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Red Bulls vs. Charleston Battery (Running Commentary)

Good afternoon folks. The Red Bulls Carolina Challenge Cup match against the Charleston Battery is set for a 3pm kickoff and the word I’m getting is that it will be shown online at www.USLlive.com. If something changes on that front I will pass it along.

The Red Bulls will field the following lineup today:

————Angel———Echeverry————

Borman———–Magee—————Sassano

———–Stammler—–Reyna—————–

Goldthwaite———-Parke—————Mendes

——————-Conway————————

Juan Carlos Osorio is not with the team. He is in South America on a scouting trip. Dave Van Den Bergh has also left the team for personal reasons. He is expected to rejoin the Red Bulls in South Carolina during the week.

I am going to do a running commentary on the match. Might as well since I am going to watch it. Please feel free to follow along and to contribute your own thoughts and opinions on the match.

Enjoy the soccer.

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FINAL- Red Bulls 1, Battery 1. Promising stuff from the Red Bulls through 55 minutes but the game got sloppy with all the subs. Good stuff from Borman and Sassano, and the back-line was pretty steady.

Thats all for now. Share your thoughts on the match below.

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91st minute- SAVE THORNTON. What a great diving save by Thornton. Admit it, you didn’t think he could move that well.

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85th minute- This game has died.

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82nd minute- Charleston narrowly misses a header off a corner kick. The Red Bulls look tired.

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79th minute- GOAL CHARLESTON. Kenga equalizes a minute later as the Battery catches the Red Bulls napping. Still can’t believe this Kenga trialist actually had a celebration ready complete with a t-shirt. WHo does that for a glorified scrimmage?

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78th minute- Goal Red Bulls. Kevin Meza heads home a free kick in from Ubiparipovic. That’s 1-0 Red Bulls.

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77th minute- Kevin Meza in for Danleigh Borman.

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70th minute- Ricky Schramm has come in for Magee.

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68th minute- A Megaloudis goal is waived off for offside. These linesmen have been busy today. Can’t say if they’ve been any good since there are no replays.

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66th minute- Chris Megaloudis comes in for Echeverry.

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65th minute- Nice work by Mendes at right back today. He’s had a solid pre-season in his new role.

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61st minute- I’m a bit surprised we haven’t seen Scott Palguta come in at left back. Palguta has had a strong pre-season.

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60th minute- John Wolyniec and Mike Palacio come in for Angel and Reyna.

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52nd minute- Magee missed a clear header. It should be about 3-0 Red Bulls at this point.

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50th minute- Angel is denied by Charleston goalkeeper Dusty Huddock. What a chance (and I think a few listeners went deaf after the announcer screamed into the mic).

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46th minute- And we’re back

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HALFTIME- We’re going to have two Red Bulls subs,  Sinisa Ubiparipovic for Luke Sassano and Zach Thornton for Jon Conway.

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HALFTIME- Anybody else digging the halftime music?

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HALFTIME- We’re scoreless and the Red Bulls did well to create some quality chances late in the half, though going in scoreless is disappointing.

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45th minute- Angel with the free kick and he sends it high.

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44th minute- Echeverry runs onto a pass from Angel and gets brought down about 19 yards from goal, inside the arc. Dangerous free kick chance for the Red Bulls.

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41st minute- Angel has a dangerous run at goal halted for an offside call. No replays, that one looked close.

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37th minute- Magee powers a header at goal that hits the left post. Unlucky there and a great ball in from Borman.

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33rd minute- Charleston’s Richardson gets a good look at goal but powers it wide.

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31st minute- Magee into the area with a dangerous pass but nobody is there.

Interesting note that both Cubans who defected during the 2007 Gold Cup are now with the Battery. Lestor More isn’t playing today but Osvaldo Alonso is playing. I guess his trial with the Columbus Crew didn’t work out.

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28th minute- The play by play guy is Andrew Bell, who works for the Charleston Battery. I’m usually anti-British accent for American games but Bell is pretty smooth. I wonder how he pronounces Freddy Adu’s name.

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22nd minute- The Red Bulls defense gets cracked by a great long ball but the Charleston chance is saved for a corner.

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20th minute- Angel with a clear header but he sends it over the bar.

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15th minute- Charleston knocking on the door with some corner kicks.

How good is this announcer? I hope Fox Soccer Channel is listening.

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5th minute- Slow start to the match, the Red Bulls are knocking the ball around pretty well while Charleston looks quick on the counter.

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PRE-GAME- Yes, the referee for this match is a woman and no her name isn’t Brian Hall.

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PRE-GAME- The Carolina Challenge Cup. That’s the name of this tournament. I managed to give it about four different names in the past two days.

And yes, the play-by-play guy has a British accent.

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PRE-GAME- Yes, that is Jack Stewart, one of America’s most eligible bachelors. I wonder how many fans brought copies of Cosmo for him to autograph.

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PRE-GAME- Kudos to the announcer for getting all the Red Bulls players’ names right. That seems like a novelty after enduring the recent FSC broadcasts of Olympic Qualifying.

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PRE-GAME– Charleston is rocking the Fenerbahce look today.

Comments

  1. Everytime Woly is behind the defender the ball is already been played. They keep calling him offsides, one of these chances he has to be on.

    Reply
  2. I was going to say that RBNY have been deserving of a goal all match long. But once they got it, sadly they quickly give one up.

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  3. I know this is basically the subs at this point, but that was still bad. Reminds me of every other season of Metro disappointment aside from the eastern conference final season.

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  4. Woooooo goals Red Bulls, I’m getting tickets for the MLS cup this year… as I type this we concede the game tying goal lol, why can’t a team I like ever be good

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  5. And just like last year…we give up a VERY VERY soft goal. Poor, very poor defending. We are not in for a good year in terms of defense.

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  6. Megaloudis shouldn’t have hesitated on that last one, but he did well to keep his composure and make something of it. Needs a better first touch, preferably one towards goal. Looks like he can be a competent backup.

    Daniel – Haha, fair enough. Trust me, I’m not. I think I’m just impressed by how well prepared he is for this game. He knows the Red Bulls roster in and out… though I’m not sure why he pronounced Angel’s name with a hard G.

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  7. How do you call offsides on that goal? Where was the offsides in that mixer infront of the goal. There were at least 3 to 4 Charleston players keeping our guys onside.

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  8. My “fetish of English Announcers”? Since when do I have a “fetish of English Announcers”? If I had a fetish of “Announcers”, it was for the PBP of JPDC, who I sadly won’t be hearing on quite as regular a basis anymore.

    Reply
  9. kpugs, I could have sworn I’ve heard him fill in for RB broadcasts – has he not done so? In any case, I know I’ve heard him do Devils games, and he’s been less than inspiring. Can’t imagine he’d be much better at soccer.

    Reply
  10. Joamiq. Stop with your fetish of English Announcers. Cangelosi is a good one.

    Jon Conway has been replaced by Zach Thornton.

    Reply
  11. The Bulls look so much better than last year vs. the Battery.. Sassano looks comfortable and makes good crosses.. I am not sure we will miss Dane that much. Oscar and Angel will be deadly too! Magee looks like a new man in some ways but he is still choking in front of the goal..

    Reply
  12. defense has given away way too many chances, most likey due to the 3-5-2 line up and the lack of quick help on the wings. Good news is Maggee despite missing the headeer looks great. some nice passes and despite his size is doing a good job of holding up the play

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  13. Sassano is playing well, it’s annoying that bell mistook him for Stammler like six times.

    Am I the only one that is a little concerned by Angel’s body language?

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  14. Can we sign this guy to do play by play for the Red Bulls? Steve Cangelosi seems like a nice guy and is a totally unoffensive PBP guy, but he’s not very good.

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  15. End of the first half. I have to say that RBNY looked very dangerous and almost had several chances to put it away. Mike Magee looked good and sadly that post shot didn’t go in. Angel & Echeverry are very dangerous up top and could’ve had a goal or two each.

    Seth Stammler looked decent in the midfield and Claudio Reyna looked strong so far. Conway is on his game.

    I’ll give the Battery some credit, the one or two solid chances they had almost got them a goal. RBNY should’ve been ahead at least by two. But so far I think the rookies and the new signings have seemed to gel very well. Nice cross by Danleigh Borman to give Magee that chance for the cross.

    The play that led to the free kick just outside the box, I think Reda should’ve been given a Red Card for that.

    Other than that, I think it was an entertaining 1st half.

    Reply
  16. The shifts in and out of the zoomed in view during plays is really making it difficult to watch.

    But I’m still loving getting to watch this team play finally! Sassano looks ready to step right into the league.

    Reply
  17. Mike Magee tried to head the free kick in, but hits the far post and out. Nice Cross by Danleigh Borman on the free kick.

    Reply
  18. Good free kick by Red Bull, which lead to a header which I thought for sure was heading in, but it smacked off the left post.

    Reply

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