The New York Red Bulls and Kansas City Wizards are out of the playoff race, but players for both teams are still battling for the professional futures as they look to impress in this Eastern Conference tilt at Giants Stadium tonight.
The Red Bulls will try to win a third straight match since Richie Williams took over as interim head coach for Juan Carlos Osorio, while fellow New Jersey native Peter Vermes tries to win his second straight as interim head coach of the Wizards, who he took over for Curt Onalfo.
I will be providing commentary throughout the night so please feel free to follow the match here As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump).
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FINAL- Wizards 1, Red Bulls 0. Carlos Johnson got a red card after the final whistle. Not sure what that was for. Just saw the replay. Don't see how he winds up with a red card there.
This is the Wizards first win in Giants Stadium since April of 2000.
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91st minute– KC is close to wrapping this one up as the Red Bulls put a hammer lock on the No. 2 pick in the 2010 MLS Draft (Expansion Philadelphia gets the first pick).
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90th minute– SAVE HARTMAN!!! Stops a near-post shot from Johnson. What a save by the veteran.
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90th minute– Red Bulls with a corner kick.
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86th minute– Mbuta appeals for a penalty, but wasn't getting that call.
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84th minute– No late magic from Wolyniec tonight. Does any other REd Bull have it in them to tie this game and keep Richie Williams record (this year) undefeated?
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81st minute– Tonight's attendance is 10,234. Nowhere near that many are here, but I'm a bit surprised there are even this many fans (and by this many I'd say 5,000).
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79th minute– Matt Mbuta comes in for John Wolyniec.
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74th minute– Here's a good stat. The Wizards hasn't won at Giants Stadium since April of 2000.
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71st minute– You know what this game needed? A few drinking games. I missed the boat tonight in that regard. You can blame me.
My money is on a late Wolyniec equalizer.
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66th minute– SAVE LEATHERS. Rojas with a nice side volley that Leathers clears away.
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64th minute– Nick Zimmerman is in for Ernst Oebster. Zimmerman has fallen off the depth chart after having a very good early to middle part of the season.
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61st minute– Michael Harrington has settled back in as a starting left back for KC. Seems like not too long ago when he was a fringe name in the U.S. left back conversation.
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58th minute– SAVE COUNDOUL!! Does well to get big as Hirsig comes bearing in on goal.
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57th minute– Here's a question. If you took the Red Bulls and Wizards and combined them into one team, would they make the MLS playoffs? I'm not sure it would be a lock.
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54th minute– Stammler misses wide. Not a bad look.
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52nd minute– Nice ball from Rojas to spring Wolyniec but it's a bit too fast.
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50th minute– Rojas with a shot, forcing a save from Hartman.
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47th minute– We're back. No subs and Jonathan Leathers gets an early yellow.
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HALFTIME– If any of you are still following along let me know. I'm thinking about going into the stands for the second half if there aren't many following tonight.
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HALFTIME– KC out-shot New York 9-5, with both teams putting three shots on goal. Not sure
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HALFTIME– The Red Bulls miss Angel, but probably miss Albert Celades just as much. His presence in the middle and patience and skill on the ball brings some composure that is missing from the Red Bulls midfield right now.
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HALFTIME– Wizards 1, Red Bulls 0. A thoroughly lackluster 45 minutes of soccer.
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45th minute– Red Bulls lucky to be trailing by just a goal heading in.
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41st minute– Kandji with a hard shot forcing a tough save. Great run by Kandji off the Hirsig turnover.
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38th minute- Here's an interesting factoid, unless someone can prove otherwise, this may be the first time in MLS history that two New Jersey natives coach against each other. Richie Williams and Peter Vermes are both Jersey-born.
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34th minute– Not much rhythm to this game as the Red Bulls chase and KC looks patient with its one-goal lead.
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25th minute– KC is determined to try and hit the Red Bulls on the counter any chance they get. Can the Red Bulls midfield avoid sloppy turnovers? Rojas and Oebster seem extra vulnerable tonight.
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23rd minute- Oebster with a goal disallowed for offside.
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21st minute– The Red Bulls offense is sorely missing Angel's presence as the focal point of the attack. There's no real direction from this group.
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17th minute– WOLFF WIDE!! KC just picked the Red Bulls defense apart with one sharp pass from Gomez. This could get ugly.
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13th minute– A bit of a high cross from Rojas. He must have thought Peter Crouch was playing.
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12th minute– Rojas was the one who lost the footrace with the not-so-fast Claudio Lopez. Oebster had the first miscue on that sequence so the blame is more the midfield's than the Red Bulls back-line.
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10th minute- GOAL KC. And it's Josh Wolff finishing the rebound off a Lopez shot. KC 1, Red Bulls 0.
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9th minute– The Red Bulls are starting Andrew Boyens and Leo Krupnick, which may qualify as the slowest centerback tandem in the history of soccer. Expect some chances for KC.
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7th minute– Kandji looking dangerous early. Red Bulls will need to generate some offense minus Angel. It looks as though Kandji is up for the challenge.
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6th minute– We're off and it is still scoreless. Apologies for the late start.
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PRE-GAME- Here is the W
izards' lineup:
————–Arnaud———-Wolff—————-
Lopez—————————————-Gomez
—————–Hirsig—-Jewsbury—————-
Harrington—-Hohlbein—Conrad——-Leathers
———————–Hartman———————-
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PRE-GAME– Here is the Red Bulls lineup tonight:
————–Kandji———–Wolyniec——————–
————————–Rojas——————————–
Obster———————————————–Richards
————————–Stammler—————————
Borman——–Krupnick———–Boyens———-Johnson
————————–Coundoul—————————
BENCH– Danny Cepero, Walter Garcia, Mike Petke, Nick Zimmerman, Jeremy Hall,Matt Mbuta, Luke Sassano
Juan Pablo Angel, Albert Celades and Kevin Goldthwaite are all sidelined with injuries.
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Also, Wolyniac could have so many scoring opportunities if he had any pace at all but there are so many good balls played to him that he just can’t catch up to. Could have been a much different night if Angel was healthy.
Watched on MSG. Thought the Red Bulls looked good beside the one huge gaffe. Where was everyone on the follow up? They has a similar thing happen Toronto where Cepero made an amazing save but no one was back to clear the rebound. Bad play by Rojas but total lack of hustle for the rest of the team.
Besides that they looked dangerous all night. Mbuta should have gotten a penatly from the Conrad take down. He had his jersey, it was deliberate, he was beaten, no question. Jewsbury should have been sent off and I have no idea what the red for Johnson was for but it seemed like KC was go after him for something…
Well Ives, Geiger let Jewsbury’s dangerous, reckless studs up foul on Zimmerman go without as much as a warning. That should have been a straight red. There also a lot of deliberate handballs on both sides that didn’t get called.
(Clarification: When I say Lopez was in an offside position, I’m not speaking of the whole sequence; I’m speaking of Wolff’s shot. If Wolff had instead passed to Lopez (which would have been incredibly stupid), Lopez would have been way offide.)
Mark GEIGER did a HORRIBLEEE job in this match… def not one of the or even close to being one of the best ref.’s in the MLS .. and IF he was just shoot me in the face plz cuz MLS just got that much worse
(SBI-Where were all these calls he missed? The red card on Johnson was tough to understand after the match but I’m not sure how he did a horrible job.)
Here’s a question: While everyone is blaming Rojas for the goal, what on earth was Borman doing on that play? Instead of moving to give Rojas someone to pass to, he closed on Rojas as if he were defending him. And he wound up getting in the way. Rojas’s two errors: He should have sent the ball wide, not toward goal, and after the first shot, he should have gone to the goal line instead of guarding Lopez, who was offside anyway. But Borman’s horrible, horrible positioning really botched up that sequence and created the errors.
I thought Mbuta was fouled in the 86th minute. What a bad “non call.”
Anon: That doesn’t make him an a******, that makes him a good reporter. Also, “your” not a very good writer. Ives didn’t speculate about anything, nor did he write about anyone accusing Hyndman of anything.
The Red Bulls are a walking example of why we need relegation.
Anyone want to take odds on Red Bull vs. Timbers? (and that coming from a Sounders supporter)
Just got back from the game. I thought the Red Bull dominated. I think Williams is a good coach and our goalie and defense played very well. I thought we should have won 6-1 if WOly good walk and knew what he was doing. I think Kanji when healthy with Angel is they played together the whole year would have produced alot more goals. I thought Rojas played a good second half and like the sub for Nick Zimmerman for Obster. You know I cannot stand Woly for a whole game he is only good for two mins as a sub. Mbuta played very well and I wish he would have started with Mac and not woly all the fans in the stands where calling for Woly to come out. He is slow,
has no skill, and cannot pass for his life.
Otherwise a good game. Go Red Bull!!
Jewsbury***
———— Wolff —– Angel ————–
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—- Lopez ——- Arnaud——– Richards —
—————— Celades ——————
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Harrington — Goldie — Conrad —- Jewsbery
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—————— Hartman ——————
Cepero/Bouna
Petke
Johnson
Hall/Zimmerman
Stammler
Gomez
Kandji
That’s a team that should make the playoffs. You do make a pretty good point though.
Yeah KC! We’re not the worst club in the league after all! Hooray! (sorry NY)
Of course I just watched my first game into the Richie Williams era… Did I jinx it? I still think he should be the coach next season. Enough with the useless name coaches!
Yea Mbuta is like our own version of Omar Cummings, he should get more minutes.
Why doesnt Mbuta play more? Wow nice turn and shot!
and too slow in making his mind up what to do!
Macoumba is too selfish..
Lobster out and the Zimmer in… Good call RW!
Bulls need the Zimmer…
KC and the Bulls are mirror images of each other, Ives!
I am following too Ives but wouldn’t hold it against you if you decided to split!
i’m following but it does seem pretty dead on here.
I am with Wayne… The Red Bulls need some energy and cohesion in midfield..something that Rojas is not delivering… To be fair he did play for Venezuela on Wednesday, but Johnson who also played Wed looks to have more energy and good play.
can’t wait for the new stadium.
HC
Rojas out i’d ratther Zimmerman mess up and learn for next season, than watch a well paid useless piece of crap like Rojas waste balls.
Rojas is a large piece of refuse!
nice work Kansas, capitalise on the mistakes.
any feeds for the game?
now why isn’t Hall starting???? he’s been the most consistent player the whole season
Sure Karl…
Condoul is fasting for Ramadan…is it a wise move to start him in net?