MLS Red Bull New York

New York Red Bulls Weekly Update

Published on November 25, 2008 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Red Bull New York News Release


"CINDERELLA BULLS" FALL TO CREW IN MLS CUP FINAL: After being the surprise team of the 2008 MLS playoffs, the New York Red Bulls' journey to its first MLS Cup ended at the final, where it lost to the Columbus Crew, 3-1, at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA Sunday afternoon. Over 5,000 Red Bulls fans were on hand to witness the match as the teams played in front of an announced sellout of 27,000 people.

Through the Red Bulls had the better of the chances in the first third of the game, Columbus got on the scoreboard first in the 31st minute when Alejandro Moreno latched onto a Guillermo Barros Schelotto pass and sent a 12-yard shot from the right side past the outstretched arms of a diving Danny Cepero and into the side netting.

The Red Bulls leveled the match just six minutes into the second half when forward John Wolyniec finished a perfect pass from Dane Richards in the penalty box with an outstretched left foot and re-directed the ball into the net past Will Hesmer. For Wolyniec, it was his second goal of the 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs.

However, Columbus went back on top just two minutes later when Barros Schelotto curled a corner kick into the area and Chad Marshall headed it home through traffic for a 2-1 Crew lead. Columbus defender Frankie Hejduk finished the scoring in the 82nd minute when he nodded a Schelotto chip into the box past Cepero. Barros Schelotto finished the match with three assists and the 2008 MLS Most Valuable Player also ended up earning the game's MVP award.

The New York Red Bulls had a Cinderella-like run to the MLS Cup. In the opening round of the playoffs, the Red Bulls, the last team to qualify for the playoffs, knocked out the two-time defending MLS Cup Champion Houston Dynamo on Nov. 9, winning the two-game aggregate series, 4-1. Then, the Red Bulls traveled to Salt Lake City and captured the Western Conference title with a 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake on Nov. 15.

BULLS QUALIFY FOR CHAMPS LEAGUE: By reaching the MLS Cup game, the Red Bulls have qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time in franchise history. Inclusion in this prestigious International Tournament will add several matches to the Red Bulls' 2009 schedule. The winner of the competition qualifies for the FIFA Club World Cup. The CONCACAF Champions League is comprised of clubs from Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Belize, as well as three clubs from the Caribbean Zone, which includes countries such as Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago.

RETURNING HOME: The Red Bulls returned to the New York/New Jersey area Monday, flying via charter jet to Newark Airport and landing at 7 PM ET. All of the players underwent season-ending physicals. The next time the team will be together will be in late January, as the 2009 preseason kicks off.

A YEAR TO REMEMBER: Despite falling to Columbus last Sunday in the MLS Cup Final, 2008 marked a historic season for the Red Bulls.

- The Red Bulls qualified for the playoffs for the tenth season in their 13-year history, which is tied for the most with three other franchises. Their current streak of six-straight playoff appearances is second only to the New England Revolution's seven-straight playoff appearances.

- New York qualified for only its second conference final and first-ever MLS Cup Final, doing so after missing important players including Jozy Altidore (transfer to Villarreal), Claudio Reyna (retirement), Jeff Parke (suspension), Jon Conway (suspension) and Seth Stammler (injury).

- Through this, a number of young players emerged and played important roles for the Red Bulls.

o Second-year goalkeeper Danny Cepero, who became the first goalkeeper ever to score in MLS on Oct. 18, started in the Red Bulls' last six games. In the three games leading up to the MLS Cup Final, Cepero allowed just one goal.

o Second-year midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic and rookie Luke Sassano started all four postseason games for New York in central midfield.

o Defender Diego Jimenez, 22, started in the center of the defense for all of the Red Bulls' playoff games.

- The Red Bulls improved their record against Western Conference opponents in the playoffs to 5-1-2 and are now 8-14-5 all-time after going 2-1-1 this year.

- Forward John Wolyniec scored the first-ever goal for the Red Bulls in an MLS Cup Final.

- In his second year, forward Juan Pablo Angel continued his reputation as being one of the League's top forwards, scoring 14 goals. His 33 goals in the past two years is the most in MLS (D.C. United's Luciano Emilio is second with 31). Angel scored two goals in the playoffs.

- The Red Bulls posted a 9-3-3 record at Giants Stadium for the second-straight season.

ANGEL LEADS THE WAY: Forward Juan Pablo Angel scored 12 goals in his last 15 regular season and was one of the hottest players in the League in the second half of the season. Angel, who had 14 goals in the regular season, led the Eastern Conference in goals. Angel finished fourth in goals in MLS, behind Los Angeles' Landon Donovan (20), FC Dallas' Kenny Cooper (18) and Los Angeles' Edson Buddle (15).

Since joining the Red Bulls last season, Angel has scored at a historic rate, as he has found the back of the net 33 times in 47 regular season games played for New York. That works out to a 0.702 strike rate for the Colombian international, a number that is the best all-time for the New York franchise (minimum of 35 games played). Players with strike rates over .400 are listed.

Rank Name Goals Games Strike Rate

1. Juan Pablo Angel 33 47 0.702

2. Giovanni Savarese 41 85 0.482

3. Clint Mathis 39 93 0.419

4. Adolfo Valencia 21 48 0.438

5. Rodrigo Faria 20 49 0.408

6. Alex Comas 15 37 0.405

Jozy Altidore 15 37 0.405

Angel is racing up New York's all-time goals scored list. Entering this season (his first full season with the organization), Angel ranked seventh all-time, but has steadily climbed the list this season and surpassed Amado Guevara for sole possession of third place. (Players with 20 or more goals scored in a New York uniform listed).

Rank Name Goals GP

1. Giovanni Savarese 41 85

2. Clint Mathis 39 93

3. Juan Pablo Angel 33 47

4. Amado Guevara 32 103

5. John Wolyniec 24 119

6. Mike Magee 23 130

7. Adolfo Valencia 21 48

8. Rodrigo Faria 20 49

Angel is also second in Red Bulls history in multi-goal games after his two-goal performance against Columbus on Oct. 18, surpassing Clint Mathis.

Rank Name Multi-Goal Games

1. Giovanni Savarese 10

2. Juan Pablo Angel 7

3. Clint Mathis 6

JOHN ON THE SPOT: Red Bulls forward John Wolyniec made a significant impact in the 2008 MLS Cup playoffs, scoring two goals in the team's run to the MLS Cup Final. Wolyniec became the first player in club history to score in the MLS Cup Final, when he slid home a Dane Richards through ball to tie the game's score at 1.

Wolyniec made his first start since Sept. 13 against Real Salt Lake and he did not disappoint, earning an assist on Juan Pablo Angel's goal in the team's 1-1 tie against Houston in the first leg of the Red Bulls-Dynamo Western Conference Semifinal Series on Nov. 1.

In the second leg, Wolyniec scored his first-ever postseason goal, tapping home a Dane Richards cross in the team's 3-0 win. Wolyniec, who leads the team with 12 playoff appearances, made 19 appearances and five starts in the regular season, notching one assist.

DANDY DANNY: With goalkeeper Jon Conway missing due to suspension, Danny Cepero came up big for the Red Bulls at the end of this season. Cepero made seven saves in the club's biggest win in history - a 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference Final on Nov. 15. Cepero was coming off his first-ever shutout, making five stops in a 3-0 win over the Houston Dynamo on Sunday, Nov. 9.

With two games left in the regular season and the Red Bulls clinging onto a playoff spot, Cepero made his first-ever MLS start for the Red Bulls against Columbus on Saturday, Oct. 18 and he made the most of his opportunity. Cepero made two saves in New York's 3-1 win over Columbus to keep its playoff hopes alive. To top it off, Cepero made history in the 83rd minute, scoring a goal on a free kick that was over 80-yards long. Cepero became the first goalkeeper in MLS' 13-year history who had scored a goal.

The second-year goalkeeper, drafted by the Red Bulls in the 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft in the fourth round (46th overall) from the University of Pennsylvania, was loaned to the Harrisburg City Islanders of the United Soccer Leagues' Second Division earlier this year. In Harrisburg, he started in 18 games, earning a 1.00 goals against average and six shutouts. Cepero returned to the Red Bulls from Harrisburg on Aug. 20. Cepero hails from nearby Baldwin, NY, and attended Baldwin High School.

RED BULLS RELEASE UNPROTECTED LIST FOR EXPANSION DRAFT: On Monday, the Red Bulls released the club's list of unprotected players for Wednesday's MLS Expansion Draft at 1 PM ET, when Seattle Sounders FC, MLS' 15th team, will select 10 players to add to their roster. They may not pick more than one player from any of the 14 MLS teams. Every MLS team was able to protect 11 players.

The Red Bulls' unprotected list is below:

New York Red Bulls

Goalkeepers: Terry Boss, Caleb Patterson-Sewell

Defenders: Andrew Boyens, Gabriel Cichero, John Gilkerson, Diego Jimenez, Chris Leitch, Carlos Mendes, Jeff Parke

Midfielders: Danleigh Borman, Gordon Kljestan, Mike Magee, Matthew Mbuta, Michael Palacio, Juan Pietravallo, David Roth

Forwards: Oscar Echeverry, Sainey Touray, John Wolyniec

The Red Bulls protected the following 11 players:

Goalkeepers: Danny Cepero, Jon Conway

Defender: Kevin Goldthwaite

Midfielders: Dane Richards, Jorge Rojas, Luke Sassano, Seth Stammler, Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Dave van den Bergh

Forwards: Juan Pablo Angel, Macoumba Kandji

The expansion draft details are listed below:

MLS Expansion Draft Rules

Senior Roster

Teams may protect 11 players between their Senior and their Developmental Roster.

If the Player's contract expires at the end of 2008, he will still be considered part of the team's Senior Roster.

If a team protects a player, it is not obligated to exercise the player's option. The team may renegotiate a new budget number for the player as in previous years.

If a player retires, he will not be a part of the Senior Roster, but his team will lose its right of first refusal to him should he ultimately decide to play.

Developmental Roster

Players on a team's Developmental Roster, other than Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2008 season, may be left unprotected and are eligible may be selected by Seattle in the expansion draft.

Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2008 season are automatically protected (teams do not have to protect them).

If Seattle Sounders FC select a Developmental Player they must offer him a Senior Roster position and he must be on Seattle's Senior Roster as of Roster Compliance Date.

International Players

Teams are restricted in the number of international player(s) that they may make available per the table set forth below.

For purposes of this expansion process, for U.S.-based teams, any non-domestic U.S. player would count as an International and for Toronto FC, any non-domestic U.S. player or non-domestic Canadian player would count as an International.

Designated Players

Designated Players do not have to be protected unless the player has a no trade clause in which case he must be protected.

Maximum Player Loss

Once a player has been claimed from a team's non-protected roster, that team is eliminated from the expansion draft and may not lose any further players.

Right to Renegotiate

Seattle will have the right to renegotiate a drafted player's salary (either up or down) without having to place such player on waivers or giving his previous Team a right of first refusal.

Priority

On the first day of the Discovery/Allocation Period, Seattle will have priority over players who played professionally in the USL First or Second Division in 2008, subject to another MLS team's right of first refusal.

Rounds

The expansion draft will be 10 rounds.

INTERNATIONAL PLAYER PROTECTION REQUIREMENT

Teams may make available a number of international players equal to their total number of international players minus 3, provided that if a team has 3 or less international players it may make available not more than 1.

2009 SEASON TICKETS ARE ON SALE: New York Red Bulls 2009 season tickets are on sale now to the general public through the Red Bulls front office and team website (www.newyorkredbulls.com). By becoming a season ticket holder - a Red Bulls Member - in 2009, fans will be assigned a Priority Number for the seat relocation process which will guarantee each Red Bulls Member a seat in the Red Bulls new 25,000-seat soccer-specific stadium -- Red Bull Arena, under construction in Harrison, New Jersey. Red Bulls Members with a Priority Number will have the first chance to pick their seat locations at Red Bull Arena based on their number. To purchase 2009 season tickets, please call 1.877.RBSOCCER or log onto www.newyorkredbulls.com.

As a Red Bulls Member, fans receive a ticket to all 2009 Red Bulls Matches, including playoffs, a Priority Number for Red Bull Arena, Members-only access to the Bulls' Corner Pub both pre-game and post-game, a Ticket Exchange Program for unused tickets, invitations to exclusive Meet the Team Day Events, a RBNY hooded sweatshirt made by adidas (one per seat on account), access to the Red Bulls priority purchase windows for select international matches at Giants Stadium and much more. As a Bull's Eye Member, fans receive all the same benefits, plus access to a private lounge for complimentary pre-game hospitality and a season parking pass.

Red Bull New York also announced that there will be no increase in season ticket pricing from 2008. Plus, for 2009, the Red Bulls announced a new price category - Endline Bull's Eye seating -- of which there are only 56 available seats. For just $882 per seat, a fan can sit in the front row in the East End Zone and enjoy all of the benefits of a Bull's Eye Membership.

Pricing for Full Season Tickets for 2009 are as follows:

Seat Location Price Per Seat

Bull's Eye Memberships

Bull's Eye (North and South Touchlines) $1,088

*NEW*Endline Bull's Eye (East End Zone) $882

Red Bulls Memberships

Midfield (Adult) $528

Midfield (Youth) $352

Sideline (Adult) $368

Sideline (Youth) $256

Corner Flag $272

GET YOUR RED BULLS HOLIDAY PACK: The New York Red Bulls Holiday Pack is on sale now starting at $89.95 by calling 1.877.RBSOCCER. The pack includes four tickets to the Red Bulls 2009 Home Opener (date and opponent TBD), one Red Bulls cinch pack, two Red Bulls long-sleeve T-shirts and 2 Red Bulls beanies. Fans can save over 40-percent by purchasing the pack by logging onto www.newyorkredbulls.com or calling 1.877.RBSOCCER.

Check out the Red Bull New York Statistics

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Major League Soccer Stories from November 25, 2008


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