Good afternoon everybody. The New York Red Bulls play host to the West Coast-leading Houston Dynamo today in a match-up of streaking teams.
The Red Bulls will look to try and extend their winning streak to three games today despite the absence of suspended defender Gabriel Cichero and midfielder Jorge Rojas, who is missing the match after visa issues left him in Venezuela. Red Bulls Sporting Director Jeff Agoos will address Rojas’ situation before the match.
I will be providing running commentary throughout the day so please feel free to share your thoughts andopinions in the comments section below. Enjoy the match.
For now, let’s start with the lineups:
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FINAL- Red Bulls improve to 3-0-2 in their last five and hold on to a tie for fourth place in the Eastern Conference and the final playoff spot in MLS.
That’s all for now. I will check back in tonight with more on this match. For now, feel free to share your thoughts on the Red Bulls’ victory in the comments section below.
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FINAL- Red Bulls 3, Dynamo 0. A complete and utter dominating performance for the Red Bulls against a team that hadn’t lost in more than two months.
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88th minute– For those wondering, this will be the Red Bulls’ first three-game winning streak since April of 2007.
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85th minute– Wolyniec’s goal is waived off for offside.
Dane Richards has looked in top form today. As much as that is good news for Red Bulls fans, it could also be bad news. The Jamaican national team has been keeping tabs on Richards and was set to call him up before his most recent leg injury. He told me he thinks he stands a very good chance of earning a call-up for Jamaica’s next qualifiers in early September, which would rule him out of the vital clash against Chicago in Chicago.
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82nd minute– Red Bulls showing plenty of energy here late despite holding a three-goal lead. You think some of the Red Bulls remember their 4-0 loss to Houston in Houston last year?
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79th minute– Sinisa Ubiparipovic comes in for Magee, who is definitely a Man of the Match nominee.
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76th minute– We could see this same back four start vs. D.C. next week. Cichero will be serving the second game of his red card suspension while Jeff Parke is still recovering from an ankle injury and might be left out as a precaution.
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74th minute– Wolyniec watches an easy finish go by him. I have a feeling Osorio is thinking, "That’s why I need a speedy forward."
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70th minute-This performance should give Juan Osorio some interesting decisions to make in next week’s showdown against D.C.
Today’s attendance is 12,549. It’s a shame so few people were here for such a quality performance.
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64th minute– Juan Pablo Angel and Dave Van Den Bergh have been replaced by Danleigh Borman and John Wolyniec. Yes, that’s right, the Red Bulls are calling off the dogs against the Dynamo. Welcome to Bizarro MLS.
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61st minute– The Red Bulls are dismantling the defending champions without three starters in the lineup (Rojas, Cichero and Parke). This is a thoroughly impressive performance.
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59th minute- GOAL RED BULLS- And it’s Mike Magee with the finish off the Jimenez pass. You just can’t stop Mike Magee these days. His third in three games.
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56th minute– Holden on for DeRosario, who is coming off playing 90 minutes for Canada against Jamaica on Wednesday.
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56th minute– Houston is pressing hard for the first goal. Just not impressed with Jaqua and Kamara today.
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50th minute– The Dynamo has Stuart Holden and Brian Ching on the bench but we may not see them today as Houston looks to get them rest.
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48th minute– And we’re back. No subs.
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HALFTIME– RED BULLS 2, DYNAMO 0. The Red Bulls just played their best half of soccer all season, thoroughly out-playing the defending champions.
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45th minute– Two minutes of added time.
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44th minute– I have to give Andrew Boyens some credit today for playing very well. It helps that neither Nate Jaqua or Kei Kamara are going to trouble him with their technical skill.
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40th minute– The Red Bulls are just playing in a different gear today. If I had told you they’d be leading Houston 2-0 before halftime WITHOUT Jorge Rojas and Gabriel Cichero you probably would have called me crazy but they’re playing their best half of the season right now.
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38th minute– Dane’s nickname today is Mini-Usain.
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33rd minute– Houston has come out very flat today. Surprising considering they haven’t lost a game since June 12th. They’re 4-0-3 during that stretch and have won four straight.
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31st minute– Dynamo with the corner. Can they get back into this game?
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28th minute– Wade Barrett shouldn’t feel bad. He’s about the 20th American athlete to be outrun by a Jamaican this week.
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27th minute- GOAL RED BULLS!!! And it’s Dane Richards out-running Wade Barrett to Seth Stammler’s long pass.
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24th minute– Not a lot of urgency from the Dynamo here. Showing some patience despite being down a goal.
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21st minute– Seth Stammler with a pretty silly yellow card for yanking a jersey.
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17th minute– Angel nearly chips Onstad, but just misses.
And for those of you wondering how many times Dane Richards has to get fouled in the penalty area before one is called, referee Edvin Jurisevic is reffing just his second MLS match.
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15th minute– Jimenez is playing in central defense, with Goldthwaite at left back, for those wondering about the formation.
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12th minute– Houston looks a bit flat early on here, which is surpising considering the recent run they’ve been on.
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10th minute– The goal is Angel’s sixth in six games.
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9th minute– Angel blasts a header off a perfect cross from Dave Van Den Bergh.
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8th minute- GOAL RED BULLS!!! And it’s ANGEL again.
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7th minute– Teams are feeling each other out early on.
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3rd minute– So the story on Rojas’ absence is simple, though ridiculous. He was in Venezuela for a friendly, and was supposed to pick up his P-1 visa in the process. The only problem was that when he went to the U.S. consulate for the visa, an American government official determined that there was damage to Rojas’ passport that made him suspect that it may have been doctored. DOCTORED!
Rojas is captain of the Venezuelan national team yet this American official decided he may have a forged passport. Great. I can’t help but think Rojas would have had much better luck had he been a baseball player.
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2nd minute– And we’re off.
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PRE-GAME– Here is Houston’s lineup:
———–Jaqua———–Kamara————
——————-DeRosario——————-
Davis————————————Mullan
———————Clark———————-
Barrett——Boswell—-Robinson——Waibel
BENCH– Caig, Ianni, Mulrooney, Cameron, Holden, Ashe, Ching
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PRE-GAME-RED BULLS LINEUP:
—————————Angel————————
Van Den Bergh———-Magee————Richards
——————Stammler—Pietravallo———–
Jimenez——Goldthwaite—Boyens——–Leitch
—————————Conway——————–
BENCH– Cepero, Freeman, Gilkerson, Ubiparipovic, Borman, Sassano, Wolyniec