Top Stories

Red Bulls topple Columbus, 2-0

Goldieoscar_ap

Dave Van Den Bergh and Kevin Goldthwaite scored early goals and the Red Bulls defense played solid and disciplined defense (except for a Jeff Parke red card) as the Red Bulls opened the season with a 2-0 victory against the Crew.

Both Goldthwaite and Van Den Bergh enjoyed stellar performances as head coach Juan Carlos Osorio became the first Red Bulls head coach to post a regulation victory in his debut. The attack created chances and the defense limited them. There isn’t much more you can ask for from a first match.

I will post my analysis and opinions on Sunday and Monday. For now, I want to hear from you. What did you think of tonight’s performance by the Red Bulls? Share your thoughts on the match below.

Comments

  1. I was impressed that RBNY won, but I agree that it was a win against a crappy team. If we get 2-0 wins against better teams, I will be more impressed.

    Reply
  2. I was really impressed with how New York started the game; for the first 30 minutes, they passed really well. Later the team’s passing became less accurate. I like the fact that New York is not booting it from the goalkeeper and defenders to the midfielders and forwards but instead they are attempting crisp passing to them.

    Reply
  3. My goodness, all the negative comments on the club and they get 3 Pts out of it. How much more can you demand out of this club that played a solid match with a good portion of our guys injured.

    Borman was nervous. It’s his first pro match how much more do you want from this kid? I agree that I don’t want him sending crosses 10 to 15 yds away from the midfield stripe and bend the ball into the area, but you can see he was nervous.

    Reyna did fine in the match. He did control the midfield very well.

    I liked Oscar echeverry’s play, the only problem I had was that he was easily dis-placed when he was challenging for the ball with the defender. If Oscar can bulk up a bit, I think he could get a couple more wins from those ball challenges.

    The only thing that was considered the wrong thing was Jeff Parke’s play in the 2nd half, double yellow into red was horrible. He should’ve known better when your up 2-0.

    For once, stop nit picking and give credit to the club that won the match.

    Reply
  4. Great win, the boys played better than I was expecting right from the get go. I thought Sassano played much better than others gave him credit for. He wasn’t perfect of course, but showed signs of really being able to contribute this year. Borman did ok but definately looked very raw and needs some more development, he just did not look comfortable and played some very ambitious balls to the forwards that really had no chance. The D played well especially Parke. I’ve been harsh on Leitch and Goldthwaite before but I will give them credit for this 90 minutes as they didn’t have any crucial lapses where they completely lose their man. Hopefully this will continue. I credit Osorio for having the team ready, but I did question him not using his last sub to bring in Mendes when Parke went off. Again, good win considering our starters, however I just have a feeling that if that game is played over again 7 out of 10 times we’d tie 0-0. But I’ll take it.

    My wife’s comments from the game:

    “I am mad that my favorite player does not play for them anymore what the heck.” (She was a Doe fan)

    Reply
  5. 4Now, come sit with us in section 109 Row 1… We have 8 or 9 year over year season ticket holders who love to talk smack to the opposing team. And believe me when I tell you they can hear you perfectly well, since the stadium has about as much atmosphere as a funeral procession.

    P.S. How aweful is it to be a Red Bull Fan when you have to be grateful that Reyna does the little things. He is a mid level MLS quality player, and that’s that.

    Reply
  6. GiveandGo

    Palacio is good – but Chris Megaloudis . . . if he could somehow settle into a CAM . . . he would be devastating. Love that kid.

    Either way, its Reynas job, and Magee is waiting right behind him. The rooks will have to wait another year.

    Reply
  7. Hey guys –

    I tend to agree with what Jason said – the first half, he played solidly – and I stick to that comment i made – the little things at CAM that he was doing was creating a flow in the game. He isnt a ball hog, so he is more than willing to dish. As the season progresses, he will most likely continue his comfort level at CAM and take a few more shots.

    Second half, like the rest of the team, he just layed back.

    Too early for the Reyna criticisms. Sorry guys.

    Reply
  8. talking about acreative mid the rbs have agreat one on the team his name is mike palacio to bad they dont give him a chance they re so caught up with players that dont produce like reyna this kid palacio reminds me of valderrama in his early career.

    Reply
  9. David

    I’m a Reyna fan, and have been criticized here for appreciating the “little things” – but i just did not see them last night – and i was looking for them

    Reply
  10. It was the first match of the season what did you expect every pass to connect, every shot a goal it will all come together. Metro/RBNY fans seem to live with the glass half-empty mentality relax and let it play out. No team in the world ever looks good in their first match of the season. As for the guy who said Lets GO Red Bulls is an simple American chant correct me if I am wrong but the match was in the US.

    Reply
  11. i have to agree w/ David Martinez, i thought Reyna had a VERY strong first half…2nd half he disappeared, as did alot of the squad, just willing to allow crew more of the possession, i think they all got a bit complacent w/ the 2-0 lead, then going down to 10 men…it was bunker time.

    do i think Reyna did anything last year? no…but so far, he had a good match & i’m not sure if he deserves the negativity just yet…give him another few matches to potential revert to form. last night i’d have to rate him a 6. (based on a strong first half, he was active, nice touches, good passes to keep the play moving, good connection with the other players, etc)

    Reply
  12. the last thing I want to say is about the demographics here and about how the league has yet to define its audience or audiences, or at least, how RBNY has yet to organize their seating around them. there needs to be some division, because when I move up to the fifth row with my lads and scream “expansion draft” when Carroll gets a touch, or “where’s your gold medal?” when rogers gets a touch” or “underachiever” for Gaven, I don’t want parents and children looking at me like an alien. my god, there’s better atmosphere at most college matches.

    Reply
  13. David, I am a Reyna fan and in the past have been criticized here for appreciating those “little things” – but i just did not see much of it last night. Maybe during the first part of the first half, but after that I cant remember seeing him on the ball much at all.

    Sinisi was too slow t o stay with Gavin, but i do remember him winning lots of loose balls in the midfield, and pressuring the other team constantly.

    as far as salary – i would love it if we had a league where 100K was the minimum, but i would rather have a league that stays in business for the long term. if we just go raising the cost of the “product” by a factor of 2 or 3, there is no way the league stays in business, IMO.

    I was just pointing out that progress is being made.

    I was watching highlights from the final 4 after getting home from the game last night, and i have to say the difference in overall skill level and athletecism was stunning. The better our salaries get, and the more overall buzz the sport has, the more likely those type of athletes will be playing soccer instead of basketball. Lets hope we get there.

    Reply
  14. VDB was MOTM. He really seized the moment on that goal. I like Etcheverry as well but I wish he could use his left foot…he would be even more deadly. Goldy was definitely better than last year but I still think Leitch will do something foolish and hurt us down the line. Reyna had some nice moves but he needs to do more for the amount of $ he is getting. Parke’s 2nd yellow was unfortunate but he seems to have grown as a player. He makes better decisions passing the ball. It is obvious Osorio wants the Bulls to play a ground passing game… which the BUlls did well for the first 20 minutes. We really should have won this game 4-0…w/Angel’s missed penal and his wide open shot saved by Hesmer. Sassano had moments of brillance but too many of his passes missed the mark. Sinisi impressed me as well… his positioning and passing have improved since last season… It was his pass that sprung VDB for the goal at 46 seconds. It was so nice for the BUlls to score early first after having that happen to them so many times in the past. On to Dallas!

    Reply
  15. I completely disagree with the Reyna comments – though he wasnt an “impact player” he took that “doing the little things” role at CAM as well.

    He was backhealing passes to rushing forwards/wingers, his passes were on point. Sinisa, on the other hand, looked unfit for game play.

    Easy on Reyna. He may not have not an assist, or goal for that matter, but he was not by any means horrible or mediocre. He played well, kept us fluid up top. At least thats what I saw from my seats . . .

    Reply
  16. C’mon Fred, growing 12% or 16% is not impressive when you factor in the small base that they grew from. The fact of the matter is if we’re paying players $30k, we’re going to have $30k players in this league. That’s how much they’re worth and if they weren’t playing here, they wouldn’t be playing anywhere in the world. The league is going to be much more interesting when the minimum salary is set to $100k (or more).

    Going back to the Red Bulls, everytime I watch Pachuca play I think how great it would be to have our team play like that. Fast, dynamic, aggressive, beautiful attacking soccer. Dangerous from the run of play, from the center, from the wings; dangerous from dead balls and set pieces. That’s a real team. I also think how great it would be to see Christian Giménez (their attacking mid & playmaker) in a Red Bulls jersey. I’m not even asking for a former European star, I think this guy would be more than enough.

    Reply
  17. Pretty poor performance after the goals. Lucky not to concede multiple goals in the second half. I’ll take the win, but there is huge room for improvement. Decent opening day crowd as well.

    Reply
  18. Its great to start off with a home win, but I don’t think the team performed very well — we mostly benefited from Columbus playing badly and not creating opportunities or converting their chances.

    So lets start with Columbus:

    -GBS had a bad game and didn’t seem into it. A few blown chances and didn’t create much on his dead ball opportunities.

    -Robbie Rogers showed some of his skill but left but didn’t impact the game. Burned the NY left back a few times but didn’t convert those opportunities. Took to long on the ball in general

    -Eddie Gaven didn’t impact the game much, expected more from him. Maybe Gaven and Rogers need to switch sides.

    -Forward situation needs work. Moreno wasn’t a factor, Nico came in only after GBS had left and so didn’t get service. I really feel this team should sign KANU as their DP in the summer transfer window, then everything would come together for a playoff and potential Cup run.

    Now to NY:

    -VDB looked good playing a little deeper and also overlapping the left wing. Goal from distance was good, we need that kind of threat. Later on in the game he looked very slow. He’s useful running in late on the attack and offering his size (and accuracy?).

    -JPA didn’t look sharp but created the second goal with a great flip back into the box. PK was disappointing.

    -Etcheverry showed pace and attacked the goal well. A bit unlucky to convert some of his opportunities. Promising. Must have been the fastest Red Bull on the field.

    -Reyna didn’t impact the game at all. Didn’t create and slowed down the pace. He doesn’t add anything to NY.

    -Sinisa got credited with an assist but really did nothing this game. Can’t play right wing. Maybe could develop into an attacking mid. Got beaten 1v1 repeatedly.

    -Sassano. Left wing no. Has potential as a d-mid. Showed a lot of fight and won some 1v1 battles.

    -Borman. I really expected more based on the hype of the off-season. Didn’t see the pace and his crossing was awful. Didn’t create any opportunities. We still need a legit left wing

    -Goldthwaite got lucky.

    -In general, the midfield looked very sloppy and didn’t keep possession or connect with the forwards. No attacking mid to create opportunities from the center of the pitch and wings were ineffective, nothing came in from the sides unless VDB was providing. The team also looked VERY slow (minus Etcheverry). This is not a championship caliber team but rather one that got a gift from a woeful performance from Columbus. Its not going to work against the better teams in the league. Defense got exposed repeatedly (but not punished).

    Reply
  19. Enjoyable game – although very slow second half. The “RedBull Airforce” delivering the game ball was pretty cool.

    Etcheverry brought an amazing work rate and really livened up the game – not much going on after he was subbed out.

    JPA looked a bit frustrated at the inability of the team to deliver him decent balls.

    Ubaparapovich (sp?) looked suprisingly strong – i think it was Borman that was subbed in for him? Borman delivered some horrible balls – really looked very bad.

    Reyna, unfortunately, was invisible. I was hoping for something good after Ives good pre-season reports, but there was nothing.

    Sassano looked pretty bad too i thought.

    Nice shot and score by VDB 1 minute in – that livened things up a bit

    Defense overall looked very solid, but it was hard to say if it was their good play or the Crew’s complete lack of an attack – outside of Eddie Gaven making some nice runs, they really had nothing going – and the few times they had opportunities the shots were no where near on target.

    Count it as a W and look for some better play going forward…

    Reply
  20. Share 4Now’s perspective – the first 10 minutes aside this was not an entertaining match, indeed I felt Crew at times played the more attractive game and were unlucky not to be on the score sheet.

    After seeing the Fire game in the week the new manager must recognize there is much to be done to take NY out of the wilderness of the past years.

    I think the formula is wrong, the owners need to figure out whether they want a marketing exercise or develop a serious football team to develop serious following. Its not all about (foreign) stars and goals – its much more, ask any European fan who ever stood on the terraces of some small town side. We need to create a team and sense of belonging to encourage them to battle Giants Stadium, hot dogs and small children with oversized shirts, rather than stay home and turn on FSC.

    You look around the stadium and see fans sporting Liverpool, Bayern or Club America shirts – the interest is certainly here in NY. Look at the Toronto FC success – sold out, first season.

    Feel we have a ways to go, perhaps Harrison will be good step.

    Reply
  21. VictorM,

    Lets go Red Bulls is such a boring simple American chant. We almost never do it. We do it sometimes so the rest of the stadium will join. We were not competing with everyone else; we just do our own chants and anyone is welcome to join in.

    Reply
  22. I think the backline did great but, yes we definatly need a centerback(where was carlos mendes?)

    Was Jozys knee that bad?He couldnt play the last 10mins at least? I do agree with JCO on the post match interview, this match could of been like 4-0, finishing has to improve.

    Reply
  23. I cant wait til this team gets out of that awful stadium. The game was bearly watchable on that field not to mention they had a good crowd but it is completely swallowed by that huge stadium. The real history of the NY franchise will start when they get out of that dump.

    Reply
  24. finally back from the match and a bit surprised at the ‘great game’ comments…

    are you serious?

    this was DREADFUL! the kind of MLS football played years ago.

    full marks to Osorio for fielding a disciplined squad with great purpose and shape, but my lord….

    some quick notes:

    -JPA is so heads & tales above the rest of the players its actually depressing to watch.

    -Etcheverry has promise (and he will need that when Jozy leaves in July).

    -Sassano was USELESS.

    -Borman was dangerous, kind of.

    -Reyna needs to be bought out of his contract and go back to St. Ben’s as an assistant coach ASAP.

    -Stammler was solid and predictable but that is fine in his role.

    -Sinisa was inconspicuous.

    -VDB…well…

    -backline was fine but not tested.

    -Conway seeemed fine.

    Reply
  25. This game neither established nor dispelled the success that RBNY fans can expect this season. Decent play from RBNY and tepid play from Columbus. RBNY’s goals were gifted by Columbus, who also blundered a couple of gimmes that could have changed the game. All in all, inconclusive.

    Reply
  26. I’m proud of the team for holding Columbus scoreless, but there are serious problems with the team. We need JCO to honor his commitment to bring in new players. The current squad is a 4th or 5th place team in the east.

    As for Claudio, he showed some flashes, but his performance came nowhere close to justifying his salary. Where was he in the second half? Of course, we’re not close to using our current salary dollars up, but that DP slot would allow us to bring in a much stronger playmaker. Oh well, another missed opportunity.

    Reply
  27. Great game, many scoring chances, could have destroyed Columbus by 4 or 5, but a win is a win, I was not impressed with Etchevery, I have a feeling he might be end up being a bad signing, but we’ll see…I’m excited about the rest of the season

    Reply
  28. The Crew team that showed up tonight would probably have had difficulty beating the “Blue” team in the charity match (especially with Shep acting as sweeper-keeper!). That first goal, while a great shot from van den Bergh was a gift from Hesmer, and the second was from defending I’d expect from JV high school team, not the MLS.

    I was a little surprised at the red card – I didn’t understand why Parke felt it necessary to make a jumping slide tackle so late in a 2-0 match, and I hope he learns his lesson.

    Leitch looked better today in the back than I’ve ever seen him, and did a solid job picking up play after the send off, though he also appeared to pick up an injury about 30 seconds after Reyna came off (that he fought through well).

    All in all, a great opening day for RBNY!

    Reply
  29. Etchevery in the first half played with an amazing amount of energy and did not look aged at all, i look forward to seeing what he can do as the season progresses- great speed, great shots, smart player

    Reply
  30. “Juan Carlos Osorio became the first Red Bulls head coach to post a regulation victory in his debut.”

    This one sentence pretty much sums up the history of RBNY. Hopefully for NY this is a beginning of greater things going forward.

    Reply
  31. great match. 2nd half was not good though. Is etcheverry dane richards’ twin brother?

    conway is a beast!!

    esc was loud as hell, awesome job.

    Reply
  32. Just got back from the game.

    Good win against a crappy team. None of our concerns about this team have been eased but at least there’s more attempt to play football than last year.

    I had an open mind about Claudio. Really want him to do well. But Claudio really offers nothing to this team but very slow play and back passes. This was the same Claudio as last year. A waste at any salary.

    Dane Richards would have had a field day against Columbus. Too bad he wasn’t ready.

    Goldthwaite was pretty decent, considering his perfomances last year.

    Conway… capabable but still shaky. This is going to be an adventure with him in goal.

    JPA needs help around him. Major help!

    Nice crowd.

    It would be nice if the ESC group would actually join in when the rest of the stadium chants “Go red bulls” instead of continuing to sing a different chant. It’s as if they are competing with the rest of the fans. It annoys me that they don’t join other chants.

    It’s going to be a long season unless more help arrives.

    Reply
  33. Super excited, did not expect a decent start with injuries to Richards and Freeman and the uncertainty around Marmol and other potential signings, then Jozy on the bench, I put money on a draw lol but thankfully very little. To grind out a win when in a situation where I didnt expect alot is great, hopefully when everyone is healthy and we perhaps sign a player or two we should have good depth and be a strong team for the long run. That said, of course I give credit to our players, but I thought Schelotto having a forgetful performance was a bonus for sure

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Daniel Cancel reply