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Osorio sounds off on Barcelona blowout

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As you might imagine, Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio wasn’t happy after Wednesday night’s 6-2 loss to FC Barcelona. It took one question to get Osorio going about a match his squad was thoroughly dominated in:

"Was it that this team couldn’t handle or wasn’t used to this style," asked one local journalist.

"Oh come on! Come on! Half of this team just played and won the European tournament," Osorio stated with a touch of exasperation. "What can I say? I’m not going to sit here and embarrass my players. That’s top players playing against very good players in MLS.

"We tried to control the game but they have midfielders that can pass the ball forever," Osorio said. "They have strikers that can individually affect the game. Collectively, you saw what they can do."

Osorio went on to explain the variety of tactical nuances of Barcelona’s versatile and unrelenting attack, and was careful to remind the media that he had some young players facing off against some of the best players in the world.

"I like Danleigh a lot, and I think he will grow, but let me remind you six months ago he was playing college football and he’s playing against Puyol and Marquez. Come on," Osorio said.

"That’s reality, that’s what it is. We couldn’t have done anything better than we did today. This is the strongest team we have and we played against a very tough team."

As disappointed as Osorio was, he stuck by his statements from earlier this week that he felt the friendly was worth playing.

"I said a couple of days ago that I thought it was a great opportunity because we want our players to grow, like Danleigh (Borman) and Luke Sassano," Osorio said. "We want them playing games like this and realize how hard it is to play football against senior players. I wouldn’t say necessarily that it is bad.

"The result is very difficult to digest, but I want to look at the bigger picture and think that the players will benefit from games like we played today."

What do you think of Wednesday night’s match? Was it a complete waste of time for the Red Bulls? Do you think that, despite Barcelona’s obvious quality, the Red Bulls still shouldn’t have lost 6-2?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. apparrently, Guardiola doesnt agree with all of you who claim a Barca team that is Messi-less,has an obvioulsy out of form Henry, has a horrible third string goalie, and played Guj johnson, Bojan and 9 subs in the second half would beat everyone in the world 6-2.

    “It’s not normal for us to score so many goals,” Guardiola said. “We have to be careful because we created so many chances and, if we try to continue to prepare that way, we could be in a little bit of trouble. We just want to get a good mentality as a group”

    http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/8422008/FC-Barcelona-cruises-past-Red-Bulls

    Barca is great but is WAY out of form and NJ was completely in form. fitness alone should have kept them in the game.

    It helped the Fire tie Celtiv and beat Everton.

    NJ play was dismall and embarrassing to the league. No matter how you try to excuse it.

    Soryy i just dont by the “Barca is so great and MLS sucks so bad that an out of form Barca without the usual 11 for 90 can beat the crap out of ANY IN FORM MLS team 6-2.”

    NJ ahould never be allowed to play in one of these until they improve.

    BTW Chichenho looks like the Wanchope of defense.

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  2. haha diego r…we swept that one under the rug, my friend!… My *exactly my point* was to the dude before you. Great thing about soccer is, there is always the next goal or the next game!

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  3. Exactly the point. Looking at the Nascar model, which is 50 yrs in existance, it has expanded in the last 15 yrs. The last 10 of those have been the hard mktg. work, to then have the money, to make the stars. Now they can pay well due to tv contracts/ merchandising sales. Even still they are greatly down in attendance, due to the economy. You have to plan long term, and ride out any storms, while trying to promote the best you can, at that moment. JCO is the best choice to weather the growth.

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  4. If the nyrb players get anything out of a match like this it’s that have to get MUCH better technically and develop a soccer brain for many of them. That being said how does one expect a team (any MLS team) with a salary cap of 2.5 million (my guesstimate) expect to compete with a team whose total salaries may exceed the 50 million dollar range. If the MLS hopes to come even close to a team like Barcalona Don Garber has to convince the owners to start increasing the salary cap next year and every year thereafter in order to improve. This can and should be a good show of good faith to the players for the next CBA. This alone will not do it as another DP should be made available to every team in order to raise the level of play and inteernal competition within the team(s).

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  5. Okay, lets just breeze by that last comment, shall we! @martha, lol, you have a good pt. but Im sure this game was scheduled 8 mo. ago, when ON PAPER, the RB looked great! The MLS is not one to adjust mid season, just for tv/ mktg. reasons. JCO has done the best he can w/the yucky hand hes been dealt, thats why we feel hes talented. Yes he left/moved NY but we all do this to learn/bloom professionally. Nascar took 10 yrs. to reach #2 in tv/merch. sales, give it time. JPA can still play anywhere!

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  6. I’m a person who tries to maximize the utility of my time spent watching football. In practical terms, I watch the Italian ans Spanish leagues and a little of the English one to get my fix of football. The MLS is league of last resort more akin to picking the 300 lb woman if one’s choice is either a beast or worse. That friendly reinforces my view. Pub league indeed.

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  7. This game could definitely have been worse. Much worse. Did you see the # of shots? It was about 25 to 3!

    And’s it’s too bad it was nationally televised on ESPN of all networks. “The worldwide leader in sport” or at least in American sport definitely meant many borderline viewers and some haters flipping through the channels seeing an MLS side losing 6-2. The shame in this game is how European fans in the US and borderline fans and even the people who don’t know much on the game will look on this as a reason to not like MLS (mostly due to ignorance, but its still happening).

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  8. I don’t know if anyone really mentioned this, but perhaps the most disappointing thing about last night was the crowd. Take away the 12,000 or so RB fans and you’re left with 26,000 that went to see Barcelona in the country’s biggest market. That’s not a lot of people. And I’m not going to buy excuses like GS, weeknight, no Messi, blah blah blah. It was a beautiful day/evening yesterday.

    Maybe soccer is just as big as its going to get in this country. We’ll have a very mid-level league and a chance to host the WC every generation. If the novelty of Barca has worn off b/c they were here “only” two years ago, then it doesn’t bode well for MLS ever becoming a “big-time” league.

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  9. “wait, Martha et al talking about how embarrassing this “performance was by RBNY… that’s a joke, right? Halve the scores and I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the result of Barca vs. USMNT game”

    CapeCodFutbol

    um fyi the us DID ply the euro champs and lost what 1-0?

    Cant blieve all you homers who can find excuses for this crap performance against A TEAM THAT ISNT IN FORM.

    They did not play their starters and their subs arent thw WorldCup champs you make them out to be.

    A few MLS teams would have beat the second half Barca team

    HAIG dont forget the Fire also tied Celtic last yr. Celtics first tem is better than Barcas bench. Chicago even left their mini ditkas on the bench

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  10. Trying to compare Rb to Barca is comparing a Kia to a Ferrari. Utterly ridiculous. Osorio fielded his team, and had a chance to get a better look at some of his players. Thats it. The best accomplishment that could have been achieved was that no one was injured. What is the big deal?

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  11. They NEED to take it step by step. Building beautiful stadiums (can’t wait to get out of the meadowlands) now getting the beautiful game later. At least they will give the 10-20 thousand fans who watch MLS soccer a good experience. RBNY has their hands tied at Giants Stadim.

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  12. Those stringent rules (at least the money rules) are in the main what keeps the league solvent and competitive coast to coast, but are also the rules that hamper product improvement and thus, potentially, revenue potential. Kind of a chicken and egg problem. They are taking it one step at a time.

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  13. My main surprise is that Jimenez got all of zero minutes here, which is surprising and not a positive indicator of his likelihood to improve our defense. Also no Freeman?

    I like Rojas, fun to watch. He had some good moments.

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  14. That was not an embarrassment. That was a disgraceful display of not ready for prime time players. But that’s not the problem.

    This game exposed Osorio. He played three defensive central midfielders. Barca used them like traffic cones.

    The one thing crystal clear last night is that if Richie Williams isn’t ready to be a head coach, the search for a new one should begin immediately so the team can clean house and start over.

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  15. C’mon folks, let’s think. Who benefits from games like these?

    1) The foreign club, which gets a bag of cash for appearing, and another bag of cash for selling thousands of shirts.

    2) The MLS club, which gets a chance to market itself to a larger-than-usual crowd, and gets its players a chance to take on top-flight competition.

    3) The fans, who get to see world-class players do their thing.

    and in this case:

    4) The NJSEA.

    A better result would have been nice, but that’s not really why friendlies with Euro sides take place in the US. Let’s just take it for what it was, and hope NY can get it’s act together for a playoff run. Bring on DC on Sunday.

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  16. MLS is just not very good. I try to like the league but all the stringent rules on player signings just guarentee mediocrity at best. Until those restrictions change you will continue to see more of the same every year. Those saying Houston or New England could finish mid tier in the EPL are nuts. JPA couldnt even start for a mid tier EPL team before he came to MLS and he’s now the best player in the MLS. Thats all anyone needs to know.

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  17. I can’t believe there is a debate here.

    Yes, Barca is about four levels higher than MLS in general. There’s nothing to be ashamed of there. It’s their sport and not ours. Soccer is growing but will likely never become a major sport in the US.

    I think New England, Columbus and Chicago could do better. Maybe 3-1 rather than 6-2 but still it would take a special day to truly compete.

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  18. Why cant Barcelona or Madrid Tour and Play the AllStars, which will still get absolutely dominated PERIOD. But it would be a better game.

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  19. Look, If RBNY is different than DC or Chicago, the difference is an inch on a yardstick. And all of them are two feet from the likes of Barcelona. This surprises people?

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  20. I enjoyed the game. I did not expect RBNY to win or even to keep it close. I didn’t view it as an interleague rivals game, it was unrealistic to expect a close match. The MLS has progressed a lot over the last few years and the growing interest in professional soccer in the USA has not gotten to the point where all the clubs can spend the money that the european clubs spend. If you think it is frustrating here you need only to look over to Brasil where players are an exported commodity.

    The MLS has chosen not to take the tack of the old NASL and create a couple of powerhouse teams, spending lots of cash and creating a circus. They are choosing to develop the game here by developing American players, limiting the all-star circus routes for teams, and creating enjoyable locations to watch the games. It will happen here and when it does, the european teams had better be ready for the competition for its best players. I know of an English friend who is scared to death of the growing popularity of soccer here!

    Watching the Barcelona show last night was a great opportunity to see the goal of soccer development here in the US.

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  21. I liked the play of Cichero at centerback. he controlled the defense pushed them up for offsides traps and last but not least he is a very aggresive player someone that red bulls desperatly need.

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  22. On Barcelona’s performance today, I doubt any MLS team would be competitive. Chivas, in competitive matches, has shown itself to be somewhat better than DC United and Chivas was crushed by Barca.

    But saying that is very different from saying that MLS teams are ridiculously far from European first division teams. Remember that Barca and Madrid will put six past a few of their first division opponents in competitive games each year. The real message is (a) don’t sugarcoat this result, but (b) don’t make it out to mean more than it does.

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  23. Barcelona are a dominate power in the soccer world. Their reserves could probably beat teams around the globe. This result should have been expected.

    The Real Chivas didn’t play that well either against Barca and they are a better club than NJRB.

    Some MLS fans take this too seriously. Wake up and realize that MLS is a feeder league just like most leagues in the world and a club like Barcelona will pick our bones apart if they want to.

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  24. I am baffled by some of the comments being made here. Let’s keep this whole thing in perpective here, anyone who thought RB would earn any type of positive result from this game was delusional. I also do not think the result of this game negatively affected how people perceive the MLS. Eurosnobs are just that – snobs and even if through some miracle of the soccer gods NY earned a positive result they still would not stand and take notice. Also to think a better MLS side would have done better against Barca is hopeful at best….maybe NE would have only lost 5-2 like Chivas. Also comparing the strength of MLS sides to mid table EPL or La Liga teams is an exercise in futility. Who cares??? What does that accomplish??? MLS is a work in progress, and it is making good progress but placing unreal expectations on the league will only lead to disapointment. As a Eurosnob myself (Hala Madrid!) I appreciate MLS for what is and respect the league for its vision. Grwing pains lik last night will only help the league in the long run.

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  25. The match was a complete waste of time, I’m sorry to say. Sitting in the stands for almost every RBNY match I am actually surprised it wasn’t worse. The RBNY defense is as bad as it gets, reminiscent of the early days of MLS. Goldthwaite is overmatched against MLS strikers, never mind the quality that Barca brought. And with each game I feel more sorry for JP Angel. And yet, I’ve got to believe Osorio knows what he is doing and in a couple of years the club will be much much better.

    But hey, I got to see the Secaucus train station (thanks Port Authority!), so it wasn’t a total loss.

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  26. I think our top 2 in MLS could have given Barca a game (provided they don’t come out shaking like a leaf, as was the case last night) but RBNY is nowhere near that – they are in transition for next year at this point. I’m not saying either of those teams would have won, I’m just saying the confidence factor would have been a bit higher, resulting in a bit better passing.

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  27. I think it was GREAT to see an MLS team get absolutely DOMINATED. I’ve always been a Juan Pablo Angel fan, being from Medellin Colombia, and I know he still has European Type Talent, like from back in the days when he played for Aston Villa, and I could see how frustrated he was not to have anyone in the midfiled who could hold the ball for a minute and pass it to someone other then a Barca Player. This goes to show how good European Teams are, and how muhc more the MLS needs to go in order to even be consired a decent league. NYRB’s have some players that as I sat there I was like jesus, I could be playing better than that guy, I could be the one out there making 30 thousand dollars haha. But true. The blond dude on left back, I’m sorry but he’s aweful, and so is the new Argentinian Sensation boy… who the hell is this guy? why are we bringing the worse argentinian talent we can find for the love of god, we can find better players in South America. The only way we will get big as a league is for teams to start spending LOTS and bringing in good players, NOT IN THEIR 30s to come play, and to do that we need a bigger fan base, which is getting there, but wont reach its full potential unless we bring quality players worth going to the stadium to watch. In the mean time we’ll have to hope that Alexis Lalas can get on the field and help that aweful Galaxy defense. Good night.

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