The New York Red Bulls will look to halt their four-match losing streak as they take on the Houston Dynamo at Red Bull Arena tonight (7:30pm, MSG).
The Red Bulls are coming off a 3-2 loss to New England that saw them issued a pair of red cards. Houston comes in off a 3-2 loss to Philadelphia.
I will be providing commentary throughout the 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– That goal helps New York snap a four-match losing streak and move the Red Bulls back into second place in the East. The loss drops Houston to 5-6-1.
That's all for me. Please feel free to share your post-match thoughts in the comments section below, and be sure to check in for more post-match coverage.
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FINAL– That goal should quiet concerns among Red Bulls fans that Angel was losing his scoring touch. Yes, he missed chances tonight, but he stepped up and showed he can still deliver magic.
Some credit goes to Hans Backe as well for subbing in Conor Chinn instead of Irving Garcia. Chinn drew the free kick that Angel converted.
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FINAL– Angel hit the free kick well and it hit the inside of the left post, beating a diving Onstad. Red Bulls 2, Dynamo 1.
Juan Pablo Angel redeems himself after a rough night. Talk about stepping up in the clutch.
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94th Minute– GOAL RED BULLS!!!!!! And it's ANGEL WITH THE FREE KICK. WOW
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93rd Minute– Chinn draws a free kick from about 35 yards out, straight on goal. Angel to attempt.
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93rd Minute– Final minute.
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91st Minute– Great turn by Tchani to spring free in the area, but his pass is cleared out of danger as Angel reacted late to it.
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90th Minute– Angel with a header well wide.
New York will have to feel as if it dropped points it should have earned tonight.
Three minutes of added time.
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89th Minute– Palmer wipes out Ubi and gets a yellow card.
Now Palmer is cramping up and the crowd isn't liking this one.
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88th Minute– SAVE COUNDOUL, stops an Oduro shot from close range.
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85th Minute– NY corner.
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83rd Minute– Chinn in for Wolyniec. That's New York's final sub.
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82nd Minute– Red Bulls preparing a sub and it's Conor Chinn instead of Garcia. Chinn does have a nose for the goal.
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80th Minute– Red Bulls corner floats right to Onstad.
Backe hasn't signaled for any subs yet as his reserves go back to the bench after warming up.
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78th Minute– Joseph Ngwenya is coming in, probably for Ching.
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77th Minute– Tchani shanks an open look from 17 yards out, sending it well wide. Ubi with some good energy to get down the right wing on that play.
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76th Minute– ESC is now chanting, "We Want Irving". Tough to disagree.
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75th Minute– Referee Hilario Grajeda gives Petke a yellow for a foul on Oduro.
Ubiparipovic looks tired. Will Backe use his last sub?
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72nd Minute– Backe needs to insert Irving Garcia into this match for some energy. New York is struggling. Ubi looks a bit gassed.
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70th Minute– The Dynamo came in with a plan to withstand early pressure and take charge in the second half and it's coming off right now, thanks in large part to some shoddy finishing from New York. Juan Pablo Angel has not been good today.
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69th Minute– Houston can smell a win now and New York looks unsettled after that equalizer. Who will calm things down for New York?
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67th Minute– Davis sends a long shot at Coundoul.
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67th Minute– You always felt Houston would find a goal, especially with all of New York's missed chances.
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65th Minute- Goal DYNAMO and it's BRIAN CHING!!! He chests a long cross and scores from cloten yards out. Petke went to head the ball away and left Ching unmarked. Great pass from Boswell. Red Bulls 1, Dynamo 1.
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63rd Minute– Coundoul gets a rare touch, catching a corner kick. He also sent his goal kick pretty far. Must be practicing those.
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60th Minute– Hall is carded for a studs up challenge on Cruz, didn't really make contact, but Cruz sold that one.
Oduro is coming on for Weaver. Speed for invisibility. Not a bad trade-off.
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59th Minute– Dominic Oduro will be coming on for Houston. He'll test the New York defense with his speed.
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58th Minute– SAVE ONSTAD!!!!! Angel with a fast sprint onto a Tchani pass but his shot is saved well by Onstad.
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58th Minute– Still 1-0 New York. The Dynamo could still take a point here.
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56th Minute– WOLYNIEC HITS THE POST!!! He dribbles into the area and his shot hits the left top corner of the woodwork. So close, yet no goal.
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55th Minute– Ubi drawes a foul on Hainault, who looks close to getting a persistent infringement yellow card.
Ubi's free kick is cleared away
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53rd Minute– Jeremy Hall just torched Mulrooney down the left flank, but his cross goes begging across the goal-mouth. Someone needs to finish that off.
That's a good sign from Hall. He's got that ability to go at people, but after a year as a defender you wonder if he forgot how to take people on. If he starts to do more of that, he'll force his way into the lineup.
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52nd Minute- With these injuries, you wonder if Irving Garcia gets a start vs. Chivas USA on Saturday.
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50th Minute– Lindpere left the match with a left calf contusion. Dane Richards left with a hamstring injury in the first half.
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48th Minute– Hall is deployed on the left wing, with Stammler in the middle alongside Tchani.
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47th Minute– Jeremy Hall is set to come in for Joel Lindpere. Not sure why that wasn't made at halftime. He looks like he's favoring his left leg.
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46th Minute– And we're back.
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HALFTIME– Corey Ashe has come in for Brian Mullan at halftime. No subs for New York.
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HALFTIME– New York moved the ball around very well in the first half, with Ubi, Stammler and Lindpere all passing well. Wolyniec is moving well while Angel will regret not having finished off at least one of his chances.
For Houston, it's been sit back and counter when possible. Even those counters have been few and far between. You figure Luis Landin and Dom Oduro should come in after halftime to help spark the attack.
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HALFTIME– Red Bulls 1, Dynamo 0. New York dominated possession and created a bunch of chances, but have just one goal to show for all that quality play. Houston has to be content to go in at half down just a goal. With the speedy subs at his disposal, Dom Kinnear knows his team is hardly out of this one.
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45th Minute– Wolyniec goes WIDE with his shot. Red Bulls 1, Dynamo. 0.
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44th Minute– ANGEL JUST WIDE!!! Great pass from Lindpere to spring him. Angel needs to finish those.
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40th Minute– Haven't really seen Lovel Palmer play as well as he normally does. Lacking a bit of his usual energy.
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39th Minute– Albright and Mullan get yellow cards after a physical clash. Lots of yellows tonight.
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35th Minute– SAVE ONSTAD!!!!! What a stop on Angel, he sticks a hand out after being faked to the ground and gets enough of Angel's shot to stop it. Great pass from Stammler to set Angel on the breakaway. New York is passing well, partly because of Houston's lack of midfield pressure.
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33rd Minute– Houston's free kick is handled by Coundoul.
The Dynamo look to be picking on Borman, who is probably the weak link tonight for New York's defense. Dom Kinnear has moved Danny Cruz over to Borman's side to try and use his speed to go right at Borman.
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32nd Minute– Borman draws a yellow card for a clumsy and late challenge in New York's area.
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30th Minute– Houston really is sitting back and defending, but that's probably not the way to go being down a goal.
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28th Minute– Wolyniec gets taken out by Eddie Robinson, drawing a yellow card. Wolyniec's drawn two cards so far.
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25th Minute– Red Bulls with some more quality possession, but can't put one on net. They've had the better sequences, but need to start putting shots on goal.
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23rd Minute– Houston's offense has yet to show up tonight. They do have some good potential second-half sub options in Luis Landin, Corey Ashe and Dominic Oduro.
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20th Minute– Lindpere with a great corner kick that goes wasted.
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19th Minute– The Empire Supporter's Club has broken out the "U.S. Reject" chant for Brian Ching. I can't help but think it's too soon.
ESC follows up with a much better chant, "Suburb of Dallas, You're Just a Su-Burb of Dallas." (To the Tune of Guantanamera).
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17th Minute– The Red Bulls have shuffled things around for Tchani's insertion. Here's the formation now:
————-Angel———–Wolyniec———–
Stammler———-Lindpere———–Ubiparipovic
———————Tchani————————–
Borman——-Ream———–Petke——–Albright
———————Coundoul————————-
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16th Minute– Looks like Mulrooney kept Ubiparipovic onside.
Tony Tchani has come in for Richards.
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15th Minute- GOAL RED BULLS!! And it's Sinisa Ubiparipovic, who collects a deflected Chris Albright shot. Red Bulls 1, Dynamo 0. Shouts for offside on that play.
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14th Minute– YELLOW on Mulrooney, who takes down Wolyniec on the break. Nice pass from Ubiparipovic to spring him. Dangerous free kick for Angel.
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11th Minute– Dane Richards is down. Looks like a knee issue. He had been New York's best player in the early going.
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9th Minute– Note to Stammler: Never dribble at your own net with the ball in the penalty area. Try and remember that.
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7th Minute– Houston will look to feed Davis, who should be able to find space to operate in the middle. Seth Stammler is a good player, but not a central midfielder who shuts people down.
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6th Minute– Angel is playing the rule of playmaker, dropping deep in midfield to distribute passes. It's not the best use of his skills, but at least the New York attack is moving.
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4th Minute– Richards with a dangerous run but his shot is wide, should have laid it off to Wolyniec.
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2nd Minute– Tonight is Wolyniec's 100th career start for New York.
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1st Minute– We're underway.
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PRE-GAME– Not many people here tonight for what should be a good game.
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PRE-GAME– Here are the lineups:
RED BULLS
—————Angel———-Wolyniec——————
Ubiparipovic—-Stammler——-Lindpere———-Richards
Borman———–Ream———–Petke————-Albright
—————————Coundoul—————————-
BENCH– Sutton, Sassano, Hall, Tchani, Garcia, Chinn, Agudelo
DYNAMO
—————–Ching———–Weaver———————-
Cruz——————–Davis—————————–Mullan
————————-Palmer——————————–
Hainault—–Robinson———-Boswell————-Mulrooney
————————-Onstad———————————
BENCH- Hall, Cochrane, Waibel, Ashe, Landin, Ngwenya, Oduro
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