BY ADAM SERRANO
The stars are out tonight as the New York Red Bulls visit the league leading Los Angeles Galaxy (8pm PDT, ESPN2).
Thierry Henry may be missing, but tonight's match will feature a cavalcade of stars including Landon Donovan, Rafael Marquez, David Beckham, Juan Pablo Angel and Edson Buddle. Los Angeles enters the match on a high note after a Donovan-lead come back victory against D.C. United last week. The Galaxy will be without their top two defenders tonight however as Omar Gonzalez is out due to card accumulation and Gregg Berhalter will miss the match due to injury.
The New York Red Bulls head west on short rest after a positive draw against FC Dallas on Wednesday. Without Henry, expect Juan Pablo Angel and Mehdi Ballouchy to lead the Red Bulls attack against a weakened Galaxy defense.
I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, feel free to share your thoughts an
d opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump):
FINAL – As Wham! plays on the HDC Loudspeakers, I will sign off. This has been Adam Serrano for Soccer By Ives. The final score tonight was LA Galaxy 0 NY Red Bulls 2 on goals by Dane Richards and Juan Pablo Angel.
More coverage of the game later tonight. Thank you for following along.
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FINAL – Man of the match honors have to go to Mehdi Ballouchy was incredibly industrious in midfield for the Red Bulls and led them on a number of counters that badly stretched the Galaxy defense. For the Galaxy, David Beckham put in a good performance in his first 90 minutes since returning from injury.
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FINAL – Incredibly poor performance by Los Angeles as poor defensive placement, a poor final touch, but most of all poor passing dooms the Galaxy. LA struggled to settle from the moment that the opening whistle was blown and looked on edge throughout the night. The Red Bulls did not get many chances, but were able to finish their chances when they earned them.
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FINAL – FINAL WHISTLE IS BLOWN! RED BULLS 2 GALAXY 0
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92nd Minute – LA forces a a save from Coundoul, but still not really generating an attack.
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90th Minute – Three minutes of stoppage time.
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88th Minute – Bowen with a nice little cross that Coundoul nearly makes a mess of. LA fans tartin to take part in the time honored tradition of beating traffic as the stadium empties.
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87th Minute – YELLOW CARD LOS ANGELES: Beckham with a very reckless tackle on Ibrahim. He picks up his second yellow in two games.
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85th Minute – SAVE COUNDOUL! Bowen sends in the Galaxy's second shot on goal but it is easily handled by the Keeper. Not one effective chance for LA all night.
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81st Minute – WOW! Bowen is fed the ball on a silver platter, but a poor first touch causes the youngster to lose the ball in a very good possession. Wow, terrible first handle.
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80th Minute – The story of the game for LA has centered around their terrible passing performance. The club can not seem to string the last pass together. Also, the club has not appeared settled at any point tonight. Shrinking with the bright lights on them?
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77th Minute – Bowen comes on for Kovalenko. The Galaxy hvae been badly needing his pace throughout the match. Can he light a fire under the team?
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75th Minute – Kovalenko looks injure d and will sit down. Bowen about to come on.
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73rd Minute – BAD connection problems here at the HDC right now. Bare with me for a moment folks. Tchani out for Ibrahim.
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68th Minute – Lewis comes on for Kirovski. The Galaxy are really throwing their sticks into the wind now. Pressing hard for their first goal as Carl Robinson comes on for Rafa Marquez. Rafa leaves to a chorus of half cheers and half boos.
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66th Minute – Beckham's effort is punched away by Coundoul. That was the first shot on goal for the Galaxy tonight. Galaxy pressing and earn a corner that Beckham sends in, but NYRB clears.
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65th Minute – Buddle earns a free kick. Dangerous spot for Beckham. The crowd on its feet
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64th Minute – Eddie Lewis about to come on. Possibly for Beckham.
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62nd Minute – Two footed challenge by Marshall is waived off. Could have been a red there. Perhaps it should have been.
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60th Minute – RED BULLS GOAL!! JUAN PABLO ANGEL GOES LEFT RICKETTS GOES RIGHT AND BURIES THE PK. RED BULLS UP 2-0!
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59th Minute – PENALTY!! MARSHALL BRINGS DOWN THE FASTER RICHARDS AND A NYRB GETS A PENALTY!!!
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57th Minute – YELLOW CARD: LOS ANGELES. DeLaGarza picks up a yellow for a poor challenge on Miller. Poor tackle right there by the former Maryland Man.
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56th Minute – For NYRB, Austin Da Luz is up and getting ready.
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54th Minute – The entire LA Galaxy bench gets up. Mike Magee, Birchall and Bowen putting in the most work.
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53rd Minute – Attendance for this match is 27,000. A sell out at the Home Depot Center.
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51st minute – Beckham tries to lead a counter after stripping Angel, but his final pass is poor. Beckham looked gassed on that run.
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49th Minute – The Ukrainian is walking gingerly but no one is up to replace him. It would be a disaster for the Galaxy to have to make a second defensive minded sub here.
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48th Minute – Marhsall nearly gets on the end of the corner, but can't make it. In the midfield Kovalenko goes down. He looks like he is in some pain and he is sitll on the ground.
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47th Minute – LA earns a corner. Beckham to take it.
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46th Minute – Leonardo gives way for AJ DeLaGarza. We're back underway
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HALFTIME – It was a very energetic half, but LA will need to do a better job of closing up on people especially Ballouchy, who looks like a different player with this Red Bulls team. The Galaxy will need to do better to make that last pass so expect a midfielder or Bowen at the half. What do you think Arena will do?
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HALFTIME – LA go into the half down 1-0 to the Red Bulls. The Galaxy badly need the halftime whistle as they have failed to generate any attacking prowess so far. The Red Bulls are deservedly ahead with every effective attacking. Expect the Galaxy to make a sub early in the second half, possibly bringing on Tristan Bowen for Jovan Kirovski in to provide some pace up top.
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45 Minute – 1 minute of stoppage.
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42nd Minute – Buddle leads a breakway but loses the ball after Mendes makes a nice steal. LA struggling and will most likely look to make a sub at the half.
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40th Minute – RED BULLS SUB: Talley gives way for Petke.
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39th Minute – Talley goes down after a sliding tackle on Juninho looks like he the knee of the Brazilian. It looks like Mike Petke will come in for Talley.
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38th Minute - Marshall loses the ball to Lindpere on a routine pass. The Estonian hits the ball off the post and the speedy Jamaican beats Dunivant to the ball and slots it in. A very deserved lead for the Red Bulls so far.
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36th Minute – RED BULLS GOAL!!!! DANE RICHARDS!!!!! 1-0 TO NEW YORK
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34th Minute – Franklin with a nice clearance that prevents NY from earning a corner, but rather a deep throw in. The Galaxy defense has been shaky at best so far this half and AJ DeLaGarza is warming up.
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33rd Minute – Beckham sends a ball in to Donovan that he chases down but Coundoul is not happy after he scoops it up and the pair exchange words and a shove. Very nice. NYRB with a corner on the other end. Great performance so far by the Red Bulls in the last part of the half.
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30th Minute – LA's corner is cleared by Angel and then on the ensuing possession Juninho carelessly gives up a turn over. After a great performance against the Crew, the past two games for the Brazilian have been littered with turnovers.
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29th Minute – LA earn a corner. Beckham to take it. After a RBNY deflection.
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28th Minute – JUST WIDE! Lindpere finds some space against Marshall (who is not having the best of nights) and fires a shot that goes just wide of Ricketts net. Far too much space by the LA defense so far.
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27th Minute – A "RED BULLS!" Chant goes up in the HDC, but is quickly booed down by the Galaxy. Some support for the NYRB here in LA tonight.
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26th Minute – LA clears, but the Galaxy are not doing enough with their possession. Still far too frantic right now.
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24th Minute – Calls from the crowd for a foul after Beckham is taken down. Good No Call however. NY with a threatening throw in after Leonardo with a last gasp clearance on Ballouchy who is still getting way too much space.
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23rd Minute – Mendes is doing a fairly good job playing the post against Buddle. He's banging around and not making it easy for him to get to the Ball. NY on the other end makes a run as Angel runs a circle around Marshall before Leonardo clears.
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22nd Minute – Corner cleared by a bit of clutch defending from Marquez. On the other end NY earns a corner that is also cleared by LA. Red Bulls with possession.
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19th Minute – JUST WIDE! Beckham with a cross into Buddle that is cleared by Mendes. LA corner.
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17th Minute – Ballouchy getting a bit too much respect from Kovalenko early. He's been a force so far from NY. Kovalenko will need to close up on him to contain the Moroccan.
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14th Minute – SAVE GALAXY! Ballouchy with a shot from about 35 yards that forces Ricketts to make a diving save. Red Bulls retain possession on the rebound before a Goal kick is called. Ricketts is not happy with that last defensive formation.
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13th Minute – Frantic play right now by both sides. Everyone will need to settle down in order to start this one right. No one team getting any real scoring chances.
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11th Minute – Juninho stripped trying to play the ball to Beckham. Red Bulls doing a better job of retraining possession in the last five minutes. Just as I say that they give up the ball after Ballouchy fouls Kovalenko.
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9th Minute – CLEARANCE BY LEONARDO! Ballouchy nearly gets the ball in the box, but the burly Brazilian comes up big to clear before a shot is registered. Clutch defending right there.
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8th Minute – Juninho takes the first shot of the game, a shot from distance that goes way wide. Poor strike by the Brazilian.
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6th Minute – The Galaxy spending the lionshare of time in the New York zone so far. Some clutch defending by the Red Bulls has prevent LA from getting the first scoring opportunities.
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2nd Minute – Definitely a playoff type of atmosphere here at the Home Depot Center. Very loud crowd, I can hear the Riot Squad and the Angel City Brigade pretty clear.
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1st Minute – LA earn a early corner kick, but it is cleared by NY.
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1st Minute – And We''re underway. The Galaxy attacking to the left of your computer screen.
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PREGAME – Prediction time: Predicting a 3-1 LA victory. Buddle score a Brace.
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PREGAME – The LA Based band "The Briggs" are singing their song "This is LA" above the riot squad. The Video for the Song Is here
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PREGAME – Very nice atmosphere here tonight. One change is that Chris Albright is not starting, but ex Chivas USA captain Carey Talley will be starting for the Red Bulls.
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PREGAME – If you are following along, let me hear from you. Where are you from? Who are you supporting? Are there any line up changes that you would make?
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PREGAME – Big games at the Home Depot Center mean cramped press boxes. The HDC is not known for its spacious accommodations so games like this require a fit physique so that the reporters can squeeze in.
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PREGAME – One of the biggest questions of the night will surround David Beckham and how many minutes that he'll be able to play. He is starting, but expect him to go 60 minutes and line up against Lindpere. The Estonian should be able to cause Beckham some trouble so that is a match up to watch.
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PREGAME – Expecting a big crowd at the Home Depot Center tonight particularly with a late start time for the match. The Galaxy have even opened up the infamous HDC grass berm for seating.
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PREGAME – Here are the Line Ups:
NEW YORK RED BULLS
————————Angel————————-
Lindpere———–Ballouchy—————–Richards
————–Marquez—-Tchani———————
Miller———Mendes—–Ream————–Talley
———————Condoul—————————–
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
———Kirovski—————Buddle————–
Donovan—–Juninho——Kovalenko——-Beckham
Dunivant—-Marshall—–Leonardo—Franklin
———————-Ricketts———————–
Terrible performance by the Galaxy at home. If you squinted your eyes, it seemed like a bunch of gorillas were playing with the ball based on how poor their passes and touches were. Even Donovan had a very poor game. It appears the only player for the Galaxy that came to play was Beckham.
“Prediction time: Predicting a 3-1 LA victory. Buddle score a Brace.” Just sayin’. 🙂 Vamos Metro!
No wonder I’m always pissy through out the week. damn strikers. where are my feel better pills?
What’s the story with ESPN’s broadcast at halftime showing “If the season ended today” playoff match-ups that did not follow the MLS system of shipping an excess of teams from (this year) west to east? So for example they showed 4W Colorado going up against Columbus while 6W Seattle stayed home. Looked like they were showing just a straight 1 v 8, 2 v 7 etc system based on points… ?
I hope JPA can agree to a generous non-DP contract; that would also open a DP spot. A full year of the big three could overrun MLS.
I haven’t watched this stuff since I was a kid and ESPN had it on all the time. lol
The Red Bulls have to figure out how to keep Angel. It would be a mistake to let another team take him and he has great chemistry with Henry and Marquez.
Harkes has to be the worst soccer analyst in the world. Not once did he comment on the absolute horrific play of Juninho. How many times did he give the ball away in midfield back third, middle third or attacking third with some lame soft pass tonight?
Harkes kept mentioning how LA’s game was “not flowing,” but he never mentioned the primary reason why, which was the play of Juninho.
I’m not sure this was the “game of the season” as MLS was promoting it, but it was a truly impressive performance by RB. With a lot on the line on national TV, RB showed great quality in possession and defense. Even Dane managed to limit the bone headed plays. Now, some Aussie rules grand final to wind down…
Interesting that many find fault with Donovan and Beckham? Maybe on a result per $$ the result is bad, but by far the worst player on the Gals tonight was Juninho. He must have had 16,17 turnovers. He probably completed more passes to the other team.
When Beckham moved to the middle, things looked promising…but even then juninho turned the ball over way too often
NYRB seemed much more organized and looked like they actually had a passing game. LA, unfortunately, didn’t.
Donovan good?
That is what he was during his short stint at Bayern but, you make it sound like it is some sort of insult.
Condoul beastly.
For me – Buddle was listless up top for Galaxy, Juninho was invisible, but Beckham and Donovan were good.
The NYRB midfield and defense played solid with good shape.
Not to detract anything from NYRB, but the Galaxy truly sucked tonight.
Landon Who?
I may speak badly of him more often if he responds like this all of the time.
LOL, he’ll be the new mark van bommell 🙂
There’s Donovan! He just passed the ball back to NYRB’s goalkeeper. Did NYRB bribe some Galaxy players?
I see I turned you to the dark side…lol