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
Listen guys, if Stammler is hurt, Pietravallo is a sneeze away from a red card, and Carlos Mendes is in Germany, who else but Sassano will play in defensive midfield?
As a fellow Colombian lover, I still support JCO. He was handcuffed financially the 1st 6 mos., I know for a fact. He is a gem, put away the knives, let him work a miracle!
But this is an awful center midfield right now.
Sassano… even with the injury, that’s a head scratcher.
Okay, injury. My bad.
Sassano? Seriously?
I know Stammler is very flexible as stated about a million times by MLS Primetime. but really….right wing? at least put richards there. nothing has happened on that right wing and van den burgh is really the only player im enjoying watching.
JCO is crap. The moment I saw the line up i knew this game was going to be lost. I don’t know how he expects to have a second half turnaround. I wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls his usual shenanigans of coming out with the same starting line up and then trying to play catch up in the last twenty minutes.
Same ol, same ol NY
MNF teaser for my Titans, who at least can play defense! If Tennessee were 2-4 I’d feel a lot worse right now.
Knock Rojas all you want, but it doesn’t help the matter when the NY defense just blasts the ball up the field to on coming Fire players. How is you attacking midfielder going to start your attack when the ball is already being played back by the opponents defense?
Brad, we got we had coming to us for all the complaining we did. Little Things Reyna is clearly an upgrade over P’vallo
Rolfe’s a very good player, no joke. And full credit to Chicago, who are playing a fantastic game.
But Osorio’s tactics and personnel make it a lot easier to control a game.
One blessing: after tonight, I’ll never have to watch the Olsen advertising dicks again.
Hey Tim F., Magee IS playing instead of Kandji..Mistake #1
It is pretty clear that tonight the Red Bulls have holes at:
Center Back
Left Back
Right Back
Center Back
Right Mid
Defensive Mid
Central Mid
Second Striker
Other than that, we are solid throughout the line-up. What an absolute joke line up this is. Talk about playing scared. Punks.
Why didn’t Richards start? Why was Kandji playing instead of Magee? Why isn’t Mbuta on the bench? What is the team dooooing falling behind 3-1???
Not to beat a dead Pietravallo, but who here wouldn’t give back cichero, rojas & horseface for reyna?
Got to feel bad for Angel and VDB as they are the only class players on this club. Blame lies with Osorio on this one. His 3 guys Rojas, Pietrovallo, and Chicero all look terrible and have contributed to the halftime deficit. Let’s hope they are pulled for the second half and we can engineer a comeback.
If Osorio doesn’t sub Pietravallo out he will be gone on his next hard foul.
I didn’t really expect the Fire to come up with 3 in the first half. Rolfe has really delivered; he’s no Chad Barrett in his finishing. As far as the problems that RBNY is having… ah, I don’t know.
Why didn’t Osorio play the same lineup as against Columbus last week? This blows my mind.
Huge mistakes by Osorio:
– No Dane RIchards. Gave up the entire right attack.
– Cichero instead of Jimenez. Doesn’t put in the back 4 who have actually done the best
– Pietravallo instead of having Mac up top
Angel is destined to be isolated in a sea of red because he’s the only striker up top, and our midfield (with the exception of DVB) can’t really seem to do anything with the ball. It’s almost like a game of hot potato…everyone just wants to get rid of the ball as soon as they can.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m completely shocked that this line-up worked out the way it did, particularly about how little was done on offense with Angel being isolated with only a few decent crosses.
That was one of the worst performances of the season. Shouldn’t Osorio be able to motivate his team?
as a fellow Colombian i really want to believe in Osorio but this season has been such a rollercoaster ride and the player he have brought in have been so erratic that even I find it hard to support this guy
I’m sorry, giving up a hat trick to chris Rolfe in the first half? That’s gotta be demoralizing. You dare the secondary players to beat you, and it looks like Rolfe is answering the call. Sometimes it’s just not your night…plus, asking for cards on a dive? Blanco is in their heads. This one is over.
We really, really don’t deserve to make the playoffs. DC at least has the excuse of injuries.
While this game is the most painful thing I’ve been through all week, I have to agree with ManicMessiah that we don’t need ANOTHER coaching change.
Danny needs to tell his mom to do a little better job scouting the opposition.
Manicmessiah, I would agree with you under most circumstances.
But Osorio had a lot of time to remake the team, failed to do it effectively, then put out an endless series of pathetic, confused lineups.
He can’t recruit players, and his tactics are inept. I think he has to go. This is a major failure, and I do not see that Osorio has ever learned a thing from past mistakes.
I knew that mofo would get a hattrick tonight!!
Is it me or is our season-long strategy of giving up as many goals as possible right before halftime not quite working out?
I was planning to write more sarcasm, but the Red Bulls don’t even deserve me putting in the effort. If they lose this game, (even though I’ll root for them to get in) I almost hope they miss the playoffs.
Wow great defense by Mike Magee on wolfs shot. Can he be any slower. Why not richards. The defense sucks and wow here goes another one. It will be a 10-1 win for the Fire how shameful for the Red Bull. They suck and do not deserve to be in the playoffs. The defense is too slow.
This team quit on so many games, and once again, it comes down to delivering an uncharacteristic performance, which the team fails to do.
Rolfe hattrick! Total failure for Osorio’s gameplan. He should be fired.
Props to the Fire fans for being so loud, you guys need to learn another chant though. It’s like listening to U-S-A, U-S-A for 90 minutes every time the national team plays. Show some originality.
I still don’t think JCO should be fired even if he misses the playoffs just because we don’t need another year with a new coach. But that’s about the only reason at this moment.
I don’t know if Pietravallo and Cichero understand that the Red Bulls aren’t in red. Perhaps JCO should’ve cleared that up before the game.
WORLD CLASS goal by Rolfe. Beautiful control, lightning trigger, perfect placement. A+++
fresh uniforms at the half, fresh new start…people come back and win all the time…do it.
Probably worked out how to make lunch…
Pietrovallo is really an awful player.
that was world class from Rolfe, wonder how big the goal looks to him right now?
Osorio failed to build the roster. He wasted the entire off-season, then half this season, then brought in crap players.
Generally, I think coaches ought to be given time to implement their system, but he has proven himself incapable of identifying quality players.
Osorio: failure.
What exactly was it that Osorio said that Cichero had worked out while on national team duty?
The only time this team looks good defending is when the ball is 80 yards down the pitch from their own goal.
Needless corner kick. Cichero makes a pitiful clearance to the top of the box. Goal.
MY TEAM IS CRAP.
Wow.
Holy crap…and Cichero is awful. How can we hope to win this game with him and Pietravallo in there?
Holy…crap…
Cichero and Pietravallo off!