The New York Red Bulls take on the Los Angeles Galaxy today at Red Bull Arena in a battle of star-studded squads (6pm, Fox Soccer Channel).
Today's match marks the home debut for Mexican national team star Rafa Marquez, who missed Wednesday's win vs. Toronto FC due to international duty.
The Red BUlls will have all three of its Designated Players in the lineup today, with Thierry Henry starting despite a lingering groin injury. They face a Los Angeles Galaxy team led by U.S. national teamers Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle and Omar Gonzalez.
I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here. As always. you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action. (Commentary is after the jump):
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FINAL– WHo impressed tonight? Edson Buddle, Omar Gonzalez, Juninho and Donovan Ricketts. For New York? Lindpere, Tchani and Ream.
Marquez is still not fit and sharp, while Henry is still searching for his first MLS goal as he works to get into full fitness and plays 90 minutes tonight.
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FINAL– Galaxy 1, Red Bulls 0. The Galaxy came to Red Bull Arena and got the job done. Defensively organized and strong. The Red Bulls attack continues to struggle to click. Not a great night for Marquez, or Henry for that matter.
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93rd Minute– Another Red Bulls chance leads to nothing. Ubiparipovic sends a ball to the back-post, where the shortest player on the field has no shot at it.
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91st Minute– Four minutes of stoppage time. Can New York create a good chance or two?
Buddle on the counter sends a hard shot that forces a diving Coundoul stop.
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90th Minute– Once again, a promising Red Bulls counter is halted by a deflected pass. Galaxy have earned this shutout, but the Red Bulls have struggled yet again to create dangerous chances against a good defense.
Some young fans just ran onto the field. No tazing, but probably not the smartest move.
Jovan Kirovski is in for Juninho.
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87th Minute– The Galaxy are doing a good job pushing the Red Bulls defense when given the chance. Clock is ticking on the home team.
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86th Minute– Richards earns another corner. He's been solid today.
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84th Minute– Sinisa Ubiparipovic comes on for Angel.
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83rd Minute– Chris Klein is coming on for Chris Birchall.
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81st Minute– Henry takes the kick and it's blocked by the wall. Not sure why Angel wouldn't take that one.
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80th Minute– Free kick is blocked by Juninho's arm, now a closer free kick for Angel. Dangerous.
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79th Minute– Ref blows a foul on Henry. Sets up a pretty good free kick opportunity for Angel. Not sure if the ref shouldn't have let that play go on.
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77th Minute– For those asking, tonight's turnout looks closer to 22K or 23K than 25K, still a great crowd, lively crowd.
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76th Minute– Roy Miller issued a yellow card for a foul on Omar Gonzalez after a late challenge.
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74th Minute– Henry is back on the field.
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73rd Minute– Angel header and Ream follow-up both saved.
Henry is favoring his knee on the end-line as play continues.
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72nd Minute– Red Bulls corner kick.
Tonight's attendance is 25,000, the first MLS sellout at Red Bull Arena. No, not all of them came, but all tickets were sold.
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71st Minute– Lindpere slides into the middle, with Kandji working the left flank.
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70th Minute– Kandji set to come on, will it be for Marquez, who has been invisible?
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68th Minute– Lindpere pounces on a Galaxy turnover and sets up Henry in front of goal, but the Frenchman sends his shot well high. Wasted chance there. Red Bulls wasting all sorts of possession and chances.
Lindpere has been the Red Bulls' best player today.
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66th Minute– De La Garza goes down after a challenge from Richards. Fans aren't happy with the call since it negated a potential breakaway.
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65th Minute– Wonder when we'll see Mac Kandji in this match. He'd be a good option right now.
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63rd Minute– Beckham gets into an impromptu debate with some fans in the stands from his seat on the bench. Not sure what that was about.
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61st Minute– Just to know who's following along, if you're reading today's live commentary please let me know in the comments section. Let me know where you're checking in from.
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60th Minute– Mike Magee comes in for Tristan Bowen. Not a great day for the rookie, but Magee gets to face his former club.
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58th Minute– Ref calls a foul on Richards on a play that looked to be a foul on Donovan. Angel is irate and gets a yellow card for dissent.
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58th Minute– Ream's side-volley off the corner goes high. New York is starting to ramp up the pressure. Will the Galaxy withstand it?
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57th Minute– Henry is urging the fans on after a great dribble sequence that led to a corner kick.
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54th Minute– Henry nearly forces Gonzalez into a costly mistake, but Ricketts bails him out by racing off his line in time to get the ball away from a streaking Henry.
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53rd Minute– Offside on Henry, crowd goes nuts but it was a legit call.
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49th Minute– Buddle misses from point-blank range, well, from close range, great ball from Donovan goes wasted.
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49th Minute– We're back. No subs for either side.
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HALFTIME– You have to wonder how much Marquez's mid-week national team duty took out of him. He's definitely not fully fit yet. He came out and had a better second half against the Chicago Fire in his MLS debut so maybe he'll come out and have a better second half today.
Tony Tchani and Joel Lindpere are playing well. Henry hasn't put his stamp on this game yet and you wonder how much longer he plays.
As for the Galaxy, there's not much they can complain about. Their flanks have been losing the battle, but the Red Bulls haven't capitalized.
Donovan hasn't really imposed his will either, but Juninho has had a good game. Gonzalez and Berhalter have held up well against Henry and Angel.
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HALFTIME- Galaxy 1, Red Bulls 0. A pretty even game, with the Red Bulls having better possession, but the Galaxy finished off its best chance and lead because of it.
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45th Minute– Angel OFF THE CROSSBAR! Another great free kick from Marquez, who hasn't been good in the run of play, but has served some good balls.
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45th Minute– Marquez has not had a good game today, but did just draw a suspect free kick in a good spot.
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42nd Minute– Didn't realize until now that Bruce Arena is not on the sidelines. He's in a private booth after coming down with an illness during his trip to New York. He's been here since Tuesday, when he was inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame.
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39th Minute– Angel sends a free kick a few feet wide. Red Bulls getting a bit more of the ball. Can they find an equalizer before the half?
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37th Minute– Gonzalez fouls Henry, who had him beaten for pace. No card though.
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36th Minute– Red Bulls on the charge again, but once again fail to connect the final pass.
Game is opening up a bit.
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33rd Minute– Tony Tchani just put the ball out of play so the Galaxy could tend to an injured player. Hans Backe went ballistic, yelling at Tchani for not taking advantage of the situation (To be fair, the Galaxy went on the attack while Chris Birchall was down, so the Red Bulls would have been in their right to keep playing).
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31st Minute– Tristan Bowen has been quiet today. One of the better rookies in the league, he's got a bright future.
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29th Minute– Henry with an audacious side-foot volley pass attempt that nearly springs Angel. Once this team gets used to playing together it will be tough to stop. Right now, the Galaxy is doing a good job defensively.
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28th Minute– Omar Gonzalez is having a good game early on. After a respectable national team debut against Brazil, Gonzalez is following it up with another good outing.
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27th Minute– Marquez can strike a free kick extremely well, but hasn't connected yet today on a few looks. Seems like a matter of time.
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25th Minute– The grass is tearing up in spots. Shame that they can't get the grass in better shape in such a beautiful stadium.
Red Bulls free kick.
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22nd Minute– Nice turnout by Galady fans today as a few dozen made the trip cross-country to support their squad.
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21st Minute– Red Bulls doing well with possession, but can't make the final pass. The Galaxy are well-organized and definitely dangerous on the counter. Donovan hasn't gotten going quite yet.
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19th Minute– It's a beautiful day today, good crowd, but not the sell-out expected. Well, it's sold out, but a bunch of tickets are going unused.
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16th Minute– Marquez whips a beautiful long free kick into the area, but Angel can't get his head onto it properly (and is offside anyway).
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14th Minute– Early on and still waiting for Marquez and Henry to have an influence on this match.
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11th Minute– Great assist from Juninho on the goal. Split the defense rather easily. Mendes lost Buddle on that one.
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10th Minute– GOAL GALAXY!!! And it's Edson Buddle with the finish, slides between the Red Bulls centerbacks and beats Coundoul. Galaxy 1, Red Bulls 0.
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10th Minute– Interesting dynamic today, we've got Mexican fans here to see Marquez who are booing Donovan when given the chance.
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7th Minute– We've got two rookie of the year candidates on the field today in Tim Ream and Michael Stephens.
Galaxy corner. Donovan gets a chorus of boos.
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6th Minute– Lindpere has really stepped up the attacking aspect of his game since the arrival of Henry.
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4th Minute– Great match-up between rookie Tim Ream and MLS scoring leader Edson Buddle. Will be a fun one to watch. Chris Albright vs. former teammate Landon Donovan is another good one.
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3rd Minute– Lindpere with a nice back-heel to spring Richards, but his cross is picked off. Good stuff from New York early.
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1st Minute– We are underway. Beautiful day at Red Bull Arena.
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PRE-GAME– Here is the Galaxy's lineup:
—————–Buddle——Bowen—————
Donovan——Birchall——Juninho—Stephens
De La Garza—Gonzalez—Berhalter—Franklin
———————–Ricketts———————
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PRE-GAME– Here is the Red Bulls lineup:
————–Henry——–Angel—————–
Lindpere———————————Richards
—————–Tchani—-Marquez—————
Miller——-Ream———-Mendes——Albright
——————–Coundoul———————–
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PRE-GAME– Greetings from Red Bull Arena, where a sellout crowd is expected to watch today's high-profile match-up. David Beckham is here with the Galaxy, but not available. He's listed as a coach on the Galaxy team sheet.
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