Good Afternoon! A scorcher here in Red Bulls land and the Red Bulls are in action, yet again, @The Cathedral of Football. I still haven't come down from Wednesday's high. I'm hoping Red Bulls haven't either and that they come out to crush "The Goats". Chivas are at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, with 10 points, and will be looking to get a result here. They also might be a bit unsettled (as they say in England) as they just found out that Sasha Klejstan will be moving to Belgian club Anderlecht, most likely when the European Transfer Window opens in July. The Red Bulls will be looking to go into the World Cup break with another three points, and another home win, in hand. With all that in mind, let's get to some predictions.
The great Matt Conroy (aka Who Shot Sam) has this for us:
After last week's incredible last second winner from Angel, I cannot see theGetting a little carried away there, eh Matt? I'm going to predict a Red Bulls victory as well, although I'm going to go with a 2-1. I don't trust our defense to shut down Braun or Galindo, but I'm thinking a confident Juan Pablo can get a couple for us today.
Red Bulls going back to their bad old ways. Mike Petke is getting a rest,
which is probably a good thing since he has sucked out loud recently.
Finally Tony Tchani is getting the midfield start he deserves. And we may
even - at last - see some MLS minutes for tiny #99, Irving Garcia.
Remember, we lost 2-0 to this same Chivas team in LA a few months back, but
if not for a brain fart by Bouna Condoul that game could well have been
scoreless. Taking everything into account, my prediction is for a 3-0 Red
Bulls victory, with goals from Angel, Tchani and Garcia. The Red Bulls get
revenge and send Sacha Kljestan gets sent off to Belgium with a resounding
defeat.
Goat will be served at Red Bull Arena this evening. Have your knives and
forks ready!
The great Homebrew Tim has this for us:
The Red Bulls will look to avenge their first loss under Coach BackeMy God! The optomism abounds around here! And last, but certainly not least, the legendary You Suck Corrales has this for us:
(including all pre-season friendlies) when they play their home match
against the L.A. Goats this evening. Lord willing, Bouna won't be knocking
any balls into his own net this time.
I love the announcements that Petke will be sitting. It seems like he's
been responsible for allowing at least one goal in each of the last six or
seven matches. Also, Tony Tchani has earned another
league start. The team is riding high from their last-second victory
against Houston. Finally, for some reason, the ticketing website indicates
that this game has sold well. (Is it one of the "exchange a ticket" games
for Season Ticket holders?) In any case--the energy will be great in the
Cathedral tonight.
The Smelly Farm Animals of Los Angeles have struggled mightily all
season--they've posted a 3-7-1 record. Rumors are swirling that their two
biggest stars, Sacha Kljestan and Jonathan Bornstein (who is away with
National Team duty) are both headed to Europe. Things are looking
bleat--um... bleak--for the goats. Their backup goalkeeper, Dan Kennedy,
with his 2.53 GAA will be between the posts tonight.
The emerging Red Bulls offense will pepper the goal all night and lead Coach
Backe's Red Army to victory tonight: Red Bulls win 4-0. Tchani, Angel,
Woly, and a late one from #99 Irving Garcia.
After the glorious salvation against Houston, the boys should be riding high into today's game against Chivas. Chivas, one of the lesser teams in the league this year, should be an easy 3 home points. However this is Red Bull. Things never seem to come easy. 2 of our 4 home wins were in the dying seconds. The win against Philly was due to an inexplicabl hand ball. Chicago easily could have taken points in the opener with any luck. So our 4-0-2 home record is a little misleading.Wow! YSC is back to predicting Goleadas. Now I know we're going to lose! Just kidding. Check back here for the usual post game stuff within the next few days. See you at the game. Viper Out!
That said, I think this may be our first comfortable victory of the season. I am very high on Tchani, who is an absolute monster in midfield. I think he will have a massive game. JPA might also have turned a corner. Although I called for his contract to immediately be terminated in the 80th minute last game, hopefully that free kick has reignited his season, and those massive misses of must put away chances are a thing of the past.
Once again my only concern is the center of defense. I pray we can make it through 90 minutes without making a mistake in that area. I like what I saw from Albright on the right side. Bormann is okay on the left. It is just Ream and Petke who have been costing us. They must get it together tonight. And tonight is huge. With 3 points we would reach our total from all of last season by the WC break and still be in the Open Cup. I would call that a successful start to the year. My prediction......why not?......NYRB 4-CUSA-0 JPA (3) Tchani
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