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CONCACAF Champions League: Red Bulls vs. W Connection (Match Night Commentary)

New York Red Bulls - JPEG WConnectionLogo

What is left of the New York Red Bulls dismal season will either survive or perish tonight when the Red Bulls take on W Connection in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League series (8pm, Fox Soccer Channel)   .

The task is simple. If the Red Bulls win or tie by a goal or less, they advance to the group stage of the Champions League. A loss or tie of 3-3 or more means the Red Bulls' Champions League is over, as is the club's MLS season.

The Red Bulls have already received some bad news heading into tonight's match. Leading scorer Juan Pablo Angel is out after having suffered a concussion in the first leg.

I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action.

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FINAL– W Connection fans are having a party here. They're celebrating in the front row, serenading their fans. It's an impressive sight to be sure. Who knew there were so many W Connection fans? Then again, it's New York, every team in the world has fans here.

The Trinidadians deserve the credit. They played a great game, were disciplined defensively when it counted and created chances.

The Red Bulls? Started well, looked good early, but then morphed back into the terrible team we've seen all year. The Red Bulls fans who came out tonight deserve credit, and they deserve a better team than they've had this year. 

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FINAL– W Connection 2, Red Bulls 1. The Red Bulls are eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League. I'm not sure why we expected anything different. It's just been that kind of year. 

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93rd Minute- Mbuta with a swing and a miss from a few feet away. WOW.

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93rd Minute- Two minutes left.

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91st Minute- Red Bulls will have enough time for a few good chances. DO they have a goal in them?

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91st Minute- Five minutes of stoppage time.

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90th Minute- Stoppage time remaining. How much?

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89th Minute- Hughton Hector with a great look. Mike Petke saved the day with the block.

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88th Minute- WOW, W Connection with a great chance and its blocked. Nice moves.

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87th Minute- Three minutes left.

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85th Minute- CONCACAF Cramps are kicking in for W Connection. Time wasting at its best.

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82nd Minute- Eight minutes left in the Red Bulls' season (well, their non-MLS season).

Mbuta looks VERY dangerous.

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80th Minute- Mbuta with a nice run and shot but it goes right at the keeper.

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79th Minute- Eleven minutes left and Matt Mbuta is about to be the last sub, coming in for Kevin Goldthwaite.

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74th Minute- Oebster and Richards have swapped sides. Oebster is on the right wing now, Richards on the left.

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72nd Minute- Celades with a look from 23 yards out but sends it well wide. Good look and he needs to do better with that shot.

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71st Minute- Tonight's attendance is 6,549. I think that number is the total number of teeth in attendance.

WC corner kick.

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69th Minute- W Connection showing much better skill and organization than in the first leg. The Red Bulls are going to have a tough time cracking this back-line.

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66th Minute- yellow card for Goldthwaite. He's lucky he didn't get a red card earlier so he won't complain.

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64th Minute- Loose ball falls to Oebster and he can't get a shot on goal from close. Red Bulls season in a nutshell.

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62nd Minute- Celades with a BLAST but it's saved by Phillip.

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61st Minute- Red Bulls corner.

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59th Minute- Dangerous ball in from Richards but nobody can get to it before the WC keeper finally grabs it.

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56th Minute- Stammler JUST wide, with a close range shot. Can't get it on frame off a loose ball in the area.

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55th Minute- Sinisa Ubiparipovic is in for Jorge Rojas, who limped off. What is up with Nick Zimmerman?

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54th Minute- W Connection comes close with a chance but the shot is weak at Cepero. Nearly a Toussaint hat-trick.

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51st Minute- Not much from the Red Bulls attack yet this half. They look a bit dazed right now.

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48th Minute- SAVE CEPERO. Long shot from WC forces a corner kick.

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47th minute– We're back. 

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HALFTIME– Danleigh Borman has come in for Alfredo Pacheco. the Salvadorean defender hadn't done a thing all day and lolligagged on WC's first goal. 

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HALFTIME– Those wondering when Juan Carlos Osorio would be fired will get their answer tonight because if the Red Bulls lose this series Red Bulls is very likely to pull the plug on Osorio and have a new coach in place by the team's Aug. 15th match vs. Chivas USA.

Will the Red Bulls step up and save their coach? There isn't much reason to believe they will. 

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HALFTIME– So what do the Red Bulls do now? They just need to keep moving the ball like they did early in the first half. They can create chances on W Connection, but the defense can't cough up bad blunders like they did giving up two goals in the final five minutes of the half.

Subs? Nick Zimmerman needs to be in this match. Take out Dane Richards and insert Zimmerman. 

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HALFTIME– The Red Bulls Under-20 team is being honored at halftime for winning the Super-20 North American League championship. I'm convinced this group of kids could probably do better than the current Red Bulls. 

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HALFTIME– An unforgiveable blunder from Goldthwaite gifts W Connection a second goal and now the Red Bulls are in a hole with 45 minutes left in their season. 

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45th Minute- GOAL W CONNECTION!!!!! And it's Toussaint again off an AWFUL Kevin Goldthwaite turnover. W Connection 2, Red Bulls 1. WOW.

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45th Minute- That W Connection goal drew plenty of applause from a good number of W Connection fans in attendance.

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44th Minute- Another defensive breakdown downs the Red Bulls in the final five minutes of a half. Just mind-boggling.

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40th Minute- GOAL W CONNECTION!!! And it's Andre Toussaint, beating Seth Stammler before finishing to equalize. It's 1-1 now.

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37th Minute

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34th Minute- I like what I'm seeing from Ernst Oebster. He's an active and quick lefty with nice touch and good ideas.

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32nd Minute- Rojas comes so close off a GREAT ball from Jeremy Hall. Nice save from the WC goalkeeper.

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25th Minute- Some Keystone Kops defending from W Connection. I think the goalkeeper met his defenders just before the game for the first time.

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24th Minute- W Connection is starting to foul hard and lose some composure. Wolyniec looks poised to add a second goal. Nice signs of life from this Red Bulls team.

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20th Minute- Great pass in from Rojas and Wolyniec with the well-struck left-footed shot.

W Connection with a yellow card. Who knew the ref had cards?

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19th Minute- GOAL RED BULLS!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it's John Wolyniec with a great finish off a give-and-go between Jorge Rojas and Ernst Oebster. Red Bulls 1, W Connection 0.

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18th Minute- Talk about a drastic difference in referees. The first-leg referee would give a yellow card for sneezing on somebody, while tonight's ref would let you get away with anything short of stabbing someone.

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15th Minute- Wolyniec header just over. Good look but can't get it on frame. Nice ball in for Celades.

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14th Minute- The W Connection goalkeeper looks a bit shaky. If RB can get some shots on him we could be in for an adventure.

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13th Minute- Red Bulls corner kick.

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12th Minute- Rojas with a free kick skied over the crossbar.

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9th Minute- Drinking games are definitely needed tonight. Here are some:

Dane Richards turnovers

Alfredo Pacheco miscues

John Wolyniec shots on goal

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6th Minute- Richards shows off some speed but falls down looking for a call.

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3rd Minute- Slightly fewer fans here tonight than the last soccer game here.

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1st Minute- W Connection with a shot on goal just 20 seconds in. Cepero saves easily.

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1st Minute- And we're off. There may be 750 people here. ESC is represented well though.

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PRE-GAME– For those of you wondering, Mac Kandji is out with a hamstring injury. 

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PRE-GAME– So here's a question. Does Red Bull as a company want its team to win tonight? Think about this. If the team wins tonight, or wins the series, that means three more home games and three more likely net losses. Okay, so I doubt Red Bull wants the team to lose tonight, but the club could lose half a million over the course of three matches.  

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PRE-GAME– Red Bulls team doctor Riley Williams just had a mini-press conference to discuss Angel's concussion. It turns out Angel suffered that concussion in the first minute of the first leg but played the rest of the match with it after doctors on sight decided he was okay to continue. Angel complained of light-headedness after returning to New York and a thorough exam earlier today revealed a grade two concussion. Angel is out at least a week, which means he could be back in time for the team's next MLS match, against Chivas USA on Aug. 15th.

Angel's concussion certainly puts the header he sent toward his own net into a different perspective.

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PRE-GAME– Some good news for the Red Bulls. Dominican striker Jonathan Farias is out for W Connection. You might remember the hamstring injury he suffered in the first leg.

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PRE-GAME– Here is the Red Bulls lineup:

——————–John Wolyniec——————-

———————-Jorge Rojas——————–

Ernst Oebster————————-Dane Richards

———-Albert Celades——Seth Stammler——

Alfredo Pacheco————————-Jeremy Hall

———Kevin Goldthwaite—–Mike Petke———

————————Danny Cepero—————–

BENCH– Coundoul, Boyens, Sassano, Ubiparipovic, Mbuta, Borman, Zimmerman

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PRE-GAME– So what happened to Angel? I'm hearing that he suffered a concussion early in the first leg. You might recall the play in the penalty area where he went down and stayed down for a bit. It looks as though he took a blow to the head on that play. Given Angel's previous history with concussions (he suffered one in the 2007 MLS playoffs) the club couldn't risk playing him tonight. 

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PRE-GAME– The teams have taken the field to warm up and now there are more players than fans in the stadium.

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PRE-GAME- The Red Bulls should be able to win today, but not having Angel is a big blow.

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PRE-GAME– Can't say I'm surprised that nobody's here. This is all W Connection's fault for not traveling better (kidding).

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PRE-GAME– When I say there aren't many people here, I mean I could probably list what every fan here is wearing and it might take 10 minutes. Seriously, this could wind up being the worst attended game in club history. 

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Comments

  1. Truly sad. I watched the first game and NY was gifted two deflected balls that rolled into the net. When Wolly scored early in this second game I thought the players were going to save their season by moving on in the CCL. Then as things wore on the number of incredible mistakes and mis handled passes grew. Finally, the defense makes the W Connection forward look like Kaka and its lights out.

    The MLS is absolutely getting a black eye from these CCL games. Years ago we fans thought they lost because they were in Pre-season form. That excuse is gone. DC barely passes and Toronto cant stop a USL team while NY, well, you all saw that.

    I’m beginning to think that the level of play in MLS is sliding backwards.

    Reply
  2. Give those Seattle fans 14 years of what we have had, and change the team’s name to the Seattle Pocari Sweat, and you’ll end up with two men and a dog at Qwest watching the home team lose to the second best club team in Domenica.

    Reply
  3. Hey Red Bull fans,

    See what is going on in Seattle? That will make your hair stand on end.

    What is going on in New York should make someone want to throw up.

    How sad.

    Reply
  4. Kevin Goldthwaite single footedly knocked the Red Bulls out of the CCL. I wonder if Ives is going to continue to defend him since it’s the only defense associated with Goldthwaite. The guy may be the worst player on a very bad team.

    Reply
  5. Really all the talk about Red Bull as a company being horrible for the team is misguided. The company at least understands what many non-sporting companies don’t – leave the sports decisions to the sports people and give the coach a chance past the initial growing period. The real problem is that after they pulled the plug on Arena and swept Osorio from Chicago, they waited out the growing period only to realize that they hired a fitness coach who got lucky with a very talented roster in Chicago. They thought the tinkering would pay off, bet the farm on it and lost everything. We’ll call Arena the rookie choice and Osorio the sophomore slump, since this failure was probably a reaction to the realization that Arena was dropped far too quickly.

    As for the miserable attendance numbers, sports is ENTIRELY about atmosphere. If a team plays brilliantly like Barça, the team creates the atmosphere. If the team plays poorly, the fans create the atmosphere. Even the best fans (and I applaud RBNY fans, but they are not the best fans) would never be able to create atmosphere at the sound-sapping bowl of doom that is Giants Stadium. Unless you somehow managed sell outs from the beginning and had an addicting atmosphere, the team was doomed without beautiful soccer (something MLS is hard-pressed to find anyway). Red Bull Arena will present an opportunity for the organization as new fans from the city will check it out (meaning 25k will be easy for the first few games) and if the atmosphere is good, the fans will stick around.

    That said, the team needs to improve at least to the point where people think they could win a game, and hopefully to the point where they can do something other than lob the ball at the forwards or the fans become quiet and the atmosphere sucks.

    Reply
  6. anthony de avila just came out of retirement im sure at 45 he would have shown more heart that 90% of those guys bring back ping pong soccer…still cant cant get over the debacle. Supposed to be a flagship franchise i just cant see it happening anymore, team is able to get away with it due to the other NY teams, jsut pathetic

    Reply
  7. I think now that the season is basically all over for the Red Bulls, now is the time to make the coaching changes. I say can Osorio, becuase in the 2 years we have had him the team has gotten worse and worse, we have become the Detroit Lions of the MLS.

    I say spend the money bring in Klinsmann, and his Bayern coaching staff, and I think his American was will work here in the MLS. Yes the guy didnt win the Bundesliga, but hey, they where 2nd. I then say go out and make the whole sale moves, I would keep Angel, Richards, Petke, Celedes, Coundoul, Stammler, Obster. Then go out and 1st get a real good strker to parnter Angel, and then a real good CB, and use the other DP spot on one of those.

    Reply
  8. i love to see all the internet braniacs demanding red bull lose their franchise rights. New York is the capital of the universe. No one cares about St. Louis, and Seattle are desperate because of how badly they got dumped by the nba. and Drew Carey can’t hold Barker’s jock. Red Bull till I die, and thanks for the coverage Ives

    Reply
  9. As a DCU fan, I have to tip my hat to those supporters who have stuck through and by what has to be the worst team I have ever seen in MLS.

    There needs to be a serious house cleaning with the current Red Bull Soccer Organization. Aside from Angel, Celedes, Petke and one or two of the rookies, Red Bull needs to sweep away a lot of deadwood.

    I really hope as an MLS fan that NYRB can put together a competetive team in their new stadium. That would be great for the fans and for the League. The situation today is at the point of being embarrassing.

    Good luck for next year (except when playing DC).

    Reply
  10. Look at those Sounders fans on ESPN2!!! Red Bull and pro soccer in New York is a joke. And who cares? The Internet has relegated New York from a media empire to a town of sports losers. New stadium? At this point who cares. Red Bull is a shitty drink too. The league can succeed without NYC. Red Bull should sell the team to the St. Louis investment group.

    Reply
  11. Dear Red Bulls,
    You have to be the most unprofessional organization in MLS history. With the Stadium opening up next year I do hope as a fan and ticket holder that you remove the entire team and start over. It is unbeliveable that you have the 20 super league champions introduced at halftime by some bimbo that doesn’t even have shoes on. Futhermore the love affair with Latin has-beens needs to be over – this includes Clendes, Angel, JCO, Pathenco….and Rojas. We need players…had working players..not pasture players that want to graze..
    The organization can’t even get the barriers lined up in a straight line….Hopefully they will have cheerleaders at the new stadium so atleast they can attract fans….but what am I thinking…they will screw that up too….

    Horrible….start the U-20 team…they have more heart.

    Game over

    Reply
  12. just got back from the game, never have i seen such a pathetic performance by professionals, aside from Woly and Obester no one seemed to care. This has to be rock bottom

    Reply
  13. hahaha ives i can sense your dissapointment in the result even though you claim they’re not “your team”. First NYRB game i’ve watched all season. Just needed to witness the sideshow for myself. unreal and utter waste of time

    Reply
  14. How many of these Red Bulls were brought in by OsorryO? They can’t defend. They’re too slow. There is no playmaker. Without Angel or Kandji, they can’t score. And 6.5k in attendance in a stadium that once routinely saw 60k.

    Maybe firing OsorryO isn’t enough. Maybe the Red Bulls should be forced to sell the team back to MSL. Or better yet. Shut down rather than continue to embarrass their fans. Philadelphia and Vancouver are already in better shape than the Red Bulls.

    Sad.

    Reply
  15. i like the post about how RB loses money each time they play so a loss is actually a good thing for RB finances.. HAHA … i hope NY has some serious plans to improve next year!

    Reply
  16. So lets talk about who the candidates are for the Red Bull job. Will Paul Mariner get a shot? Is Richie Williams ready to take over?

    Also, Red Bull should dump some of the older guys and let the younger guys play for the rest of the season. They can’t be worse than the starters.

    Reply
  17. Hallelujah if you have dish network or Directv. mun2 will be playing on those two channels on August 12 for the USA Mexico match. The only draw back…Marcello Balboa is commentating. I actually like Marcello but everyone else seems to hate him. Phil Schoen has got play by play.

    Reply
  18. I’m not a NYRB fan, but I do feel y’alls pain. That’s extremely excruciating soccer to behold. It’s just unbearable on all accounts. I’m sorry you guys have to go through this.

    Reply
  19. Absolutely Pathetic….
    MLS has to find another way to select teams for the CL. This competition is of too much importance to the league. This is a great opportunity for people outside the US to get a good look at the MLS, it’s a shame they had to witness one of the worst teams in the history of this league, go down to a team from Trinidad, that no one had ever heard of before.
    Congratulations W. Connection, on a well deserved win.
    As for the Red Bulls, well……….smh. Why bother.

    Reply
  20. Fire Osorio. I also defended him longer than most, but he’s got to go. Not because of this loss, but because most of us never really thought RB was going to beat W Connection to begin with, which is pathetic.

    Reply
  21. I agree Frank….but the thing is he brought in some of these horrible horrible players…haha. It’s clear the whole team needs a restructuring.

    Reply
  22. “Then again, it’s New York, every team in the world has fans here.”

    I can think of one team that doesn’t have fans in New York

    Reply
  23. damn, it’s beyond boring watching the bulls play. i’m a ‘quakes fan so i know what kind of pain you guys are going thru. yea osorio has crapped up again,BUT he’s not playing, the players keep f*cking up again and again. all you guys calling for osorio should be calling out ALL the players also, there’s only so much a coach can do. i understand it’s easier to fire one coach than 22 players, but your players have quit playing , i don’t think the coach has quit coaching.

    Reply
  24. great effort guys, you really showed your 10 fans what you are made of. three cheers for the brand new stadium, and of course where would we be without the great osorio, his leadership and vision are second to none. GOOD WORK RBNY!!!!

    Reply
  25. Wow… NY 09 is definitely the worst sports team I’ve ever seen. In MLS it’s been mildly amusing, but vs. a team as poor as W Connection it’s just frustrating to watch.

    Reply
  26. biggest crime of the night? It’s John “Wall-eh-nick” not “Wool-nee-yak”

    Also, i tried defending him as long as possible, but fire osario.

    Reply
  27. Red Bull has no idea how to run an MLS team, and they know it.

    But they have to act. The name has become synonymous with “laughing stock.” Red Bull has taken a mediocre team with mediocre attendance and made it an awful team with terrible attendance.

    Red Bull is not attracting new fans, despite playing in an area where soccer is extremely popular. They have culitivated no local ties either in NJ or NYC. All they are doing is driving away existing fans.

    This is a team who drew 40,000 or more fans when the team started. But rather than playing good soccer packaged in a way that appealled to the huge number of soccer fans and sustaining massive crowds, they played on AstroTurf, with football lines, with a stupid name, with mostly garbage players. So the crowds have grown smaller and smaller and this is what’s left: a few hundred people watching crap.

    And no one cares, so there’s no objective press to hold anyone accountable for this disaster.

    Red Bull has failed. Blow this team up and start over.

    Reply
  28. When I say interim coach I mean just promote an assistant for 3 months. I understand they have to pay JCO either way but I’m sure some would agree that not having to see him anymore on the sidelines would be refreshing.

    Reply

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