Welcome live to Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, Trinidad where the New York Red Bulls hope to salvage something from their miserable season tonight in the opening leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round against Caribbean champions W Connection.
Will a change of venue bring about a change of fortunate for the Red Bulls, who have gone 24 consecutive games without a win in Major League Soccer?
According to CONCACAF rules, I will be able to live blog from here, but feel free to do your own live commentary of the match.
To start you off, here is tonight’s Red Bulls starting lineups:
Danny Cepero; Alberto Pacheco, Kevin Goldthwaite, Mike Petke, Jeremy Hall; Ernst Obster, Albert Celades, Seth Stammler, Jorge Rojas, Dane Richards; Juan Pablo Angel
Not that the CL broadcasts will be as drab as this one – but FSC in general does a less than decent broadcast no matter the match…please don’t tell me Max Bretos and Sullivan will be calling Champs. League matches? At the very least I hope Fox is just bought the rights to broadcast the Euro feed or something.
Good for the RedBulls for tying it up, but I am simply amazed at the amount of giveaways they are racking up under little to no pressure. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it for a professional team. Lets hope they can get another goal or two.
I was amazed that a shot hit with so little pace could take a deflection and still go in. Maybe one of the slowest shots I’ve ever seen.
GOOOOOL RedBulls!!!! 1-1 Obster ties it!!
Tie
1:1! Good for RB. Decent one-time finish (though horrible defending). Given the level of defense of the opposition, RB should score at least 1-2 more of these.
GOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL!
Cheap as hell, but I’ll take it.
Richards made a stupid pass, again, but it somehow worked out with a deflection from the defender.
1-1
Yay, the red bulls tie it up!
Obster scores
I’m not ready to make fun of the sparse T&T crowd until I see how many folks show up at the Meadowlands next Wednesday. I don’t think we’ll have more than 7,500 people.
Tickets for tonight’s match, BTW, were US$6.50 and US$10.
The players should stage a coup a la “Varsity Blues” and have Woly manage the game from the sidelines.
Thunderstorms here at home tonight…hoping for some rain fade so I do not have to watch anymore. How does JCO keep his job?
elee: You’re right that Angel’s not getting service. That would require Angel to actually work to get into quality positions. Part of it may be the formation, but Angel’s been dire in the run of play.
This has got to be the worst midfield of all time. My high school team could pass better than this. Are they even trying to keep possession?
I’m watching this game on Galavision and the announcers said the W stands for a radio station that sponsered them since they were an amatuer team.
Andrew, that’s the thing, Angel CAN play with the ball at his feet. He’s just not getting quality service in positions where he can do anything.
HALFTIME- W Connection 1, Red Bulls 0. A horrible first half for New York. W Connection didn’t look much better, but did get an assist from Angel on their goal.
What can Osorio do at halftime? Nick Zimmerman needs to get in this match. Dane Richards needs to be sold to W Connection for a steel drum.
The ref in this match is seemingly giving a yellow card for any foul so NY needs to think about the second leg and not drawing any red cards.
Oh the cruel fates that conspired to land the NYRB in the CCL to represent the MLS! Does anyone think JCO will resign at some point?
I’ve been looking forward to this match ever since NYRB won the Western final last year. And even though I’ve seen most of their games this year, I’m still amazed how HORRIBLE the Bulls look against W Connection.
As Gene_SF notes, they can’t put 2-3 passes together, despite having better speed, skill and plenty of space. They can still do something in the 2nd half, but they are proving their MLS record is no fluke.
Fire JCO at halftime!
somebody please put a bullet in my head. 0-1 at halftime to a team that brings less than 2k fans to a game in TRINIDAD?
What an incredible display of ineptitude by both teams.
Two questions: Why the 4-5-1 by NY? Clearly they are the stronger team and WCONN would bend under basic pressure.
Why start JPA? He’s touched the ball two times, both in the air. At least bring in a striker who can play with the ball at his feet.
What happened to basic ball skills? NY’s first touch is dreadful.
These red bulls look disgusting. Its not a team, its a collection of players tonight. None of them are on the same page, they defend horribly, and even worse, when they have the ball they dont make good runs off the ball to create space or passing lanes for the guy with the ball…i think my high school team could beat them right about now.
Angel header right at keeper.
Ain’t that just how it goes?
Why can ESPN do a GameCast but SBI cannot do a live blog?
One way or another NY redbulls will loose a game. Jezz! Who would think Angel would basically score an own goal!!!
44th- Angel header right at the keeper. Richards with the cross in but Angel can’t get enough on it. First decent chance for NY.
Angel is not having a good season and it just got worse by what looks to be an own goal. But beyond that, who in the world put this team together???? They cannot string 2-3 intelligent passes together in the offensive half. Angel is not getting decent passes from the midfield. Rojas and Celades are routinely giving the ball away. Richards has good speed, but can rarely do something useful with it.
Angel scores!!!! …. Basically an own goal.
Does that just summarize the red bulls season or what?
Red bulls down 1-0
Wow… the Red Bulls somehow make W Connection look decent.
40th minute- GOAL W Connection, comes off a corner kick. Terrible clearance by Juan Pablo Angel who tries to head it away and heads it into the net. And there’s actually a crowd at this game.
An own goal…..maybe??? shabby defending 🙁
Autogol… oh, Red Bulls
It should also be noted that the referee, a Jamaican referee, is officiating his first international match. Hasn’t been terrible, but some calls have looked iffy early.
Wow. Obstet looks like he’s in high school
Kahlva, Dylan Butler is in Trinidad. I’m on vacation, currently in the Caribbean (not Trinidad) and watching on ESPN Deportes.
Early observations:
Game is flat, crowd is extremely small.
Petke nearly puts the team in an early hole with an awful pass that’s intercepted, but an offside call saves him.
Some shots from distance have come close for NY, but no real effective passing sequences.
Obster looks mobile, Richards doesn’t look so sharp. Celades has had some moments, while Rojas has had some as well. Blah first 30 minutes.
W Connection doesn’t look too dangerous at this point.
I’ll suggest a drinking game. Pacheco long ball – drink.
Yeesh.
Let’s go, NY… make MLS look good for once.
Awful camera work. Boring commentary.
Ives so you’re not allowed to live blog??
Is Dane Richards the most annoying player in soccer history?
What an amazing crowd….
ok i understand that jozy has alot to do with the USMNT but he didnt play really any club time. why not loan him back to the redbulls? just thinking of ne way to keep richards out of the game.
It’d be pretty awesome if the Red Bulls finished the MLS season with the worst record but somehow managed to win the Champions League.
Sounds like the stadium is absolutely dead…
does anyone have the starting 11 i just tuned in
Does the “W” stand for something?
http://www.justin.tv/alv11172/old
Game Link
Eddie johnson on the bench for Uefa… that’s good
Here are a complete list of viewing links
http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=44672&part=sports
In Spanish:
http://www.justin.tv/deportesgalveztv/popout
Hi,
I’m on vacation and the hotel I’m at doesn’t get FSC. Does anyone have a link to the game?
Thanks
4-5-1 or is Dane theoretically playing striker?
Ugh, I just don’t think we can do this.