Good Afternoon! It's a beautiful Saturday here in RBNY land. Speaking of which, the Red Bulls are back in action @The Cathedral of Football against the Kansas City Wizards. The Wizards, fighting for their playoff lives with five games left on their regular season schedule, find themselves six points adrift of San Jose for that final playoff spot. KC was in the midst of a 5 game unbeaten streak (4 wins, 1 tie) before suffering a 3-1 home defeat to red hot Dallas. With so few regular season games left, the Wizards have no choice but to win at all costs.
The Red Bulls, on the other hand, are just 1 point from the Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew and are coming off a dominating 2-0 away win against the League leading Los Angeles Galaxy. They have the vital second place spot in the Eastern Conference locked up, but a regular season 1st place finish is well within reach, with three home games and one away (@Philly) on the schedule. With no signs of the usual MetroBull late regular season futility (as of yet), and with a possible Supporters Shield run on the horizon, this team is poised to make history. The return of Thierry Henry to the lineup is expected but Midfield General Rafa Marquez is expected to miss this one due to injury. With all that in mind, let's get to some predictions!
Matt Conroy (aka Who Shot Sam) has this for us:
With the Red Bulls poised to wrap up a playoff spot, and still with a chance of an Eastern Conference title or Supporters' Shield, I cannot see them slipping up at home against a Kansas City team that choked against FC Dallas last week. I like Henry to bag his third league goal. I'll predict that Joel Lindpere, who is on fire at the moment, scores the other. 2-0 to RBNY with goals either side of half time.I'm going to go with a Red Bulls win as well. I don't know how dominant we can be without Rafa Marquez, but I'm betting Tchani, Ballouchy (and maybe even Robinson) will get the job done for us. Hopefully TH14 and JPA will put on their good shooting boots today and we'll see a few RBNY goals by them. My prediction: Red Bulls 3, KC 0.
Homebrew Tim has this for us:
Lord knows I don't like our play as much when Rafa Marquez is absent from our starting XI, which is a possibility tonight. (Nothing sums up the state of MLS quite like the announcement, "Now entering the game for Rafa Marquez: Seth Stammler.") However, Kansas City just isn't that good, and we are playing well right now. We whipped the Wizards on the road on our first match back from the World Cup break, 3-0, in a match that included a pair of nice goals from JPA. With Rafa on the pitch, we take this game 3-0. Without him, we'll let one past our center backs, and win 3-1. Either way, I see a Red Bull victory our ticket to the playoffs being punched. Goals from Henry, Ballouchy, and Tchani.Last, but not least, the great You Suck Corrales has this for us:
I am calling for an epic mauling of KCW tonight. This will be Mr. DWI's last match in charge of Kansas City as the Red Bulls absolutely run them out of the Cathedral. I am thinking 5-0. Once we score KC will have to go all out as they try to salvage their season. They will be horribly exposed and the boys will have a field day firing away at that Danish guy. The 23,000 plus who show up will thoroughly enjoy the KC carnage. I tell you, this marketing scheme is becoming very fun to experience.Alrighty then! Don't forget the Unofficial Woly Retirement Party before the game today. We'll be back in day, or two, with our Award Winning stupid videos and match analysis. Viper Out!
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