It’s been a long time coming but it’s time for another update on the Red Bulls.
The team heads down to South Carolina today ahead of the Charleston Cup. I was able to head down to Red Bulls training on Thursday and here are some tidbits:
Lider Marmol was rehabbing on the side and looked pretty healthy. At least healthier than you would expect someone with a major hamstring injury to be. How healthy? At one point he was juggling a medicine ball, not exactly something you do well if you have a bad hammy.
Marmol appears borderline depressed about his uncertain status with MLS. He clearly wants to sign with the Red Bulls but has accepted the fact that he could wind up with the Chicago Fire.
I asked Juan Carlos Osorio about the fact that the club has yet to announce a major signing this off-season, and whether this was a cause for concern with the season set to start in a month. Osorio stated clearly that he has two international players the club is in position to sign. He also stated that the two players would join the team before the end of the transfer period (which ends April 15). He wouldn’t give names but it is safe to say that one of the players is the attacking midfielder the club is in dire need of.
Osorio is traveling to South America this weekend to look at some more players. He will not be with the Red Bulls for their exhibition match on Saturday.
Mike Magee is enjoying a very strong preseason and could very well have earned a starting central midfield role. There is reason for cautious optimism since Magee has enjoyed stellar preseasons in the past. If he stays healthy and focused, this could be his breakout season.
Clifton native Teddy Niziolek has left camp. It had less to do with the fact that Columbus wanted compensation for him as it did with the fact that the Red Bulls had other options at his positions. Ultimately, Niziolek could play center back and d-mid, but neither good enough to stand out in the coaches minds.
For those of you wondering, Jose de Jesus Mendoza has left the building. No, he’s not dead, just not with the Red Bulls anymore. As I told you from my reports in Austria, he just wasn’t that impressive.
Eric Brunner looked pretty good on Thursday, including an nice run and long-range blast for a goal. He is settling in well but I’m still not sure about him getting minutes early on in the season.
Speaking of rookies doing well, no rookie has increased his stock more this preseason than Luke Sassano, who enjoyed a monster of a game in the Red Bull’s 3-2 exhibition win against Red Bull Salzburg. He had a goal and assist in that match and I believe he’s pushing for a starting job in place of the injured Dane Richards.
Hunter Freeman’s foray at the left back spot for the U.S. Under-23 team is NOT something you will see with the Red Bulls. Osorio prefers left-footed players to play on the left side (he’s sort of the anti-Nowak in that regard).
Kevin Goldthwaite’s good preseason continues and I would say he’s the safe bet to start on opening day.
So what does the Red Bulls opening day lineup look like if the opener were today? Here’s my take:
—————–Angel——-Altidore———–
Van Den Bergh——–Magee———-Freeman
————–Stammler—-Reyna—————-
Goldthwaite———-Parke————–Mendes
———————–Conway———————
What variations could we see? Reyna in Magee’s spot and Sassano in Reyna’s spot is the only other variation I see (though it wouldn’t shock me if Oscar Echeverry started). I know I had discussed rookie Danleigh Borman starting on the left flank and Van Den Bergh starting in central midfield, but I think for the start of the season you will see Van Den Bergh on the left. He might only be able to give the team 60 to 70 minutes in that very demanding 3-5-2 wing role but the job is Van Den Bergh until a new player arrives.
That’s all for now. Share your thoughts on the state of the Red Bulls below.
“we’s” should be “he’s”
Gotta agree with Craig. If this is our starting 11 we’re in trouble.
Lets be serious for a second. VDB was too slow last year and now he’s a year older. Hunter Freeman plays well as right back, now we’re moving him to right mid?! Has anyone seen his play with the U-23s on the left side? This guy can’t play as a wing, no way. Mike Magee wasn’t even dressing for most matches last year, now we’s our starting attacking mid?
Uh oh.
Palguta would fit the bill nicely. He’s a Jersey guy, big and tough. The Bulls took him to LA and Austria so maybe there’s a deal in the wings.
I agree with Tim F and MasterShake. That “New Guy” at left back should be Scott Palguta. Ives doesn’t mention him as being in SC but the Rhinos website says he was loaned to NYRB for the Carolina Challenge Cup. He must still be in the running for a roster spot. Saw him play twice last year. In a word, “STUD.”
I’ll put money on dpm and mdh being the same person.
One more thing. How about a new Cup to play for? We could call it the Hate Shield, and it would take place between NYRB and Chicago each year.
I have been asking about the possibility of Claudio Reyna as the creative midfielder for some time, and there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer coming from anyone. Again, he was the best creative midfielder we ever had at the national team level before being converted by European teams, and Ives has commented on how well he has been doing in the pre-season in that role. So, is he going to be playing that role or is it going to someone else?
The last time I asked a couple of people reacted like it was a stupid question because Ives had said he was doing well in that role. Now I see he is commenting on the “dire need” of an attacking midfielder again. Does this mean NYRB will be playing with a creative midfielder AND an attacking midfielder, or is the attacking midfielder we keep hearing about going to takeover as both?
Tim F. I agree with you, except swap Reyna with New Guy and the New Guy on the left should be VDB, he is pretty impressive.
Ives,
I cannot really understand how Goldthwaite is impressing JCO. Was I watching the same games last season?? He is simply atrocious.
I can’t wait until the lineup is this:
—————–Angel——-Altidore———–
New Guy——–New Guy———-Richards
————–Stammler—-Reyna—————-
New Guy/Conde —–Parke/Mendes—–Freeman
———————–Conway———————
Rocco/BeautfilGame,
I’m near Saint Barnabus hospital, see you guys at the practice facility!
-Dan
You’re going to play goldwaite in a 3-back formation? That sounds dangerous.
I agree that most of the Fire fans jumping on Ives for “defending Osorio” didn’t do a good job reading Ives’s post.
Still, I think that a lot of this mess IS Osorio’s fault. First, he jumped ship on the Fire and then (apparently) expected to have no problem signing a player that he’d scouted, recruited, and trialled for the Fire. Second, he seems not to have explained the possible pitfalls of the discovery system to Marmol until AFTER everybody involved fell into the pits. Maybe that’s not what happened, but to an outsider, that’s what it looks like.
(FWIW, I’m a Galaxy fan, so I neither have a stake in this fight nor any reason to think that coaches and GMs won’t at least occasionally screw up decisions about whom to sign and how best to sign them.)
i just hope the fire make a decision soon. we still have cap space, and would like to see more depth in the back-line… if not Marmol, then someone with promise
If the fire have no intent on using him then they wont sign him…. simple as that
they wouldnt bother wasting the cap space for someone they have no faith in
my goodness how some people just don’t let things go and just keep repeating themselves…