Good evening folks. The Red Bulls are set to take on the Chicago Fire tonight in a match that will determine their playoff future. A win puts the Red Bulls into the playoffs, while a tie will leave them waiting until the weekend to see if they qualify.
I will be providing a running commentary throughout the match. As always, feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the match:
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FINAL- That’s all from Toyota Park, where the Red Bulls saw their playoff dreams beaten to wthin an inch of their life. It’s all up to D.C. United now. Win and D.C. is in. Lose and the Red Bulls get to lose to face Houston in the Western Conference playoffs.
Be sure to check in later for Dylan Butler’s story on the match. For now, feel free to share your thoughts on the match in the comments section below.
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FINAL- The carnage is over. Fire 5, Red Bulls 2. Chicago clinches second place in the East. The Red Bulls have to wait until Sunday to find out their fate. Red Bulls will be cheering hard for the Columbus Crew this weekend.
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88th minute- GOAL RED BULLS. No, there won’t be any exclamation points on that. Kandji finishes off a Richards cross. That’s Kandji’s first goal in MLS. 5-2.
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86th minute– Cepero just made a great save on a Blanco free kick. Cepero’s mother is happy (okay, probably not, but still).
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79th minute– Another intersesting thing about tonight is the fact that D.C. United fans have spent tonight cheering on their hated rival the Chicago Fire.
Kandji with a beautiful move and almost a goal, but Soumare comes in and clears one off the line.
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76th minute– For every Fire fan who said back in May, "The only thing that would have made beating the Red Bulls 5-1 better was if it were at Toyota Park." can now enjoy and be happy.
Fire fans are now chanting, "Season’s over" as well as "Oh-Soor-iooo." Someone should tell them D.C. United still has to win on Sunday for the Red Bulls season to be over.
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75th minute– And there’s the fifth. Fire 5, Red Bulls 1. What a beatdown.
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70th minute– The Fire looks like a team that is ready to make an MLS Cup run. I know the Red Bulls looked atrocious tonight, but my money is on the Fire to make it out of the East. I know Columbus has been the class of the East all season, but this Fire team is dangerous.
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65th minute– Dane Richards is coming in for Jorge Rojas. That just might have been the last time you see Rojas in MLS.
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63rd minute– The Fire is in full attack mode, trying to run up the score. You would hate to see a key Fire player hurt at this point in the game.
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61st minute- Kandji has looked good at times, barely missing on a shot from 15 just now. I think he’ll be back in 2009. I can’t say the same for a lot of players on the field right now for the Red Bulls.
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59th minute– Okay folks, I’m going to cut down on the commentary while I crank out a story. I’m sure you all will pick up the slack. There’s plenty to talk about. None of it good if you’re a Red Bulls fan.
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56th minute– Stammler left the match with a right knee injury for those of you wondering.
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54th minute– Too many breakdowns on that play to point to anyone in particular. Rolfe with the perfect long pass to spring Gutierrez down the left flank. Cichero is late to recover, leaving McBride for the tap-in.
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53rd minute- GOAL FIRE!!! McBride off a great cross in from Gutierrez, Fire 4, Red Bulls 1. This one is over.
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51st minute– One interesting development is that the Red Bulls keep slipping all over the field. I’ve seen one or two Fire players slip, but the Red Bulls are falling all over the place.
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50th minute– For those Red Bulls fans who haven’t already given up on the season, the Red Bulls’ playoff hopes will come down to needing D.C. United to tie or lose to Columbus on Sunday.
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46th minute– Red Bulls will be in a 4-4-2 in the second half that looks like this:
————–Angel———Kandji
VDB——–Sassano—-Rojas——Magee
Goldthwaite–Cichero-Boyens—–Leitch
———————Cepero—————-
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HALFTIME- Kanji for Stammler and Sassano for Pietravallo are the subs.
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HALFTIME– Aside from Angel, Van Den Bergh and Cepero, there isn’t a sub that would shock me at halftime.
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HALFTIME– A closer look at the Fire’s third goal reveals that Rolfe was actually offside on the Fire’s third goal. Close call, but could wind up costing the Red Bulls a playoff spot.
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HALFTIME- Chicago is honoring Diego Gutierrez with a nice halftime tribute. He is one of the league’s true class acts and is retiring at the end of this season.
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HALFTIME- Fire 3, Red Bulls 1. Breakdowns by the Red Bulls defense, sharp passing by the FIre and clinical finishing by Chris Rolfe has Chicago cruising and the Red Bulls gasping for playoff air.
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45th minute– Osorio will have to put in Kandji and Richards in the second half, but that won’t help the defense, which is a mess, or central midfield, where Jorge Rojas has been invisible.
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45th minute– Blanco with a perfect pass as Rolfe times his run perfectly, leaving the Red Bulls defense in shambles. What a meltdown.
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44th minute- GOAL FIRE!!!! Rolfe gets the hat trick on an ugly play for the Red Bulls. Fire 3, Red Bulls 1.
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43rd minute– Blanco just made Goldthwaite look dizzy and Goldthwaite followed by receiving a yelloow card for stepping on Logan Pause. Now Chicago has a dangerous free kick on the ride side of the penalty area.
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39th minute– Cichero heads away a corner kick and it falls to Rolfe at the penalty arch, he hits it on the volley past a helpless Cepero.
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38th minute- GOAL FIRE!!!! And it’s Chris Rolfe with his second on a nice blast.
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37th minute– WOW. Cichero nearly headed one into his own net from close range when Cepero slips. Osorio told Cichero to specifically avoid doing that.
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35th minute– The Red Bulls are pressing with confidence now and the Fire is answering.
Wow, Pietravallo avoids a second yellow by a whisker.
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33rd minute– Van Den Bergh with a beautiful run down the left flank, shrugging off Prideaux before sending a perfect ball in. Angel beats Conde and powers the header past Busch.
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32nd minute- GOAL RED BULLS!!!!! And it’s ANGEL from Van Den Bergh. We are TIED.
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29th minute-The rain is making for some sloppy touches and unsure footing. You can bet a goal will be scored by one of these teams courtesy of the wet conditions.
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28th minute– Hate to say I saw that one coming. Who didn’t? Pietravallo with a yellow for kicking Blanco after Blanco kicked the ball in his face.
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27th minute– Not sure how Juan Pietravallo doesn’t have a yellow card yet. The referee is being very generous to him.
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22nd minute–
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22nd minute– Red Bulls with some possession in the attacking third but just can’t get a shot on goal. Better but not good enough.
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20th minute– A steady rain is coming down here at Toyota Park. The game should speed up a bit. The Fire look very confident right now.
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17th minute– The body language on the Red Bulls is not good. The back-line looks SHAKY and the midfield seems tentative.
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14th minute– Cichero is starting to look very shaky. Will this be another meltdown game?
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13th minute– The Fire with a perfect counter started by Blanco to Thorrington to Mapp, to King and finishing with a Rolfe header. A lot of blame to go around that play for the Red Bulls.
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11th minute- GOAL FIRE!!! Chris Rolfe with the finish and the Red Bulls get burned on the counterattack yet again. Fire 1, Red Bulls 0
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9th minute– The Red Bulls wanted to control possession today and that’s what they are doing early on, passing the ball well.
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6th minute– For those of you who haven’t seen it, Chicago’s Section 8, the team’s top supporter’s group,has a nice banner in honor of Juan Osorio. It says, in English and Spanish, Osorio wears a dress. Very nice.
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5th minute– Blanco tries to sell being elbowed by Cichero but the ref doesn’t buy it. Fire had a nice chance for a counterattack but Mapp lost the ball.
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3rd minute– Boyens just rolled his ankle on a divot in the grass. Not a good start for the Red Bulls
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2nd minute– Cichero got the nod tonight because Osorio believes he has had a chance to work out the problems in his game after recently playing 90 minutes in Venezuela’s World Cup qualifying win against Ecuador.
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1st minute– And we’re off.
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PRE-GAME– Having spent some time in the Fire locker room before the game I can tell you that the Fire is definitely relaxed heading into this match. They have the look of a team that isn’t interested in seeing another team clinch a playoff spot on their field.
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PRE-GAME- Let’s discuss the Red Bulls lineup. Stammler will be on the right flank in order to deal with Mapp on the wing. Mapp and Blanco are the keys to the Fire attack and Stammler will be asked to shut Mapp down. Pietravallo will be looking to contain Blanco.
The lineup Osorio is using tonight is strong in possession and will look to keep the ball away from a Fire lineup that will look to attack from the opening whistle. There is far less pressure on the Fire tonight so they should be able to play it fast and loose.
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PRE-GAME– Here are the lineups:
RED BULLS
——————Angel———————-
—————————Magee———–
———————–Rojas———————
Van Den Bergh———————-Stammler
———————-Pietravallo—————
Goldthwaite—Cichero—-Boyens—-Leitch
———————–Cepero——————
BENCH– Boss, Jimenez, Sassano, Richards, Ubiparipovic, Kandji, Wolyniec
CHICAGO FIRE
—————-McBride————————-
—————————Blanco—————
——————–Thorrington—————-
Mapp————————————-Rolfe
———————Pause———————-
Gutierrez—–Conde—-Soumare—–Prideaux
BENCH– Noble, Woolard, Banner, Pappa, Robinson, Herron, Nyarko
Please, put Stamler at Pietrovallo’s spot, and sub Kandji in on the right. Or Richards. Leitch will have to learn to make good decisions.
Gotta get Pietravallo out of there asap. How he didn’t get sent off just now is beyond me.
Pietravallo must be taken out NOW.
Wow, another mind-boggling giveaway in the middle nearly leads to a goal.
Pietrovallo wants to be sent off?
Man, even McBride dives when you put him in a Fire shirt. Blanco is a quick teacher.
Composure boys! Find it even in the cold October rain…not cepero fault, it was steven king I think, with scarey touchline endline cross on that goal. oh oh oh…see what happens when I type! JPA cabesaso!
Okay, now we get to pretend we can defend again.
*for*
Haha, where else could the service have come from? VDB to Angel, of course.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Angel from Van Den Bergh (obviously)!!! Way to bail out Ossorio.
Thank the heavens or van den Berg and Angel!!!!
Even chances that Pietrovallo gets sent off. I’m thinking BRANCO.
Yes, Blanco, we saw you go down. No need to look like a crying eight-year-old while on the ground…
Pietravallo finally with his obligatory yellow card. It finally feels like a real match (we already had the obligatory defensive meltdown).
Pietravallo…brilliant (moron).
Biggest game of the year, and we still, I don’t believe, have a single shot yet.
This team has no spirit whatsoever, which makes being a supporter painful. They don’t play together, or play for each other, or trust each other with the ball.
I think Cichero needs to come of ASAP. He looked really frightened taking that pass from Pietravallo.
Dear Red Bulls,
Do not want DCU in the playoffs. Please fix.
Thanks.
Sincerely,
WeatherManNX01
Magee making some bad, nervous decisions.
ManicMessiah: that’s just the realization that few players can actually handle passes under pressure. Once he saw Angel wasn’t in a good spot for a pass, I think he decided to just take it.
That’s the best Rojas can do with that cross when we finally have the ball in the attacking third?
Why is Angel receiving passes in spaces that should be filled with the right side midfielder? I don’t blame Stamler, but the tactics are dimwitted.
Ives, thorrington is not playing, stephen king is in.
When was Stammler’s last game on the right? Last year? Why now?
why doesn’t Ives commentate for espn or at least have a desk job instead of the two idoits they have now?
Screwed. Same old Metro.
I hope that Chris Rolfe either moves to Europe or to DC United soon…quality, good-value MLS player.
BEAUTIFUL defense there. Textbook. We’re going home and we deserve it.
All we heard from the Red Bulls all week is “we don’t care about the scenarios, if we win Thursday we are in.”
On that goal, 4 or 5 defenders JUST STOOD THERE IN THE BOX WHEN CEPERO CHARGED OUT.
WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH THEIR MINDS WHEN EVERY SINGLE DEFENDER LEFT THE NET EMPTY AND LEFT ROLFE UNMARKED?
Uneffingbelievable, inexcusable, this isn’t rec soccer for 10 year olds.
Great, now it’s going to be all long balls from the defense.
Argh. Hideous. You would think this would lead Osorio to make attacking subs, but they won’t come until the half, at which point we’ll have given up at least one more.
Great defensive work by the Red Bulls. It’s a good thing they put out a line-up to control posession and prevent counterattacks.
Is it just me, or does Goldthwaite look really nervous? He’s looking kinda shakey to me…
Otherwise, I like how attacking we’ve been so far.
SH*T!!!!!!!! Ughhhhhhh….
It’s a lot easier to watch this if you assume we already have failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Baffling lineup, but what’s new? Osorio is mistaken all the freakin’ time.
I’d suggest making a drinking game out of Blanco dives, but that’s just too easy.
And for the record, Mr. Harkes, those are the Harrisburg CITY Islanders, not the Harrisburg Islanders.
Ugh…no Kandji, Mbuta, or Richards to start? I really hope Osorio knows what he’s doing, because I can’t figure it out.
ManicMessiah: Why pretend to be surprised when everyone knows it’s not a surprise at all?
1 minute in and magee falls on his ass nice
I really don’t think Mapp needs someone designated to “deal with” him. He likes to run at people, and then he trips over his own feet before he can make a move.
I have a feeling we’ll be watching this game half an hour in and pretending to be surprised that Angel is isolated and getting no service except a couple of balls from Van Den Berg.
I do not like this Red Bulls lineup at all. Don’t like Stammler on the wing. Don’t like Magee in at all. Don’t like Angel alone. Give me Mbuta on the right wing and Kandji up top with Angel, with Richards coming in off the bench. I really have to wonder what Osorio is thinking with Mbuta not even making the bench. I guess he’s playing for a draw, which means they will lose.
Magee keeps possession really well. If thats what he wants to do it does make sense tactically…(in my opinion)
I can see the rationale behind Stammler, but I can’t see leaving out Richards. Why not Richards over Magee? Magee had his little hot streak. I’m biased though, Richards is one of my fave players.
I must say… I trust Osorio, but this isn’t the lineup I’d use. No Kandji OR Richards? Magee instead? Really? I don’t know about this…
I don’t remember Rojas and Magee playing well together, though I admit my memory might be selective. Still, from what I remember they’ve basically been trying to work in the same space and gotten in each other’s way.
And yes, I see “to deal with Mapp”. But the point of a winger isn’t to defend against the other team’s winger (though that is part of their job). We need to not just put players out to defend against Chicago, we need to put players out to give Chicago problems. See: Dane Richards.
Stammler on the wing…why?