Good evening folks. The New York Red Bulls take on Toronto FC tonight in a game with plenty of sub-plots and the promise of some serious excitement.
From the Red Bulls likely having Juan Pablo Angel and Jozy Altidore together for the first time this season, to Amado Guevara facing the Red Bulls for the first time since being traded by them after the 2006 season, tonight’s match should have great drama along with the unmatched atmosphere at BMO Field, where a sold-out crowd is expected.
I will be spending time before and during the match with Toronto FC fans for a story on the game-day experience here so I won’t be doing a running commentary until the second half. Since I know many of you will be watching the match on ESPN2 please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and play-by-play on the match in the comments section below.
Enjoy the match and be sure to check in on SBI throughout the evening and check out the pre-game coverage as well.
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POST-GAME– I highly recommend a Toronto road trip to all MLS fans. If your team is playing here you should find a way here. Sure, you’ll be outnumbered 20,000 to 20, but the atmosphere is great. The fans are knowledgeable and energetic throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and definitely see why BMO Field is a tough place to play for opposing teams.
That’s all for tonight folks. Thanks for following along and stay tuned for more stories on my trip to Toronto on Friday.
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FINAL- Red Bulls 1, Toronto FC 1. A fair result. The Red Bulls were organized and had a good amount of possession while Toronto FC’s defense was solid again, though its offense is starting to leave us with some questions about its effectiveness. I will say that the fans at BMO Field are amazing.
Marvell Wynne was just named man of the match and given a trophy. Apparently someone forgot about Marco Velez. He gets my vote for Man of the Match.
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91st minute– Wolyniec in for Altidore. Three minutes of stoppage.
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90th minute– Kudos to the Toronto defendse for getting two defenders on Altidore every time he touches the ball. The kid has no room to operate.
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87th minute– The long balls to Cunningham aren’t going to work tonight. Toronto needs to feed Edu and Guevara, who can slip Cunningham passes on the run. Cunningham’s speed will be a problem for Parke and Goldthwaite, but only if he gets the ball in a good position.
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84th minute– Cunningham coming in for Dichio, probably about 10 minutes too late.
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80th minute– Freeman has looked good today, no complaints about him. I wonder how Angel plays, it looks like he’s ready to go 90.
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79th minute– This is the time in the game when Altidore usually makes something happen. He almost did with that cross.
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78th minute– Ubi with a nice play on Edu, drawing applause for Osorio.
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76th minute– Edu streaks in unmarked and nearly gets to a nice pass in the box. Stammler came in late but I’m pretty sure that was Ubi’s mark. I wonder if Osorio uses his last sub to get him off the field.
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75th minute– Jarrod Smith in for Rohan Ricketts. I can’t say I was overly impressed with Ricketts today. Some decent tricks but nothing too special.
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70th minute– There’s Ubiparipovic, getting in late and drawing a yellow for a foul on Edu. Osorio is definitely regretting putting Ubi in this match.
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68th minute– Looks like Sinisa’s job is to keep tabs on Maurice Edu, which he’s not doing a good job of lately. Edu is definitely pushing forward more in the attack.
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66th minute– Sinisa Ubiparipovic is being read the riot act by Juan Carlos Osorio. Not sure what Upiparipovic did but he looks a bit lost out there.
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64th minute– Still waiting for Dane Richards to make his presence felt in his debut. A tough game to be thrown into, but his speed can make things happen. The real question is who will get him the ball.
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62nd minute– Amado Guevara has been active tonight but I don’t know if his teammates are making themselves available for him. Robert and Ricketts need to run a little more to get into position to receive service. I would put Jeff Cunningham in this match ASAP if I were John Carver.
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61st minute– Angel has seemed off tonight. Other than his great header that missed by inches high, he looks a tad rusty. Toronto is also doing a good job on him.
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60th minute– I’ve been impressed with Marvell Wynne tonight. He has pretty much locked down Danleigh Borman.
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59th minute– A pretty even match so far although I feel as if the Red Bulls have had slightly better possession and chances.
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PRE-GAME– It’s a late-arriving crowd here at BMO Field, which is to be expected for a 7pm game on a Thursday night, but the crowd is definitely filing in. I will be heading down to sit with the Red Patch Boys and U Sector in the first half to take in the gameday fan experience. It should be interesting.
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PRE-GAME– Looking at that Red Bulls lineup, I think we are more likely to see a formation like this one:
Borman————Angel————-Altidore
——————–Magee———————
————Reyna——-Stammler————
Van Den Bergh———————-Freeman
———Goldthwaite——-Parke———–
——————-Conway——————–
I recall the Red Bulls rolling out a similar look earlier in the year and the trio of Borman, Angel and Altidore would force Toronto to keep numbers back, specifically Marvell Wynne, who has been a great threat on the right flank for Toronto.
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PRE-GAME- Here is Toronto FC’s lineup:
—————-Dichio———————-
Robert———Guevara———-Ricketts
———-Edu————Robinson———
Brennan—-Velez——Marshall—-Wynne
——————Sutton——————–
BENCH– Edwards, James, Harmse, Dunivant, Smith, Tebily, Cunningham
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PRE-GAME– Here is the Red Bulls lineup:
———–Angel——–Altidore————
Borman——————————-Magee
———–Reyna——-Stammler———-
Van Den Bergh———————-Freeman
———–Goldthwaite—Parke————–
——————-Conway———————
BENCH– Thornton, Brunner, Wolyniec, Richards, Sassano, Megaloudis, Ubiparipovic
Chris Leitch is out with a left knee injury he suffered during the San Jose game. Carlos Mendes is also out with a left quad injury suffered in training earlier this week.
Haig, are you even a RBNY fan? I demand evidence. If you are a fan of the Bulls, I honestly want to bury you. You’ve never posted a positive comment, ever. Please prove me wrong man. On non-Red Bulls topics you have some great insights. I hate the fact that I think you are the dumbest human ever born because of your points about the Red Bulls. Either they are way too harsh–OR they are completely idiotic and made up.
Shoot me an email man, I’d love to talk about it. I recognize that you are a true fan of the game, and at the same time I’m getting sick of your ignorance. I’d love to discuss it.
My goodness, we need an attacking mid
All of the RBNY fans complaining about how weak the foul was that lead to the TFC goal are conspicuously quiet about the ridiculous hand ball call that lead to the RBNY goal. The ball goes off his thigh, bounces off his finger and it is called for hand ball. Really?
I have to say, a tie in Toronto is a victory for NY. Good job guys, well earned.
Going back to the comments on the preview thread and Mike’s reponse to my post about how they haven’t tried a 3-5-2 at home — this is exactly what can happen when you play a 4-5-1 at home. Its too defensive. Toronto needed to take the game to NY much earlier and control the run of play.
Why should Carver be concerned that his defenders can’t play a 3-man back line? Seems like he’s got the best defensive depth in the league right now. Pairing Cunningham with Dichio from the beginning could have completely changed the one of this game. Why haven’t Julius James or Tebily gotten any (or hardly any) minutes?
Its too bad for Toronto, they really lost 2 points here.
Stan. It was a BS call. He didn’t actually do anything. It doesn’t matter who it was called on. For the record, I would have called neither the foul on Freeman nor the handball.
Freeman was good today. Really, the only times we looked like creating any chances were when Freeman and VDB got forward. Magee and Borman just didn’t have it on the wings.
Stan, the problem with your argument is that it shouldn’t have been called a foul. Another Abby special.
-Joamiq
I am just as happy as everyone else that Hunter is back, BUT that is a big difference between saying you have nothing to “complain” about. Because I “DO” have something to complain about…a dumb foul, period.
You know that if Leitch made that foul, everyone would be calling for his ‘red’ head.
All I am saying is that Ives should be impartial, or at least pay attention to what is going on out there.
HS
Ives is Hunter’s apologist? Freeman was very poised today and the call against him was BS.
Not exactly the most exciting game. I’ll take the point but I’m not exactly relishing how I spent those 2 hours of my life.
OK, rather than dwelling again on Reyna, what wud be your ideal formation assuming from the available (and fit) squad?
So lets start with Freeman in right mid field? DVB in left mid field. Josey in front of Angel. What else?
4-4-1-1
Good point for the Red Bulls. I thought we did a nice job of keeping the ball, especially in the first half, and didn’t give TFC too many chances. I appreciate the atmosphere are the passion of the fans, but the chucking of streamers at opposing players taking corners needs to stop. It’s just poor sportsmanship.
Ives, how on earth can you possibly say no complaints about freeman tonite?? WTF were you watching, how about the goal?? Stupid foul on a ball which was gonna go out over the touch, setting up a dangerous free kick, which our defenders elected not to mark.
Stop being Hunter’s apologist.
On a good note I am glad his fitness was up to the 90 minute task.
Lets compare Claudio Reyna with Lou Gehrig
Please Ives, say it, say it! Claudio Reyna is a waste of a DP Slot!
Not a thrilling game, but on the bright side, the awkward player intros for the men’s volleyball championship are amusing
Were Angel and Altidore on the field? I saw 9 very hard working Red Bull players it’s a shame they were all in the midfield and defense. No difference-making plays by the forwards tonight – bummerrr
Well, not a great game. Angel below par and Reyna off at half time. Stammler was a real positive once again. The structure was questionable.
Some ideas here.
Borman and Richards have speed but fail with the final ball. Suggestion wud be to push Freeman forward?
Why is Josey sitting on the wing – I dont think this is his best position? Lets bring him into the middle to play behind and/or tandem to play off Angel.
Lastly, commentators are ghastly and I just love the Toronto fans, very English stlye – good luck to them.
The league needs to step in, love that atmosphere but it just can’t be ok to throw things from the stands that impede a player, which they clearly do as they get wrapped around feet.
Fans don’t throw streamers at their players taking corners, it’s garbage on the field. And on the final corner, not all of that crap thrown on the field were streamers.
Eh, well he beats another Dick’s Sporting Goods commercial
This just wasn’t a great game. I’d be disappointed if I were a TFC fan, they weren’t the least bit dangerous at all. Robert has no legs, they are basically paying for a left foot on dead balls. Amado is good on the ball and needs to see MUCH more of it.
Same old same old for the Red Bulls, in order for the strikers to score you have to get them the ball.
The “streaker” was some drunk guy who ran straight to the center circle and laid down. The guy didn’t even have the decency to entertain people by running away from security.
Woly on for Altidore.
Jozy wasted on the wings. Then again, both Osoria and Arena have played him there, so maybe they see something I don’t.
Compared to the MLS standard of refs this guy is great. But he’s 1-for-3 on TFC handballs that happened right in front of his face.
thanks Kpugs, the Rickets from the Olympic team was sporting a nifty haircut and had some pretty good skills, guess it aint the same Rickets.
Ok…what happened Ives? Did they have a real streaker? Or, a chick in a braw and thong?
Streaker? Ives, gives us a rating.
Jozy hits another nice cross into the box, Richards can’t quite reach it. Of course, I would prefer to see nice crosses hit Jozy’s way…
Christian, Ricketts is 25. If you’re referring to the recent Olympic qualifiers it’s not him.
That was a great ball by Jozy
Magee could still be rusty, he was out for a long time.
I said that about Magee. He really gets in the perfect spots, and sees the best pass, but he hits some really indecisive passes.
More injuries for ny?
quick question for TFC fans, is that the same Rickets from Canada’s U-23 Olympic Qualifier team? Cause I seem to remember the one from the Olympic team I think played college ball somewhere in the midwest but I could be wrong.
It’s crazy how much of this game is being played between both 18 yard boxes.
RED BULLS need a good Midfielder… Yea i bet alot of you wish Amado was playing for the Toros again..
paul L – I think that’s Claudio in a nutshell. He is missed, NY hasn’t looked right at all this half – but he’s missed because he’s got some lame injury.
Whoever said earlier that Magee just seemed to lack confidence, I’m starting to see that. He does look like he could be a real solid player if he didn’t play so timid.
Ubi is playing a total stinker.
Of course, the only reason Reyna is missing is because he is injured… again. Also, he’s being replaced by someone who hasn’t played well this year, and isn’t all that good. Presumably, were Reyna not on the team, he would be replaced by someone much better than Ubiparipovic
Well, Paul, I think the fact that we did worse last year with Reyna than without him doesn’t lend itself well to your argument, but I agree that Reyna’s style was well-suited to this game.
I don’t hate Reyna. I hate losing.
I hate these ESPN interruptions. They suck
For all you Reyna haters….his quality is missing this half though…he really controlled the flow of the ball in the 1st half.
VDB hobbles around, clutching his tuchis.
Neither team looks dangerous at all. Robert is anonymous during the run of play. Guevara looks very good on the ball, but he hasn’t gotten the ball very much. I can’t believe this team just fired off three straight wins.
On the other side of the ball, there is virtually no support from the midfield. It seems Angel is up top, sometimes joined on the wing by Altidore, Richards, and in the first half Borman.
The better to keep the streamers out of your beer…
I swear those guys had cups of frozen beer. Either that, or they serve it in sippy cups at BMO Field
yeaaaaaaaaaa richards!!!! BTW the streamers are a bit much, u dont need streamers to have a good crowd and a good atmosphere
Thanks, Ives. Was it, as JP says, a “European atmosphere”?
Toronto played KC last week, so if they said Jozy I assume they were talking about Guevara.
Okay folks, I’m back from my stint down in the South End of BMO Field. I’ll do some commentary for the rest of the match.
Richards on for Borman, who apparently has been having a good game.
Geez, Ives never updated us on last weeks secret match against Kansas City when Jozy ran all through their weak midfield… hate when guys paid to commentate have no idea what they are talking about