Good afternoon everybody. It’s an overcast day in New Jersey as we prepare for the final MLS match of the weekend, with the Red Bulls playing host to the San Jose Earthquakes.
San Jose is coming off its first win of the season while the Red Bulls are coming off a disappointing 1-1 tie vs. New England.
I will be providing coverage from the match, including some pre-game tidbits. If you want to follow the match, please feel free to do so here.
Share your pre-game thoughts below and I will be back with the lineups after 2pm.
Enjoy the match.
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FINAL- Red Bulls 2, Earthquakes 0. And Jozy Altidore scores his first goal with the final touch of the match, finishing off a great give-and-go with Wolyniec.
Impressive performance by the defense, Altidore and Claudio Reyna, who put in a complete performance controlling things in midfield.
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94th minute- GOAL RED BULLS. JOZY ALTIDORE FINISHES HIS SECOND GOAL OF THE GAME. Assist to John Wolyniec.
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90th minute- Garcia clears a goal-bound Wolyniec shot off the line. Wolyniec catches Cannon off his line and sends it toward goal only to have Garcia race in and clear it away. That’s two goal-line clearances today for Mr. Garcia.
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89th minute- The Red Bulls need to find a way to avoid the mistake in the last minute.
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87th minute- Referee Michael Kennedy with a terrible decision to stop play and give a yellow rather than play advantage, which would have given the Red Bulls a deserved breakaway.
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81st minute- Shea Salinas comes in for Ivan Guerrero.
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79th minute- GOAL RED BULLS. Magee converts the penalty kick, hits it perfectly to the left. Red Bulls 1, Earthquakes 0.
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78th minute- PENALTY RED BULLS- Altidore taken down in the penalty area by Cochrane. Great pass from Wolyniec to spring Altidore.
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78th minute- San Jose is knocking the ball around now. They’ll be content with a tie.
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76th minute- Goldthwaite’s injury is a strained back.
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75th minute- Mendes coming in for Goldthwaite.
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75th minute- Goldthwaite limping off, he’s coming out.
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72nd minute- Goldthwaite is hurt, looks like a shoulder.
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71st minute- Look for Borman to replace Van Den Bergh pretty soon.
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69th minute- Today’s attendance: 9,053. Remember folks, that number includes tickets distributed, meaning the people who stayed home with tickets still count, and there were PLENTY of those today.
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67th minute- For those of you keeping track at home, that gives San Jose four former MetroStars/Red Bulls on the field. Peguero, Jason Hernandez, Joe Vide and Ramiro Corrales.
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66th minute- Peguero for Grabavoy on the next stoppage.
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65th minute- Peguero looks ready to come into the match.
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62nd minute- Jeff Parke hits a wide-open header right to Joe Cannon on a Reyna free kick. That was a wasted chance.
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61st minute- Corrales with a yellow card for fouling Jozy Altidore in the open field.
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59th minute- Goldthwaite is fine and back on the field.
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58th minute- Kevin Goldthwaite is hurt.
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57th minute- Red Bulls keep on knocking but can’t score or test Cannon.
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52nd minute- Magee gets his head on a corner kick but sends it high over the bar.
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46th minute- Red Bulls with a dangerous free kick on the right side of the field, about 25 yards from goal. Van Den Bergh’s kick doesn’t find anybody.
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46th minute- Mike Magee in for Sinisa Ubiparipovic and Joe Vide in for Gavin Glinton.
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HALFTIME- Red Bulls 0, Earthquakes 0. The Red Bulls controlled the bulk of the possession, but couldn’t put any real dangerous shots on goal. The Earthquakes have to be happy going in tied. They’re in position to steal a win in the second half, particularly if Peguero Jean Philippe can come on and create some problems.
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45th minute- Red Bulls look a little worn out right now.
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41st minute- Parke streaks in to head home a corner kick but his header goes over the crossbar.
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40th minute- The Red Bulls midfield has played very well today, which is due at least in some part to San Jose not having any real strong defensive-minded midfielders in its set-up.
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38th minute- Reyna has his shot cleared off the line after a beautiful give-and-go with Dave Van Den Bergh. Cannon gets a hand on Reyna’s shot, slowing it down enough for Nick Garcia to race in and clear it away.
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37th minute- Good stuff from the Red Bulls this game, but nothing in the final third. Claudio Reyna is running like a man possessed. I wonder how much he’ll have left for the second half.
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30th minute- Sassano with a shot that’s deflected out for a corner. Nothing comes from the corner.
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29th minute- And Joe Cannon finally gets a touch.
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27th minute- It should be stated right now that anything less than a win by the Red Bulls would be disastrous considering the good starts that so many Eastern Conference teams are off to.
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25th minute- The Red Bulls are pressing but have yet to create a real good chance on goal.
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21st minute- Effort certainly hasn’t been a problem for the Red Bulls, who have been hustling all over the field.
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20th minute- Kamara is okay and back on the field.
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18th minute- Looks like Kei Kamara is hurt.
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17th minute- Goldthwaite with a perfect slide tackle on O’Brien.
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16th minute- Stammler with a great intervention in the penalty area on Guerrero.
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14th minute- San Jose with a long free kick.
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12th minute- Both teams are struggling to string together a good sequence of passes.
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10th minute- San Jose corner kick.
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8th minute- A long Red Bulls free kick is headed wide.
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6th minute- Rookie Luke Sassano with an open look near goal but sends his side volley high.
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4th minute- Leitch is back in and looks fine.
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2nd minute- Chris Leitch is injured after a collision in the peanlty area. Looks like his left knee.
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2nd minute- And we’re off.
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PRE-GAME– Today is Jeff Parke’s 106th game for the club, tying him for fourth-place all-time with Tab Ramos.
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PRE-GAME- Cloudy and 54 degrees today.
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PRE-GAME- The teams are taking the field. And the crowd is….not here. Okay, so maybe there are a few thousand fans hers.
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PRE-GAME- Jozy Altidore vs. Ryan Cochrane. That will likely be the match-up that decides the winner today. Cochrane is a seasoned veteran but Altidore is a beast. If San Jose uses Nick Garcia on Altidore I think Altidore’s speed will be too much for Garcia. Now, this all hinges on the Red Bulls actually getting Altidore some service.
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PRE-GAME- So you’re wondering why Chris Leitch is starting, right? Well, as I stated last week, he did a decent job of defender on the right wing against New England. Against San Jose, I think his speed will be an asset against Ivan Guerrero. He is a better option than Carlos Mendes in this match-up.
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PRE-GAME- Just overheard on the walkie talkie of a Red Bulls operative in the press box: "I’ve got a Gary Smith here from Arsenal looking for a media credential." "Arsenal?" "Arsenal Football Club." Hmmm, I wonder (not really) who Arsenal is here to see (assuming the whole thing wasn’t a hoax). And yes, there is a Gary Smith who used to be a scout with Arsenal who is now an assistant coach with the Colorado Rapids.
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PRE-GAME- For those of you wondering, yes, Jean-Philippe Peguero is in uniform. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him get on the field today.
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PRE-GAME- Keys to the game today? Dealing with Ronnie O’Brien is high on the list and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Seth Stammler and Dave Van Den Bergh swap roles on occasion to put the tenacious Stammler on O’Brien. San Jose doesn’t have the deadly playmakers in central midfielders who will beat you with quickness so Van Den Bergh can afford to play in the middle with Ubiparipovic.
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PRE-GAME- Here is San Jose’s lineup:
————-Kamara—–Glinton—————
Guerrero——————————-O’Brien
————Corrales—Grabavoy————-
Riley—-Cochrane–Garcia—–Hernandez
———————Cannon——————
BENCH- Burpo, Vide, Denton, Johnson, Peguero, Salinas, Cunliffe
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PRE-GAME- Here is the Red Bulls lineup:
————-Altidore—–Wolyniec———–
VDB—————-Reyna————-Sassano
————Stammler—Ubiparipovic——–
Goldthwaite——–Parke————-Leitch
———————Conway——————
BENCH- Thornton, Freeman, Mendes, Brunner, Magee, Borman, Megaloudis
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PRE-GAME– I’m at Giants Stadium and I think it’s safe to say the crowd will be sparse today. We’re less than an hour from kick and the stadium is basically empty. I saw some crowds making their way into the building but it’s going to be a small crowd, and a potentially record-setting crowd.
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MK, the Giants AND Jets used to play in NYC: at the Polo Ground, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium. Hell, for a season and a half, the Giants played in New Haven, at the Yale Bowl, where they STILL drew enormous crowds.
You heard it here first:
Jozy Altidore = overhyped, a victim of the MLS “well-he’s-better-than-a-bunch-of-these-average-players-so-let’s-hype-him-up-machine.”
“The Giants would sell out 70,000 if they played anywhere within a hundred miles of NYC.”
Exactly – if there were a tradition of success and a consistently entertaining team on the field, people would take the trip more often.
“New York fans have no trouble claiming the Giants as their own when they win the Super Bowl…”
Sigh. Check a history book, please. And understand that NFL is not MLS. The Giants would sell out 70,000 if they played anywhere within a hundred miles of NYC.
I’m not comparing the NFL to MLS – I just don’t understand how the Giants and Red Bulls are in different markets but the same stadium.
With success on the field and a little help from the owners that have more than enough money to promote the team, the Redbulls should be able to pull the attendance figures up.
Wow, my grammar was pretty horrific. Whatever, you get the point…
Cathy, not problem. Unfortunately I have to miss the second half. Let’s go NYRB!
Jacob, I think the new stadium will definitely help. I plan on buying at least a half season of tickets for the new stadium. Hopefully JCO will help the team’s lack of teamwork, and that the new stadium’s surface helps them stay injury-free.
Reyna played a really good first half. MOTM so far.
Thanks, Chosun…tough sitting here wondering what the Bulls look like. Glad to hear they’re playing better.
As far as the attendance at Red Bulls games goes, well, it’s quite simple. Giants stadium is in fact a massive pain to get to if you have no car and live in an outer borough. Combine that with the fact that the product on the field is just plain ugly and that’s the reason for the low attendance numbers.
You can’t really blame people for not wanting to spend their whole day traveling to/from the stadium to spend two hours watching the opposite of entertainment. I do think the new stadium location will make somewhat of a difference as it will be located directly on a PATH (train) line. In the meantime, why not seat everyone on the tv-shown side of the stadium?
And to conclude, I can’t wait to see what kind of attendance the televised Thursday game will pull. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more TFC fans than RBNY ones.
Are you seriously trying to compare the NFL, with its $6.5 billion in annual revenue, with MLS?
We’re definitely playing better. I think our defense/midfield is looking pretty solid.
MK: in 1996, Ben Olsen was in college in Charlottesville. He wasn’t “assigned” to DC United until the 1998 season. In fact, with Vermes and Knowles, the 1996 Metrostars had more Philly representation than DC.
woly needs to aim his shots between the posts.
haven’t seen 1 on target even since last week
New York fans have no trouble claiming the Giants as their own when they win the Super Bowl, but the Red Bulls – who play in the same stadium – are a New Jersey team?
I want Red Bulls to succeed and to get the NY area excited about MLS. It can only help the league.
North Jersey is their natural market, and it’s not the largest.
Well, first of all, this game is unwatchable, as most Red Bulls games have been this season. God forbid they try to complete more than two passess successively. Add to that the ugly football field, the empty seats, and there’s not much to be said for this game. Oh, and it seems that Altidore is back in whiny, bitchy mode.
As I write this, Claudio Reyna’s shot is cleared off the line (Telefutura even went into their Goal animations…pretty funny)
Cathy, Reyna ALMOST had a goal that was cleared off the line by SJ defense!
I’m not bashing Red Bulls – the attendance numbers speak for themselves. They have the largest market and drew 12,000 last weekend.
Last I checked, RFK was a cavernous former football stadium as well… seems to me that they can at least fill the seats that end up on television.
any more observations for us who are stuck w/match tracker?
In ’96 I went to DC’s home opener and had a great time. Ben Olsen was from my area, there were the bouncing seats of the supporters section, and they played an entertaining style of soccer.
On a positive note, NY seems to be calming down and playing better.
steve, ubiparipovic and stammler aren’t exactly speed demons
MK, you probably have a car, too. Most of the soccer fans in NYC live in the outer boroughs and don’t have vehicles. A trip to Giant’s stadium is not an easy thing at all…
The Philly to Meadowlands trip is literally one road the whole way. Just a tad bit different than traveling in from NYC.
Hey MK, idiot, it’s an 80,000 seat stadium. Red Bulls have always had decent attendance numbers-wise. No, not as good as D.C., but good compared to the league.
Put 15K people in an 80k stadium, of course it looks empty. Especially since season ticket holders are still allowed to sit on the non-TV side of the field. Know what you’re talking about before spewing forth your DC-SCUM related diarrhea of the keyboard.
And let me make another guess–you’ve never had to commute from the Bronx to Giants Stadium have you? Didn’t think so.
MK-why choose dcu over the redbulls?
That is is the second time this guy Kamara has rolled around pretending to be injured. And no one is going to card him.
“Intervention”? — you sound like Christopher Sullivan.
And wtf is up with Shep’s man-crush on Leitch. That wasn’t a “goal-saving block!!!” any defender should make that play.
I make it to RFK for every DC home game and I live in Philly. I don’t think distance is what keeps the Meadowlands embarassingly empty.
Apparently, his name is Peguero Jean-Philippe, not Jean-Philippe Peguero.
From Center Line Soccer:
http://www.centerlinesoccer.com/http:/www.centerlinesoccer.com/its-peguero-jean-philippe-thank-you-very-much/
for dave in ny—just to add my 2cents, i wish we could’ve put the redbull park on randalls island or in place of the icahn stadium. both would’ve been great high profile locations that are easy to get to by subway
I think NYRB need to just settle down a little bit. They seem to be too hyped up and aren’t making smart plays. I know there are plenty of Reyna haters, but I think he seems to be the most controlled player on the field right now.
Ives,
Following your commentary from the apple store. Let’s go Red Bulls! Unfortunately could not make it to the game.
Nice play by Reyna, he almost surprised the defense.
Looks like I overspoke.
Leitch is down, doesn’t look good.
Nevermind, found it on MSG. Let’s go Red Bulls!
Is this game on tv anywhere???
Ives, do you think embarrassing attendance numbers for RBNY will change with the new stadium? Do they really need to change their marketing approach or something? I feel like most people from NYC who like soccer are even more isolated from coming b/c of the long journey it can often be from the city to the meadowlands….
I say 8000 tops for this game. Cold and Rainy against a faceless team on Sunday afternoon.
I see Freeman is on the bench! Good to see, but remember last year after he was injured and rushed back he was slow and sluggish. Let him play with the reserves for a couple weeks then back to business.
Quakes media director says Peguero Jean Phillipe actually, and that it was a long standing MLS error that was never corrected.
Don’t have telefutura or MSG+ in PA and MLSlive.tv isn’t showing the game. Anybody have a link for a live stream?
Topher, Grabavoy is a slow midget who passes well. Are you serious?
you don’t think grabavoy can be players on quickness?
Anybody have a link to a live stream for this game?
Nah the Quakes won’t even register on the Richter scale today
Yes, a cold/rainy day in New York after a string of beautiful weather… it’s never going to be a good crowd at Giants Stadium with that.
The Quakes will crush RBNY, like I crush cans of Red Bull.