Photo by ISIphotos.com
The Chicago Fire stepped onto the field at Toyota Park Thursday night and did to the rival Red Bulls what Ari Gold did to Adam Davies a few weeks ago.
I’d quote the line from Entourage, but this is a PG posting.
As far as the beating the Fire put on New York, that was straight street. Chris Rolfe scored a hat trick in the first half and he set up two more second-half goals. The Red Bulls needed a win to clinch a postseason berth. A tie? That would have gone a long way toward qualification.
But New York instead got trounced, losing 5-2 to the Fire in its regular-season finale. The Red Bulls now fly back home unsure if they played their last game of the season. The fate they controlled is now out of their hands and the Red Bulls become huge Columbus Crew fans.
A D.C. United win at Crew Stadium on Sunday means New York would miss the playoffs completely. A tie or loss by United means the Red Bulls would earn the final wild card berth and play the two-time defending MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference Semifinal Series.
Where did it all go wrong? Let’s start with Osorio’s lineup selection.
On Tuesday, the Red Bulls’ coach told reporters that three players waked into his office to plead their case because they weren’t included in Osorio’s starting XI. Well, Osorio’s three prized midseason signings — Gabriel Cichero, Juan Pietravallo and Jorge Rojas — were brutal.
Cichero picked up where he left off against Columbus and Toronto FC and had another howler defensively. There were at least three goals that could be directly attributed to the Venezuelan. With Jeff Parke suspended and Carlos Mendes having sports hernia surgery, the only other option centrally was Diego Jimenez.
"Diego wasn’t feeling 100 percent and I wanted to put the strongest team on the field and decided it was a chance for Gabriel (Cichero) to come back into the starting lineup," Osorio said.
Pietravallo was brought in for his bite in the defensive midfield, but he late to every challenge and was lucky not be sent off. Rojas was invisible as the attacking midfielder and was never a factor.
The Red Bulls were left exposed on a Chicago counter and Rolfe finished for his first goal of the night in the 11th minute. New York came back as Dave van den Bergh fed Juan Pablo Angel, who headed home the equalizer in the 32nd minute.
But Rolfe added two more goals in a six-minute span late in the first half and the Fire went into the locker room with a comfortable 3-1 lead.
"Early on I think we had the right game plan but once we got that one put in against us I think plans changed a little bit and we didn’t handle situations properly," Kevin Goldthwaite said.
Rolfe then turned provider, setting up Brian McBride and Daniel Woolard to give the Fire a 5-1 lead with a quarter-hour left before Mac Kandji, who came off the bench at the half, scored his first MLS goal two minutes from full time.
"Up front I thought Mike Magee worked, in the past, quite well with Juan," Osorio said. "It wasn’t the case today. Sometimes you make decisions like that and sometimes it works for you and sometimes it doesn’t and today it didn’t work out."
Now the Red Bulls, which won just one of their final six regular-season games, are left to wait and hope a Columbus team with nothing to play for to beat or tie a D.C. United side that has been given a life preserver.
"We have the firepower to make a run in the playoffs, we just have to lock a couple of things up and definitely make a run in the playoffs," Goldthwaite said. "We just have make it first."
We won the supporters shield and had 15,000 fan average of a diverse, unique background passionately driving an hour to 3 hrs. one way attending weekly after only 4 years…that is not an failure. MLS failed us with their premature knee jerk reaction to 9.11 economic fall out. I still feel there should be some dignity and not harp on the wife. Just a matter of decorum.
Sorry poser Martha 🙂
It was let known that his wife was the MAIN reason Osorio left Chicago. Leave Chicago or I leave you…
So she is fair game since she put herself in that situation. The kids did nothing so I wont go there.
Stealing coaches are the American way as is revenge and paybacks.
I dont want JCO and Angel to go to Miami. By the time Miami gets one Angel will be near 40 and JCO will still suck. And another Miami soccer failure will not be good for the league.
We would love to have JCO here in Miami 2010. He and JPA would be a great fit! p.s. Stealing coaches and players is the American way, lol.
Again that martha is not this martha. Also Again… say what you want about JCO, but please leave his wife out of it, as its really disgraceful to drag her into these blogs. He is free game, but women and children should be left out of it. I still stand behind him, and he put forth what he thought was right at the time, lineup and choosing the new dudes, etc. I figure theres me, his immediate family, a few Colombian friends, dont know if he has a cat or a dog…and well…thats about it, lol!
Kanji is a stud only an idiot wouldnt start him.
Paybacks are a b!tch.
Seriously thats why you shouldnt go stealing other peoples coaches when there are plenty out there.
without a motivated Fire NY might have not lost those three games to them. thats 8 losses instead of 11 and a whopping 9 POINTS in the standings attributed directly to the Fire.
Thankfullty for the Fire Osorios wife wears the pants in the family or we might have been starting Wanchope Rojas Petruvullo and Chicaron in the Fire 11.
Enough with the Arena talk, he suckedthen and now. In the past. What’s Oso’s problem? IS the freakin blind? Cichero and Magee SUCK. Are you kidding me? That starting lineup was HORRIBLE. KHandji needs to play 90 minutes. Stammler does NOT belong in the front. VDB and Angel alone will not win you games. OSorio abre los ojos bruto, que te pasa, no joda!!??
Unbelievable. That defense made the Fire look like an EPL team. To be honest with you, the ONLY reason I want them to go to the playoffs is selfishness. I want to watch the Bulls play again. I must be a glutton for punishment.
All that remains now is for Rolfe to contact me for that case of homebrewed Xmas ale I promised to the GWG scorer. Chris, it’s all yours and a well-deserved treat, should you choose to accept it. Congratulations and keep up the good work!
As a neutral observer, I was very much unimpressed with NYRB last night. Except for Angel and maybe Vandenbergh, they didn’t even look like they wanted to win. I felt sorry for Angel — he looked like the prototypical lone striker starved for service. That guy Pietravollo is shocking — can’t believe he wasn’t sent off in the first half on the slide tackle from behind. For Chicago, Rolfe was class, especially that second goal. A full volley with the quickness — not an easy shot at all. Almost hate to say it, but what a pleasure to watch Blanco. I used to really dislike the guy, but he is fantastic on the ball and with his one-touch passing and backheels. Good to see McBride get a goal. Fun game to watch.
I don’t think the coach should be fired after one season. Unless the coach is shown to be completely incompetant, give him a reasonable amount of time to build a team.
With that said, it’s amazing to me how badly things have gone for the Red Bulls over the past 6-7 weeks. When Rojas, Pietro and Cichero arrived they played pretty well, and now all three are simply atrocious. I hope we make the playoffs so we get two more games to see if these guys are worth keeping around or if JCO or whomever needs to blow up the team. Again.
Both Agoos and Osorio should be sacked. They had a year and a half to build a team. They just don’t know what they’re doing on and off the field.
I don’t hate to say it at all: I told you so.
How rich it is to see Osorio, who knows no shame, try to shame his players. He didn’t want to talk about his shady personal dealings in public, but now he trashes his team for all to hear.
Here is a guy who is out only for himself … Now he is dismayed that players are lining up at his office to lobby for a place in the first XI?! No, I’m not shocked that the NYRB team is not a team at all under such “leadership.”
And I am not shocked that he is making erratic decisions, much as he did in the Wanchope case.
But I am surprised at how bad his recruiting has been. The players that he brought to NYRB from Latin America are so bad.
If DC United wins this weekend, maybe JCO will go the way of Octavio Zambrano and move to Moldova. (I wonder if his wife has any relatives there). Compare the records of Zambrano and Osorio, and you will see that Osorio does not fare well by comparison.
The nonsense that O’sorry’o decided upon last night was some of the crap Fire fans had to put up with last year. Starting a dilapitaded Wanchope in the semi-final game last year proved how lousy of a coach he is. NYRB fans should hope 0s0ri0 is sent back to Bogata.
IIRC Osorryho said basically the same thing (“blah blah blah ashamed”) after the 5-1 game at NJRB in May? At least he’s consistent in his statements!
Has Dane Richards been injured? (Haven’t watched a lot of soccer in the last few weeks.) I would think with his speed on the flanks he would be a perfect bookend to van den Bergh feeding crosses into the center for JPA to finish off. I was wondering why he wasn’t in the starting lineup.
Sure, Richards is raw, but I like watching him play. He goes hard every minute he’s in, and there’s really no good answer to speed.
could also have been DCU and Hou, with Hou winning it…. but thats another option i dont want
lets just leave it at the fire take the Cup…
no, i was merely convaying every possibility 😛
hence this: “saying that i really dont want Hou to win another cup, SOOOOOOOOO that just leaves the fire to WIN THE CUP!!!!”
@brett: i take it your confident it’ll be Columbus vs. Houston if not the Fire? haha…
Thanks Brett, now I understand the value of third-place in MLS regular season.
Iain Dowie is available again. He is cool with getting fired after a few games. Red Bulls could bring him in to start next season and dump him in about 10 games.
At cuzco: Both MLS Cup participants make it to CCL. Chivas USA only got in this year because D.C. made it to the final and won the Supporters’ shield (so the next best in the reg. season got in).
So, with the Fire clinching third overall, they’d get in if they make it to the Cup Final (obviously), or if the Cup Final is between Columbus and Houston (since Columbus already has a spot and Houston would be next in line- but would also already have a spot due to making the Final). Thus leaving the Fire. 😉
The Fire were also playing to host the second leg of the first round- which is prob a good thing seeing as they’ve dropped out of the playoffs in N.E. the past two years.
cuzco03 – this is how it would go assuming the fire dont win the MLS cup:D
DC- USOC
CLB- SS
HOU- MLS cup
CHI- 3rd place
already seeing as CLB and Hou (2 teams above chicago) are in the CL, chicago would be given the spot 😀
saying that i really dont want Hou to win another cup, SOOOOOOOOO that just leaves the fire to WIN THE CUP!!!!