The New York Red Bulls put their unbeaten home record on the line tonight when they take on the struggling Seattle Sounders.
Seattle come in off a 4-0 drubbing against Los Angeles that dropped the Sounders to last place in the Western Conference. They face the same New York team that beat them at Qwest Field earlier in the season.
New York will look to regroup from its own 4-0 loss, a blowout defeat against San Jose that came, at least in part, because of an early red card.
I will be providing commentary on tonight's match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Tonight's commentary is after the jump):
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FINAL– Thanks for following tonight and be sure to follow SBI all weekend for updates on today's MLS action.
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FINAL– Sounders 1, Red Bulls 0. It was a pretty even match the whole night until Fredy Montero came off the bench and delivered some magic to give the Sounders a vital win. Their first in four matches.
The loss is the Red Bulls' first at Red Bull Arena.
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87th minute– A great ball in from Evans on the Montero goal. He chested it with Petke on him, took a touch and hit it quickly under an on-rushing Coundoul. Montero beats Petke yet again.
Tony Tchani is on for Carl Robinson, Pat Noonan is also coming into the match.
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85th minute- GOAL SOUNDERS!!! And it's Fredy Montero with the slick finish. Nice goal. He chests it, touches it and slides it under Coundoul. Sounders 1, Red Bulls 0.
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81st Minute– Montero sliides at Coundoul and nearly beats him to a cross, but Coundoul is on it. Montero caught Coundoul in the head with his shin, but Coundoul didn't sell it as a serious blow.
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78th minute– Montero is on for Nyassi.
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74th minute– Still no Fredy Montero in this match. Interesting. He's waiting on the side, hands on hips.
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71st Minute– Stammler and Marshall both get yellow cards for handbags following a Joel Lindpere dive in the area that got no call.
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69th minute– Hall with a foul that gives Seattle a free kick from about 35 yards out.
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64th minute– Nielsen with a hard shot right at Keller. Nice look, but Keller was all over it.
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63rd minute– Nathan Sturgis is set to come in for Peter Vagenas.
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61st minute– If we were doing drinking games tonight then Bouna Coundoul passing midfield with a goal kick would be worth a Jaeger Bomb.
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56th minute– Sinisa Ubiparipovic is in for Richards.
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55th minute– Borman saved Coundoul's hide that time. Coundoul has looked shaky tonight. WIll that be his only brain cramp?
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53rd minute– WOW, SAVE BORMAN. Coundoul runs out of the area and gets caught, Nyassi sends a shot at the open net but Borman races to the net to clear it away just in time.
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53rd minute– Nielsen is on for Ibrahim. He's lining up as a forward
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52nd minute– Brian Nielsen looks set to come on. He can play as a second striker so he could be in for Ibrahim.
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50th minute– Sounders fans could counter with the following chant for Coundoul, "Take Your Goal Kicks!"
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49th minute– Red Bulls fans with the best chant of the night, aimed at Kasey Keller: "Friedel's Back-Up!!" Ouch.
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48th minute– Nyassi with a shot from 28 yards out that goes wide from the top of the box.
Salou Ibrahim is cramping up. Jozy Altidore is warming up (Just kidding. Sorry Red Bulls fans).
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47th minute– We're back. No subs yet.
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HALFTIME– Jozy Altidore just spoke at halftime on the field. Funniest moment of the day was Juan Pablo Angel walking by Altidore and grabbing him by the arm as if to try and drag him into the match. Red Bulls could use him tonight.
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HALFTIME– New York has had some decent spells of possession, but still struggle with the final pass. Dane Richards hasn't really put his stamp on this match and neither has Lindpere. It will be interesting to see if Hans Backe inserts Brian Nielsen to give the attack a boost.
For Seattle, the question is when will Fredy Montero enter the match. Actually, the bigger question is which Montero will show up, an angry and motivated Montero, or the lax Montero that has been sleepwalking through matches lately.
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HALFTIME– The Harrison PATH station has, in fact, been shut down after a suspicious package was found. Police are investigating. Quite a few fans have been left stranded with no way to get to the match.
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HALFTIME– Red Bulls 0, Sounders 0. Not many truly great chances in an even game.
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39th minute– Borman with a yellow card for a foul on Ljungberg. Seattle with a long free kick.
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36th minute– Zakuani goes close with a chance that goes wide.
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35th minute– Soft yellow card on Jeremy Hall.
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32nd minute– The fans are getting into it. Loud chant of Let's Go Red Bulls is ringing out. Great atmosphere, and that's with a half-full stadium where a good number of fans have yet to arrive due to a closed down PATH Station.
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30th minute– Petke with aheader that's blocked away.
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29th minute– Red Bulls starting to do better with the ball, putting more pressure on Seattle's defense.
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24th minute– Lindpere draws a free kick from a pretty good spot, 28 yards out.
ANGEL GOES CLOSE!! But his kick is just over the bar. Keller looked to have it covered.
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21st minute– Coundoul has gotten a lot of flack for his not taking his own goal kicks. After seeing him kick tonight you can understand why it's done. He's a serious liability kicking the ball.
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17th minute– No real rhythm to the match yet. New York hasn't put anything dangerous together yet.
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14th minute– Red Bulls fans are holding up signs with number 14 and Vide on them in honor of former midfielder Joe Vide, who is battling cancer.
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12th minute– Canadian referee Silviu Petrescu wasn't going for Freddie Ljungberg's dive attempt.
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10th minute– Some good energy from both teams early on.
Red Bulls fans are in full voice, though the stadium is only half-full at this point. Seattle has a nice contingent of fans here tonight. SOmewhere between 60 to 100 fans are in the upper deck in rave green.
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9th minute– Ream with a great intervention in the area to stop Nyassi. He looks ready to get back to his earlier form.
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8th minute– The Juan Pablo Angel-Jhon Kennedy Hurtado match-up is a fun one to watch. The Colombian standouts are two of the best in the league.
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6th minute– Tim Ream is coming off his first truly bad game of the season. Will he respond tonight? Nervous touch early for the rookie.
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2nd Minute– Nervous moments for New York already as Coundoul gets whistled for touching the ball outside4 the area. Seattle has good energy early. Will New York be able to deal with Seattle's speedy flank players?
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1st Minute– We are under way.
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PRE-GAME– Here is the Red Bulls starting lineup:
————–Angel———Ibrahim—————–
Stammler—-Lindpere—Robinson———Richards
Borman—–Ream——–Petke—————-Hall
———————-Coundoul————————
BENCH- Sutton, Mendes, Miller, Ubiparipovic, Tchani, Nielsen, Chinn.
Chris Albright did not dress and Roy Miller is carrying an injury so Borman gets the start.
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PRE-GAME– Freddy Montero has been benched for tonight's match. Seattle is going with a 4-3-3 with no pure forwards. Here's their lineup:
—–Zakuani———————-Nyassi———
———————–Evans———————–
———————Ljungberg ——————–
————–Vagenas——Ianni——————-
Gonzalez—-Hurtado—-Marshall———-Riley
——————–Keller————————–
BENCH– Boss, Sturgis, Wahl, Scott, Levesque, Montero, Noonan
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PRE-GAME– Jozy Altidore just spoke to the media. I asked him if he was coming here in 2022. He asked how old he would be then. When told he'd be 32, Altidore responded, "That's too old. I'll be here before that."
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PRE-GAME– Jozy Altidore is in the building. The former Red Bulls striker is in town for the upcoming U.S. national team pre-World Cup camp. He's also here to see the building he'll call home in 2022.
May be true about my intelligence, but in this case “THOUSANDS” equals one, and that one way was blocked.
What a bizarre comment. The problem was right by the PATH station, meaning the vast majority of people who take the train to the stadium were stuck and not allowed to pass.
That station could be come a major problem. It’s way too small to handle the crowds. We were talking with a PATH mechanic on the platform before heading back to NYC, and he said the road underneath the station gets flooded badly when it rains hard. We better hope there isn’t heavy rain on match day.
As for the game, it was pretty awful. Neither team looked good, though I think Seattle was a bit better. The Montero goal was pretty great .. both the control and finish.
Angel looked really frustrated at the lack of service and the continual problem of poor crosses and decisions by the wing players, particularly Richards. It also looked like Lindpere had an injury for the last 20 minutes of the match, which didn’t help.
This was the only game i was able to catch today. Boy what a boring match. The Houston/RSL match completely obliterated this match in entertainment value.
Ives, Appreciate your response. Your all class…even if your a Red Bulls fan 😐
There are about two ways to the arena. One is from the ironbound, one is from 280 going under the PATH. Go back to bellos
LOL at the seattle fans, they sure know how to run.
lol if you couldnt find a way to the arena from harrison regardless of incident, you have to be the DUMBEST person alive.. there are literally THOUSANDS of ways to get to the arena
It was a pretty poorly played match; poor passing with no rhythm… a game to forget and not one you want when you are having a hard time attracting fans to the stadium!
Just got back from the game. Very disappointed with loss but saw it coming. A large group of fans all concluded we NEED an attacking midfielder and to take the action to the other team like most teams do. We sit back and watch teams attack and do not put pressure on them. NO Kandji hurts us because no speed and Salou getting hurt and no Roy Miller. I think with the standings and all thursay will be a critical game. We need better midfielders who can assist with
scoring.
S
O
U
N
D
E
Rule
S
O 2 O 2 be O 2 be a SOUNDER!!!!
Galaxy dominating the game – DeRo subbed out in 70th min – cramp?
Donovan – awesome
I really like the pace of the game Galaxy is playing now in the 2nd half (missed the first, so cant comment on that)
hoping Buddle shines
didn’t make it out to Red Bull Arena (or NYC) like I’d hoped. good i didnt go – might not have made it through all the mess, esp since i ride in a wheelchair.
Montero OWNS Petke
I was extremely PO’d that I couldn’t make it to the game tonight. Frank Rodgers Blvd. was completely shut off as it passed under the PATH train. It is the only road to the stadium from Harrison and the authorities had it completely shut off. A number of us tried to get to the stadium by walking along train tracks and cutting across old industrial areas, but it was not happening.
I spoke with quite a few people who had come in from Seattle for the game and couldn’t get to the stadium. I feel really bad for them. It was a complete debacle over a “suspicious package” that ended up being harmless.
It would be nice if the Red Bulls recognized this and gave the season ticket holders a credit for this game.
Just got back from the game. Good crowd tonight, that apparently could have been better due to the train issues, but we were treated to a horrible game. Both teams just stunk, but kudos to Montero for taking his chance well and getting the 3 points for the Sounders.
Red Bulls worked hard and played good defense, but the offense was non-existent. They need a creative player in midfield in the worst way. Henry and/or the designated player dujour can’t get here soon enough.
Great post, thanks for sharing. Clayton -1
you seattle fans are so f*cking annoying
kinda what I figured too, but no free kick/complimentary yellow card? JV at best.
That is, anything like Lindpere’s “I’ve been shot!” act.
For all of Ives talk about Ljungberg and Montero’s “diving,” I’ve never seen either attempt anything like that.
And no, Ljungberg didn’t dive. Borman deserved a red.
Hall went out of his way to lay a hockey check on him. Don’t see how that’s not a second yellow.
Agreed – that was no dive. The only question was whether Borman managed to get a touch on the ball before he took Ljungberg down, and from the replays the answer was fairly conclusively no. I can only conclude that the ref decided to keep his whistle silent because he didn’t want to send Borman off so early.
(SBI-When I saw the play live it looked as though he went down easily and Borman got the touch on the ball. The replay we saw at the stadium still didn’t show definitely that a foul took place. The replay I saw when I got home tonight showed that Borman didn’t get a touch and Borman ran into Ljungberg. The question is whether Ljungberg held up his run to fall into a sliding Borman. I could see how the referee would make that determination. That said, it wasn’t a dive.)
Didn’t see the whole game, but at least from the second half, Seattle deserved to win the game. They were the better side.
Yes it was. Nyassi didn’t even have the ball and is knocked down as attempt to slow him down. That is a yellow.
“12th minute- Canadian referee Silviu Petrescu wasn’t going for Freddie Ljungberg’s dive attempt.” Do the red bulls let you eat table scraps too.
(SBI-Grow up Zack. When I saw it live it looked as though Ljungberg went down without contact. The replay I saw at the stadium looked as though Ljungberg was falling before contact and it looked like Borman might have gotten the touch. I saw a replay tonight that showed Borman didn’t get a touch. So no, not a dive.)
just a little “poke” in fun. Painful to watch a decent midfielder put at forward (Evans). Glad we got the result.
That Hall obstruction was nowhere near a card
Lindpere in the running for Dive of the Year. That was EPIC!
Last prediction was, “One goal may win this game” spot on.
And Seattle being the better side a fair result.
Ives, NYRB are lucky not to have been red carded for the tackle from behind on Freddie, and again when Nyassi was obstructed by Hall should have been a 2nd yellow easy. Try not to be sooo biased 😉
max, per your prediction Nostradamus your not. Thankfully for Sounders fans, we squeak out the win.
Great to see Seattle attacking down the middle again, It’s been a long time coming.
I can’t believe Hall didn’t get a card for the cross check on Nyassi.
Brutal game. Just a goal.
As I type this, Montero scores.
GOAL!!!!!!
Lindpere, showing us all what a quality “dive” looks like. Nice job. +1 Joel
nyrb getting away with some possible yellow/red cards 🙁
Borman.
Ives, You said “Ljungbergs dive attempt”. The replay clearly shows Bosman taking Freddie off his feet. I appreciate your page & insight. This statement however causes me to wonder. Is this objective journalism?, or your personal bias & an attempt to stir Sounders fans to gain more attention for your site? IMO the later. Alexi Lalas has tried this tactic as well, with really only a loss of respect to show for it.
(SBI-When I saw the play live it looked as though he went down easily and Borman got the touch on the ball. The replay we saw at the stadium still didn’t show definitely that a foul took place. The replay I saw when I got home tonight showed that Borman didn’t get a touch and Borman ran into Ljungberg. The question is whether Ljungberg held up his run to fall into a sliding Borman. I could see how the referee would make that determination. That said, it wasn’t a dive.)
It shouldn’t be SO EASY to close down a train station.
What’s stopping somebody from Philly purposely leaving a backpack in the station next year just to stop people from coming?
I can’t wait until that station gets redone once the area around Red Bull Arena is developed.
On the game, it seems like NYRB have trouble attacking through the middle. Nothing is working so far.
Both teams want to correct the 4 goals conceded from last week. Long time since I’ve seen Seattle attack down the middle. Nyassi looks decent. Lots of zeros posting in MLS games today. One goal may win this game.
Sigi would have to use like 10 more lineup combos to begin to rival JCO’s madness. But the parallel is there – when teams can’t find consistency and an established core they struggle.
A lot of people can’t get to the stadium because the path trains have been shut down due to police activity. No one knows how to get there and people are stuck relying on other forms, but hard when over 50% use the path
Any word on said package?
This comment might be too premature, but the constant line-up switching by Sigi reminds me of a certain team that once played very near Harrison…hmmmmmm…I seem to recall that they looked like a movable billboard for any energy drink…
What’s the crowd like? I can’t get a stream. Can the RB actually get some people in the arena this game? If not, what a shame. This is a really good matchup.
Sigi I love you – but gotta say that all the lineup and formation tinkering might be hurting more than helping. Granted there are gaps due to injuries, but I think we looked better early in the season when we were playing in the predictable 4-4-2 that was deployed consistently last year. The shuffling this think hurt some players confidence and didn’t allow the team to establish a rhythym.
Interesting from jozy. If he comes back that early, then he will pretty much in his prime.
i’m a country over club guy, so for the nats’ sake, i hope when jozy is 28-30 years old, he has a fire and passion to play in the world’s best leagues. MLS can wait until he’s further along in his 30s and/or out of the national team picture.
of course, if MLS has made serious strides by then..
Ives, get them to delay kickoff. All roads have been closed for the past hour because of a suspicious package. We are all waiting outside the Arena
so what does everyone think the chances are we can get Jozy to suit up for 2nites game for old times sake…lol