

    It won’t cause a ripple

    DC is ghetto

    The American Gen-o-a

    DC is ghetto

    Mrs Olsen’s a (fill in the blank)

    Can’t wait for you guys to move

    It’ll be great watching you cry over it.

    Reply
  16. Laugh it up, DC fans. We RBNY supporting will be laughing last when Ghetto United moves to St Louis next year.

    Reply
  17. lol @ yankiboy. I’ve been there.

    Will United be playing at RFK, or will we be heading down to Germantown? I guess since we drew over 5k for Dallas in the playin (woohoo, we slightly outdrew a WPS game!!), they would prefer to keep it at RFK, to sell more tickets and generally make more revenue. I can’t really argue, but I really hope a respectable crowd for a USOC game shows up (say, 8,000?), especially with us facing a rival.

    How funny would it be if we got more than the measly 10k they sold last week for the league match? ; ) And, regardless, we have a great chance at having more butts-in-seats. There couldn’t have been more than 7,000 people in attendance on Sunday, regardless of what ticket sales tell you.

    Reply
  18. JoeW, way to go and ruin the momentum that I had so epicly jumpstarted with your insightful analysis.

    Nothing like posting a worthless, incredibly self-indulgent comment and being followed by some guy who can break down a matchup better than a lot of guys actually paid to do it…

    Reply
  19. I think the next DCU/RBNY match is going to be primarily about 2 players: Ben Olsen and Jorge Rojas.

    It’s pretty evident that DCU is a different team when Olsen is on the field. And they probably played the best half of soccer they have all season in the first half against RBNY–RB was lucky not to be down 3-0 going into the half. I don’t attribute all of that to Olsen but clearly he’s a factor in central midfield and in terms of team energy and leadership.

    OTOH, Rojas came on in the second half (with Olsen out) and played I would argue the best soccer of his RB career. And RBNY looked the best they’ve looked all season, playing some very find soccer for about 30 minutes before failing to kill the game off, bunkering too much and then making the fatal errors at the end of the match.

    It’s interesting to me that people (and especially the media) make the big deal about the last 2 minutes (ie: RBNY choked big time or RBNY should have won the match going away or what a great comeback from DCU) and to me the real intriguing issues are which team shows up: DCU of the 1st half or RBNY of the first 30 minutes of the 2nd half? And I think that’s primarily a question of what contribution Olsen and Rojas provide.

    It’s good for DCU that they won the toss and play this match at RFK. Besides the deal that both sides are better at home, it means Soehn is willing to play Olsen longer on grass at RFK than he is turf at the Meadowlands. In favor of RBNY on this issue is that DCU now has a little schedule congestion (7 matches in 30 days and 3 matches in 7 days). Given Soehn’s decision to regulate Olsen’s time and the importance of a regular season match against NE just 5 days before the RBNY match, it’s entirely possible that Olsen might not play or only play limited minutes in the USOC match–which benefits Rojas big time.

    My take is that Rojas has impressed the most when he has space and time. Against teams like NE or DCU (when they play a 3-5-2 with Olsen in central midfield) he’ll disappear against. But given a 442 or central midfielders who give him more time/space, he’s capable of some fine work (as he showed in the 2nd half).

    As for the upcoming RBNY match against LAG, this is the ultimate test of JCO’s decision to accumulate speed in the offseason. Gonzalez, De la Garza, Sanneh, Berhalter, Klein, Lewis–they’re among the slowest players out there for their positions. Only Franklin has a pair of jets. While I know it’s tempting to want to see a lot of Celedes, I’d argue that if there was any match to try and get guys like Oduro, Mbuta, especially Kandji, Hall and (I can’t believe I’m saying this) even Khano Smith (who I’ve ridiculed as a player) on the field. Because individually and tactically I don’t think LAG will have any answers for this. Flipside, is that against Donovan, it would be tough letting an older Celedes see his first action and definitely not Petke (who I admire but just isn’t very good against quick, dynamic players in the open-field).

    Reply
  20. Osorio can keep looking forward to the next time Red Bull faces DC.

    Like we like to say down here in the PG: Sr. Osorio, “Come and git you some…”.

    Oh well. After DC United takes Red Bull out in the next USOC, Red Bull won’t have to worry about their Reserves losing to my USL2 Crystal Palace Baltimore boys.

    Reply

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