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New York adds Marquez as third Designated Player

  RafaMarquez

The New York Red Bulls hunt for a third DP ended Monday, as the club announced the signing of Mexican national team captain Rafa Marquez.

Another long-rumored New York move came to fruition just two days after Marquez was released by his former club Barcelona over the weekend. The addition of the 31-year-old defender/midfielder gives Hans Backe a couple of lineup options, depending on how he chooses to use his newest addition.

Marquez will be introduced on Tuesday, 1:15 p.m. at a press conference at Red Bull Arena.

What do you think of the addition of Marquez? Is it MLS Cup or bust for New York now? What team will make the next big move?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. MLS sure did a good job getting this guy…. How else do u attract the biggest minority in this country to watch the MLS..get them there captain. ticket sales are on the rise, and those Mexicans who are very skeptical about the MLS are going to be very interested now. you have the most accomplish mexican player in the last decade playing in the MLS.. i applaud you MLS. definetly better than Beckham signing. and dont forget Nery Castillo still has a place in Mexico’s heart.

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  2. Marquez going to the MLS is great for the NYRB and in the long run great for the league. People need to get over the complaints about his red cards against the USMNT. Its a physical game. I’m sure Marquez and Cobie dont give much importance to what happened. Why does everyone else? Most of the people here should go play with barbies!!! In this sport you get hit. Deal with it.

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  3. It is ironic. Marquez has always had a bad attitude towards the US National Team and USA soccer in general. And now he is playing here. Amazing!!

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  4. As much as I hate Rafa, I’m glad he came to a more physical league in the Americas rather than the FMF. This means MLS is the place to be now and for the future. This is great for the NY folks. Now if Galaxy can only add Ronaldinho.:)

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  5. Well, I suppose the US but like Marquez. I’m a La Liga fan and he had some nice years there. Not to mention that having him in the MLS is great. I think he has to be considered the second best or best player in the league now. May be missing someone, but Henry is the only other one who could claim that honor. And he is 31, so a bit younger than most of his caliber who come here. Juve wanted him and he decided to come to the MLS. That’s a positive.

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  6. He karate kicked our national team goalie and headbutted our national team midfielder. If you support the US, you should hate him.

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  7. I can hate on Marquez when he is playing for Mexico vs. USA. I can also hate on him when the Red Bulls play FC Dallas. But I would love to have him on my team. Great signing for the Red Bulls.

    Red Bulls need a crowd draw(s); Marquez could be it. A beautiful Stadium which was mostly empty the one time I flew up to NYC to watch the game and still has issues filling up the stadium. I hope they’ve solved their construction issues and created a much better atmosphere for tailgate parties and/or pre/post game pub action.

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  8. I’m not arguing that Henry isn’t a great player. I’m arguing that if you look at the NYRB team, their biggest failing was the tendency to wilt defensively. Backe has built a solid team that usually plays smart soccer. Angel is one of the most consistent finishers in MLS. There is some other offensive talent there. But has Backe has said, this current team plays “dangerously” (meaning–they can make stupid mistakes, let other teams back into the game, play dumb defensively at times).

    Any team that has Angel…well…adding another great striker and creative player is nice. But the real needs for the NYRB this year have been:
    –a dominate left-sided player to run the flank.
    –an organizer/distributor on the defensive side of the ball to keep composure, respond to high pressure, get the ball out to attackers like Kandji and free Lindpere to move further up the field.
    –and I’d argue for a better GK than Coundoul.
    But by far, the biggest need is that organizer/glue/outstanding player in either central defense or as defensive midfielder. And that’s what Marquez gives them.

    And please don’t say “you got a tie…” b/c NYRB are not my team.

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  9. I did not read the other comments, this thread had so many…i like that, but idiots think that beckham sucks, without him henry,blanco,marquez do not sign grow up… MLS has to grow it makes guys like landon succeed allows them to come home….grow up NATS fans…i really despise you when you hate the MLS, i want to be so angry it will make me sound dumb…if you want my address lets talk..i would love to meet and work with you guys.

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  10. Why can’t we cheer for him? English fans hate Spain and cheer for Cesc. Spanish can cheer on French players and so forth.

    Club teams and national teams are two different things.

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  11. It COULD be the most important signing in the history of the MLS. What the David Beckham signing SHOULD have been. It’s a big risk but he has a chance to be a cash cow for the league.

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  12. This signing is deffently huge for the Red Bulls and MLS and there are deffently more signings to come in the MLS. One thing I want to point out that I think a lot of people are missing is that the Red Bulls are the 1st to have 3 DP’s its the Fire, with Castillo, Ljunberg, and McBride, think people are forgeting about McBride. The move will really improve the Red Bulls, who are already in 2nd place, and I know the moves arent done yet with the Red Bulls. One of the DCM will be moving on to another MLS club. Another thing I noticed was the talk about a GK, and a guy I would love to see the Red Bulls get on the cheap is Michael Rensing, the former Bayern Munchen keeper who is a free agent. The guy was understudy to Oliver Kahn for a while so you know the guy knows how to play. I just dont think he was given the time to really prove himself. I know Coundoul is doing alright this season, but I think Rensing would deffently be a step up and could really get the team to be at the top of the league.

    ———Angel——Henry——–

    ————–Lindpere———–

    Kandji———————Richards

    —————Marquez————-

    Miller—–Ream—Mendes—–Albright

    —————-Condoul————-

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  13. Everyone remembers two times when Márquez lost his head, both against the US. Generally, though, he is neither a dirty or a physical player. Btw, people in Mexico were quite unhappy with his lack of discipline in those 2 incidents.

    Meanwhile, Nery Castillo got away with a lot of dirty plays back when Sven played him in qualifying, not even getting carded(seemed Andrés Cantor was pointing out such a play almost every game).

    2 talented players, one being judged for 2, admittedly bad, incidents in his career, and one who could probably go places if he could learn to be part of a team.

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  14. WHY THE HELL would you put Richards on the right?! WHY?!

    Jamez got it right the first time when he suggested:

    ——-Henry—–Angel—–

    Lindpere————-Kandji

    —–Marquez—-Tchni——

    Miller-Ream-Mendes-Albright

    I, however, wouldn’t mind playing 3 in the back with Miller-Ream-Mendez and playing 5 in the middle with Richards on the right and moving Kandji to CAM.

    SICK!!

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  15. You must be one of those guys who marries the first girl that lets you pull down her pants.

    My god, must suck to be you walking around with that chip on your shoulder.

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  16. Loving the hate, the novel-like whining by DC prissies and the “enjoy your moment” envy. We’ve waited too long. It’s time. Enjoy Baltimore.

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  17. Everyone says Marquez is a hot head a dirty player.. WHat do u think about Zidane? Zidane got ejected for more than 5 ugly fouls in his career and I do mean ugly.

    At least Marquez didnt go Zidane on the Coby.

    Rafa will be 3 levels above Tchani and can actually pass the ball. Lets go Red Bulls.

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  18. It’s funny, his attitude has never been questioned on the club level, just on the national team.

    I invite you to look up how many times he’s been ejected in his club career.

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  19. You guys couldn’t become the Evil Empire that is RB New York if you tried. I’m guzzling all this hate down. Like an energy drink you might say

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  20. Not a chance man. The Austrians have got money to spend. Not to mention I’m sure Rafa Marquez’s jersey will sell well among the Mexicans in the NY area, and I’m sure he’ll give a little bit of a bump to attendance.

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  21. The hit he layed on Cobi Jones was vicious. Nothing classy about that at all. Don’t get me wrong, the guy is a good player, but he embodies everything I hate about the Mexican national football team. I guess it works for MLS though because every US National team fan that is a fan of an MLS club not named the Red Bulls, now has a villain and a club to hate. I was already planning to go to the Galaxy vs. Red Bulls match at the HDC on Sept 24, but this pretty much guarantees I’ll be there.

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  22. yankiboy,

    are you really a boy or are you a girl? I ask because you sound very girly and feminine. Not sure you should be following football. There must be something a bit less manly for you to follow…..professional athletes are there to win! and clearly big Rafa frightens you.
    You would do well to quit following sports and stick to gardening or something like that.

    HC

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  23. Baltimore would be better than St. Louis and looks more likely than VA or DC without ownership reaching deep into their pockets.

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  24. SUM, which is owned by Don Garber and owns rights to MLS, US Soccer, created Superliga, etc. does business with Barcelona. Maybe this has something to do with the non-existent transfer fees.

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  25. I think DC will be worse than the Red Bulls were last season…. The Bulls had 25 points and DC have 12 now with less than half a season to go… Talk about that Karma wheel spinning…

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  26. Well they just gained one new fan in me. The marketing part is working. Marquez is a class player with class attitude. Only US fans hate him. He never did anything in his 7 years in Spain to make people hate him. Basically what happened with Coby Jones and that little incident with Howard and all of a sudden he is out to break legs. I with he would have went to Juventus where he belongs or just stayed with the best team in the world but he has a humanitarian foundation and he can do more things with it in NY. He ran a humanitarian friendly the other day in LA called “The friends of Marquez”. The ignorance in this blog is amazing.

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