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New York Red Bulls at Chicago Fire: Match Night Commentary

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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

Comments

  1. You do know that Thorrington wasn’t playing or on the bench last night, because I think you credited him with a key pass in the build up.

    Reply
  2. That’s 11-3 GD on the year boys.

    Oh and kpugs, while you were bitching about only hearing “one” song from S8 tonight? We were singing CHRIS ROLLLLFE IS GETTING LAID TO NIGHT

    Reply
  3. lol mike k… I had the opposite, was riding a Del Piero high, then crash and burn… you will watch again, its in your blood…as a Gator fan I know that suffering!

    Reply
  4. Great great game. Rolfe was outstanding, as was the whole team really. I absolutely love to see poetic justice like this (obviously when it goes my way). It’s so hilarious to see all you red bull fans complaining about JCO’s tactics and lineups. Us Fire fans can relate, believe me.

    Reply
  5. By the way: In the past 3 days, the teams I pull for have lost by a combined score of 8-2.

    Celtic have an excuse.

    Red Bull do not.

    I’m going to go be sick and consider never watching soccer again. Have a good night, everyone.

    Reply
  6. It takes more than 1 offseason. Look at the Crew, it took them how long to get a supporters shield with their coach?

    Is this all JCO’s fault? Not entirely. Gabe can be a good player, I think. His first game, we all hailed him as a great player. But he just doesn’t have the smarts. We’ll let him go back to Venezuela. We should, at least.

    Pietr never looked comfortable here. He’s too much of a liability. I think he can be okay, if someone can calm him down and teach him to not get booked every match.

    Rojas didn’t work out. It seems like he came here, and he just didn’t care. He never showed emotion, at least that I saw.

    We’ve still got Dane and Kandji. Mbuta has promise. I think we’ll be okay, if we can just develop some defenders, or find some, somewhere.

    Reply
  7. Tonight was the best and worst night of my life. I had to degrade myself to rooting for Shitcago so DC United could get into the playoffs. I found myself cheering for Blanco, and Mapp, and Rolfe, and basically everyone except Prideaux (ever since the 2-1 United win at Chicago, I have hated this guy. A lot. Plays like a bitch, acts like a bitch). However, it was awesome because the Pink Cows were annihilated! Almost as much fun as the Barcelona game. THAT was quality entertainment.

    Also, there were a lot more than 13,000 people there. I do not believe that statistic. It looked very crowded, and the Fire fans were loud throughout the match, and not just Section 8. Kudos to Chicago in that regard; if some Eurosnob who constantly puts down the passion of American fans was going to watch an MLS game, I would want him to go to Toyota Park because it is a beautiful facility and the Fire have great fans.

    Reply
  8. So while you guys are all *off with his head* on JCO can I steal JPA too? lol! This is the home of Viva Colombia… and maybe Cepero, tough on him, hero to zero, not his fault.

    Reply
  9. Martha: I agree, I’m happy for Kandji. He was really trying hard, even though the rest of the team had seemingly given up. He’s still young and holds great promise for us…I’m just sorry that he didn’t get a great reception, especially from his own teammates.

    Reply
  10. Kandji has yet to blow me away to be honest. Some ball skills and speed? Yes. But Evans Wise could throw a step-over or two, too, and any number of MLS wings have got a little speed. He’s not really a game-changer yet, though that probably has something to do with how mindless this side’s attack is. The potential to be a top MLS player? It’s a little hard to say at this point. There are flashes and he is young.

    I mean, I’d move to sign him too. I’m certain he’d be a much more well-rounded and dangerous player after a season or two of consistent action with a consistent team around him.

    In that case, he might be better off staying far, far away from a JCO-coached team.

    Reply
  11. Embarassing. What an embarassment it is to be a RedBulls fan.

    1. The team, in the most important game of the season, was repeatedly beaten to 50-50 balls and played like this match didn’t matter.

    2. JCO made some terrible tactical decisions tonight. He has a tendency to outthink himself and he did it tonight.

    3. I also totally agree with Haig. JCO had a full off-season. Yet he didn’t assemble a credible team. Then for over half the season, this club fielded a poor excuse for a side. It’s not just about wins and losses, you have to field like your team is doing the best job they can to put a good team on the field. About the best you can say about Osorio on this is that he felt he’d get the players he wanted come August.

    4. And so we got…..Rojas (who shows some worth but definitely not tonight)…Cichero (a disaster)…Pietravallo….Boyens. What an indictment on Osorio. A world full of soccer players, he decides that what he has available to him in preseason and during the first 2/3rds of the season isn’t good enough. No, he’s willing to wait so he can sign Cichero or Pietravallo.

    And as good as Chicago looked tonight, let us not fool ourselves. They aren’t a good team at Bridgeport and have a terrible home record. And they’ve been playing a bad run of soccer lately. And they didn’t have much to play for this match, except maybe professional pride. Something the RedBulls evidently don’t have.

    Reply
  12. I guess Rolfe gets the extra orange in his stocking this year from Hauptmann, or whatever little tidbit he was using to motivate the squad. Couldn’t go to a nicer guy.

    Reply
  13. why, why did he change the lineup so drastically after something that seemed to work so well last week. I just dont get it. why not go after the win right away why so defensive in the first half. just unbelievable and disheartening.

    Reply
  14. I would love to know what Ossorio was thinking when he put that starting XI on the field. Unless he has a really compelling reason then I think Ossorio should take a big hit for this match.

    Reply
  15. At least we closed up the deficit against DC, right? IF we make it in and IF Osorio still refuses to start Kandji, then I think I will fully join the “JCO needs to be fired” group.

    Reply
  16. wow…no stoppage time? after all those goals? hmm… oh well. good game…or not…..look at osorio just walk off the field…..HAH!

    Reply
  17. Yeah, signed by Osorio. A very good signing, which almost didn’t happen thanks to league imbecility.

    I really, really hope we keep Kandji. He’s only on loan.

    Reply
  18. It’s a good thing the stadium isn’t opening up right away next year. This would be a heck of a way to end a season moving into a new building.

    Reply
  19. Ive defended Osorio all year, but enough is enough. When your aim is to have your squad sit on their heels and defend for 90 minutes, you just don’t have any cojones . This guy has so guts . It doesnt matter if you lose by 1 goal or 18, it’s still the same three points. Be a man and go all in !Rojas, Pietra, Cichero, should never wear that jersey ever again.

    Reply
  20. okay, anywho we will take JCO in Miami 2010 and maybe JPA with Ronaldinho…that will make up for this horrible lack of service year he suffered.

    Reply
  21. If JPA leaves the RB should dissolve their

    team because they will never score a goal again. They should open the bank for JPA and start over.

    About the coaches we have had several coaches here in NY its not only the coaches IT IS THE PLAYERS. No coach can win with the present team.

    JPA and Dave Van. are the only players on the team. Our defensive is horrible and our goalie sucks even though he is a backup

    Conway sucks as well.

    The offense needs more than JPA and the midfield SUCKS. Stammler is defensive with no offensive skills and the rest of the team has no coordination.

    It is not the coach look at Chicago.

    WOlfe, McBride, big time players with Blanco feeding them wow. We cannot match this type of team. with the crap players we have. NY is a high school team. Look at Soumare and Conde they are real professionals and sad to say for NY the defense watches the ball and the goalie and defense have no communication.

    This is hard to swallow but look at the team Goldy sucks, boyens sucks, and magee and stammler are too slow.

    I predicted 10-1 so not bad 5-1.

    No more answers for this team.

    Reply
  22. At this point, Cepero might as well give up a goal to Cuah, just so his mom has something to be happy about.

    On that note, I do feel bad for Cepero. He probably deserves better than to be stuck in this shooting gallery. He’s had so little chance on most of these goals. Conway, who comes across as something of a prick? Not so much.

    Reply
  23. My man of the match is Chris Rolfe. He was involved in every single goal tonight did the dirty work and has been great all around. Anyone else feeling a call up to the Nats for him?

    Reply

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