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MLS New York Red Bulls

New York Red Bulls Weekly Update

March 30, 2009 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
New York Red Bulls News Release


RED BULLS HEAD TO WINDY CITY: The New York Red Bulls kick off a two-game road swing when they travel to face Eastern Conference rival, the Chicago Fire, at Toyota Park at 3 PM ET on Sunday, April 5 (TV: MSG, TeleFutura).

New York is coming off a 1-1 tie with the New England Revolution at Giants Stadium in the team's home opener. The Red Bulls were able to get ahead in the first half through a Jay Heaps own goal. However, forward Kenny Mansally was able to slot one past goalkeeper Danny Cepero in the 90th minute to prevent the Red Bulls (0-1-1, 1 pt.) from earning their first win of the season.

The Red Bulls will face a Chicago Fire (1-0-1, 4 pts.) squad that has gone unbeaten in this young MLS season. After earning a 3-1 win over FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park on March 28, the Fire earned a 1-1 tie against D.C. United at RFK Stadium last Saturday. United forward Luciano Emilio put the hosts in front in the 7th minute with a long-distance strike. However, Patrick Nyarko tied the game in the 53rd minute. The Fire was missing defenders Gonzalo Segares and Bakary Soumare due to international commitments.

Last season as the second seed in the Eastern Conference, the Fire made it to the Eastern Conference Final, before falling to the eventual MLS Cup Final winner, the Columbus Crew, 2-1. Chicago enjoyed success against New York in 2008, going a perfect 3-0-0. The Fire earned a 5-1 win at Giants Stadium on May 25 and 1-0 and 5-2 victories at Toyota Park on Sept. 6 and Oct. 23, respectively. Forward Chris Rolfe, who tallied a hat trick in the Oct. 23 victory, has scored five goals and two assists in eight games against New York while Fire Designated Player Cuauhtemoc Blanco recorded two goals and five assists in four games. Red Bulls forward Juan Pablo Angel is tied for the club record for goals scored against the Fire with five goals in six games.

This is the first of two meetings between the two rivals this season. The Fire will visit New York on May 24. All-time, the Red Bulls are 10-18-6 versus the Fire and 3-10-4 on the road. The Red Bulls' head coach Juan Carlos Osorio was previously with the Fire during the second half of the 2007 season, going 6-3-6 and leading Chicago to the Eastern Conference Final.

MSG AIRS FIRST RED BULLS GAME OF SEASON ON APRIL 5 - Madison Square Garden network airs the first of its 20 Red Bulls games this Sunday when the Red Bulls visit Chicago. Air time is 3 PM ET. Back in the booth this season is the duo of Steve Cangialosi and Shep Messing. For Cangialosi, this will be his second season as the play-by-play voice and eighth overall covering soccer. Messing, the former New York Cosmos goalkeeper, is back for his eighth season providing his broad knowledge as an analyst. Eddie Caggianelli returns as the producer for Red Bulls games and Tina Cervasio will serve as the host and sideline reporter on home matches.

MSG and the Red Bulls announced on Feb. 12, 2009, that they had agreed to a multi-year extension. MSG has had the television rights for the past past 13 years. This season, MSG will also air a post-game show for all home telecasts, beginning with the April 18 home match against Real Salt Lake.

RED BULLS TIE REVS: The New York Red Bulls opened the home portion of their 2009 season at Giants Stadium Saturday night with a 1-1 tie against the visiting New England Revolution. New York took the early lead in the 35th minute on an own goal by Revolution defender Jay Heaps. Red Bulls midfielder and former Revolution player Khano Smith played a cross across the box that was deflected into the New England net by Heaps. The Red Bulls held off the Revolution attack until the final minute of regulation time when Kenny Mansally finished a Shalrie Joseph pass in the box, earning New England a point.

The Red Bulls had a number of changes to close out the match in the final quarter hour, including a Juan Pablo Angel header in the 75th minute from six yards out off a Dane Richards cross that Revolution goalkeeper Brad Knighton stopped on the goal line.

LAST WEEK: Red Bulls 1, New England Revolution 1 on March 28 at Giants Stadium

THIS WEEK: Red Bulls at Chicago Fire on April 5 at 3:00 PM ET at Toyota Park (TV: MSG, TeleFutura; Radio: WADO 1280)

NEXT WEEK: Red Bulls at Houston Dynamo on April 11 at 7:30 PM ET at Giants Stadium (TV: Fox Soccer Channel; Radio: WQBU 92.7)

FULL SEASON TICKET FREEZE: The Red Bulls announced Monday that ticket pricing for the 2010 season in its new soccer-specific stadium -- Red Bull Arena - Built by Makita, scheduled to open next year in Harrison, NJ -- will be frozen for 2009 full season ticketholders. Thus, the price paid by a full season ticket holder this season will be the price they pay for the first season in Red Bull Arena next year.

"As a thank you to our most loyal fans for their continued support, we have decided to freeze pricing for the first season in Red Bull Arena," said Erik Stover, Red Bull New York Managing Director. "We have a very loyal fan base that has waited a long time for Red Bull Arena to be built. Not only will they be the first in line for seats, they will also receive this additional price freeze."

Current full season ticket holders will receive the 2009 ticket price in any non-premium seating area in Red Bull Arena. Bull's Eye Members will also receive the 'frozen' price should they select a seat in any non-premium seating area at Red Bull Arena. Fans who elect to purchase premium seating will be subject to a new pricing structure. Details surrounding pricing and benefits for premium seating options will be announced in the near future.

Fans who purchase full season plans for the 2009 season by June 19, 2009, will join the priority list for access to seats in Red Bull Arena. Those purchasing by this date will also receive the 2009 price freeze.

Pricing for 2009 full season adult seats: Bull's Eye ($1088/$882), Midfield ($528), Sideline ($368) and Corner Flag ($272). For more information on Red Bull Arena seating or to join the priority list, contact the Red Bulls at 1.877.RBSOCCER or log on to www.newyorkredbulls.com.

HALL OF FAME: Red Bulls defender Jeremy Hall made his first MLS start against New England last Saturday. This came after he made his MLS debut on Thursday, March 19, coming on in the 34th minute for Andrew Boyens. Hall was selected in the first round (11th overall) of the 2009 MLS SuperDraft out of the University of Maryland. An attacking midfielder in college, Hall has been converted to right back - a position he's played during his time in the U.S. Youth National Team system.

OPENING SUCCESS: The Red Bulls have gone unbeaten in their last six home openers (3-0-3) and is 7-3-3 all-time. Their last loss in a home opener was against the Columbus Crew on April 12, 2003 - a 1-0 defeat. New York has never lost to the Revolution in five home openers, going 3-0-2 with wins coming in 1997, 2001 and 2002. New York drew, 0-0, with New England on April 8, 2006. New York has gone 9-3-3 in each of the past two regular seasons at Giants Stadium.

RED BULLS-REVOLUTION POST-GAME: Here was the reaction after the Red Bulls-Revolution match on March 28:

NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH JUAN CARLOS OSORIO

On the match:

"I just told the guys I felt sorry for them. After a hard fought game, we basically gave that point away. I did say that we competed really well against a very tough team. They had a couple of good chances in the first half; we had the better play in the second half. We could have killed the game on Juan Pablo (Angel)'s chance by Mac (Kandji). But that wasn't the case, and towards the end of the game, when the game was almost over, it looked to me like Mac Kandji was injured, and instead of looking to really what happened to him, we just kept playing. I think it was Dominic (Oduro) pulled him up and just let him play and (New England) played a long ball and that was it."

On the equalizer:

"I thought that was naivety, we have to be cleverer than that. It's the last minute of the game, Mac (Kandji) has been pulled, kicked, he's hustling for the ball; he went down and instead of... It looks to me like when he was down, instead of our official going to look at him, Dominic (Oduro) rushed him back and (we were) just not prepared to defend the long ball."

On the club's record against New England:

"I don't let that bother me; I take one game at a time. I remember last year here, they scored on (Jeff) Larentowicz free kick - (a goal) similar to this one. I'll try to move away from that and just prepare for next time we play them, just prepare the team better and try to win the game."

On the decision of sitting Mike Petke:

"I wanted to, because of (Kenny) Mansally and (Kheli) Dube - two quick strikers. I wanted to have a quick defender and a tall defender that could compete in the air. Kevin (Goldthwaite) is my only left footed (defender), so that was the upper hand on Kevin (Goldthwaite), and obviously Carlos Mendes is the quicker of the two."

On Danleigh Borman's performance:

"In my opinion, Danleigh Borman was our best player in the first half. I think I'm pleased with that decision and if I look to the 90 minutes, I recall one cross from Danleigh (Borman)'s side and it was by (Shalrie) Joseph, and it was in the last minute of the first half. So I am quite pleased with Danleigh Borman's performance."

NEW YORK RED BULLS GOALKEEPER DANNY CEPERO

On New England's game-tying goal:

"To be honest, I have to take another look at it because it was such a devastating goal to give up so late in the game that all I can see right now is that ball bouncing in the net. Remembering it now, I think maybe myself and Kevin Goldthwaite were a little slow to react to the play in general. As a team, I think we could have done better in terms of game management, controlling the tempo, those last four or five minutes. Especially that last run of play where they popped in through for the goal. Aside from that, I have to take another look at it, but we obviously could have done better."

On how difficult it is giving up a goal so late:

"It's devastating, to put it mildly. You put in 89 minutes of really hard work. I thought we played well throughout the match, and then to break down for 15 or 20 seconds, it's so frustrating. I hope it's something that we take to heart and really use to motivate us. Because we can talk about motivating after a 3-0 loss to Seattle, but this hurts just as bad, because we're at home against an injured, weakened New England team in terms of their starting lineup, and a chance to get three points just slips through our fingers. I think it's something we really have to focus on improving and really, as cliché as it is, play 90 minutes."

On how the team bounces back next game:

"It's going to be tough to go back on the road, tough to bounce back. But I think we put in a good performance over 89 minutes, and that's something completely opposite of Seattle, where we didn't string together any real good football. We played well, kept the ball, controlled the tempo for most of the time, and aside from that, we had a small breakdown and unfortunately, it's a goal. That aside, there's a lot to build on the positive side in terms of how we played and how we executed."

NEW YORK RED BULLS FORWARD JUAN PABLO ANGEL

On giving up a goal in the last minute of the game:

"We felt like we lost the game. But on the other hand, I think there were a lot of positives today, the team played a lot better than we did in the first game. But we still didn't get the three points and I think we should have done it. It's a lesson that we have to learn. There were a lot of players that were trying to adjust and adapt to this environment. But in general, I think it was a very good game for us."

On playing with forward Macoumba Kandji:

"This is our second game together, I think he played a very good game. He probably could have scored chances he had, but in general I think he was a handful during the match. Hopefully as the games go by, we will start to create a partnership that I haven't really had in a year and half here."

On why the Red Bulls struggle to beat New England:

"That is a great question, very hard to answer. I thought we did a lot of good things today but it certainly wasn't enough. This game is about winning football matches and we weren't able to do it today. We did it for 90 minutes but the game wasn't over, and we ended up conceding a goal that from our point of view, I think it was a very cheap goal. For 90 minutes, we defended really well but at the end of the day, it was 1-1, we couldn't materialize the hard work that we did the majority of the day with three points."

NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER KHANO SMITH

On playing against his former team:

"It was good to get out there in my first game with New York. I wasn't really looking at it like I was playing against my old team. Sometimes, it felt just like a training session because I had played against them in practice for four years. It was a strange feeling but I had to get over it. Their jerseys are blue, ours are white so it was easy to distinguish between the two."

On the game:

"I think we did work hard, we competed. On this surface, you can't really play too much attractive soccer and pass the ball around. The ball bobbles all over the place and the field was wet. We did compete, and it's tough to lose a game on a goal like that, where we just lost concentration."

TRIO ON INTERNATIONAL DUTY: Red Bulls Andrew Boyens (New Zealand), Carlos Johnson (Costa Rica) and Jorge Rojas (Venezuela) were all called up to their respective national teams for international matches last week. As a result, all three were unavailable for selection for the Red Bulls' match against New England last Saturday.

In World Cup qualifying on Saturday, Rojas and Venezuela dropped a 4-0 decision to Argentina at River Plate's El Monumental in Buenos Aires. Rojas started and played 83 minutes. The midfielder drew a yellow card in the 39th minute. Venezuela sits eighth in South American qualifying with a 3-7-1 record (10 points) and will host Colombia in its next qualifier on Tuesday, March 31.

In an International Friendly, Boyens started and played the full 90 for New Zealand in a 3-1 loss to Thailand at Supachalasai National Stadium in Bangkok. New Zealand, which has already won the Oceania Region, awaits the fifth place Asian team for a spot in the World Cup. The All-Whites and Thailand will play another friendly on Tuesday, with Boyens in the projected starting lineup.

Johnson was called up by Costa Rica, but was not among the 18 for the WCQ with Mexico at Estadio Azteca. Costa Rica dropped a 2-0 decision in the meeting, and will continue Third Round CONCACAF play at El Salvador on Wednesday, April 1. Costa Rica currently is tied for second with Mexico in the region at 1-0-1 (3 points).

All three players are expected back in time to be in consideration for Sunday's Red Bulls match at Chicago.

KHANO RETURNS: After serving the last game of a three-game League suspension issued last season on Oct. 25, midfielder Khano Smith started last Saturday night against his former club, the New England Revolution, and made his first appearance as a Red Bull. Smith, who was acquired by the Red Bulls on Feb. 12 from Seattle Sounders FC in exchange for allocation money, spent four seasons with New England before being selected by Seattle in the 2008 MLS Expansion Draft. Smith provided the cross that led to Jay Heaps' own goal in the first half of the Red Bulls' 1-1 tie with the Revolution.

The 6-3, 190-pound Bermuda National Team standout played in 85 games over four seasons for the Revolution, scoring eight goals and 11 assists. In 2008, Smith played in 23 games, started in 18, and scored two goals and three assists. The left-sided midfielder's breakout season came in 2007, when he set career highs in games played (29) and started (26), assists (6) and shots (36). He helped the Revs reach the MLS Cup Final for three-straight years from 2005-07 and win the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2007.

Forward Dominic Oduro, acquired from FC Dallas in the offseason, also made his Red Bulls debut, coming in for Smith in the 77th minute.

U14S, 15S TO COMPETE IN CUP: The New York Red Bulls will be taking two of their Academy teams to Barcelona, Spain, for an international tournament. The U14 Red Bulls, coached by Cris da Silva, and U15 Red Bulls, coached by Stan Lembryk, will be traveling to Spain April 5-13 to compete in the prestigious Mediterranean International Cup.

The youngest Red Bull teams will compete against some of the top youth academies in the world, including Manchester United, FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, the Brazilian National Team and the Mexican National Team in this week long event.

The tournament will prepare for the competition with a friendly against a local academy team in Barcelona upon arrival before taking in the sights and sounds of the city of Barcelona and a tour of Nou Camp, home of FC Barcelona.

The players will also attend a FC Barcelona match when the La Liga side takes on league foe Recreativo Huelva.

"Giving the players opportunities like this is just another way the Red Bulls organization is committed to providing the best possible training and playing environment for the Academy players to reach their full potential," said Director of Youth Programs Bob Montgomery. "We hope that the players can use the experience of playing the best youth teams and players to help them in their soccer development."

For more information on the New York Red Bulls Academy and try out information, please visit RedBullsAcademy.com.

RED BULL ACADEMY UPDATE: MARCH 30

A Look Back:

U20s: Did not play.

U18s: The U18 Red Bulls continued to suffer from injury and sickness woes, but still produced a result in a 0-1-1 week in US Soccer Development Academy League play. On Saturday, March 28, the U18s dropped a 3-0 decision to PA Classics. The injury issues that have plagued the team all season continued. Prior to kick-ff, the U18s lost starting goalkeeper Brandon Paul and starting center back Shiroc Jean-Baptiste due to the flu. In addition, Widner Saint Cyr was injured 10 minutes into the game and could not continue.

"It was always going to be a difficult game against PA Classics, they have two US National Team players and other top level players headed to the top college programs around the country," stated U18 head coach Paul O'Donnell. "They are probably one of the top teams in our division and in order to compete against them you need to be at full strength."

The U18s rebounded on Sunday, March 29 with a 1-1 draw with FC Delco thanks to another injury time goal. In the first half the Red Bulls started very well and controlled the early parts of the game. Dylan Mencia came closest to opening the scoring with a shot off the crossbar. However, the game remained scoreless at halftime. In the second half, the Red Bulls gave away a free kick 25 yards from goal that FC Delco was able to convert to take a 1-0 lead. In injury time the Red Bulls continued to press forward, gained a corner kick and pushed everyone forward in search of an equalizer. FC Delco cleared a Kevin Finnegan header off the line and the ball dropped to Gabe Avans at the top of the box. Avans coolly picked his head up and curled a left footed shot into the upper 90 for the game tying goal.

"The goal from Gabe was truly first class," noted O'Donnell. "He had a tremendous impact on the game and that is the second time in three games that he has come off the bench and scored late for us. Against DC United he scored the winner and today he scored the equalizer."

U16s: The U16s maintained their blistering pace to open the season with two more wins this week to run their unbeaten streak to 15 (12-0-3).

On Saturday, March 28, the U16s beat PA Classics 2-0. Sam Adjei started the scoring in the 41st minute on a good build-up and pass from Oscar Gonzalez. James Raytsin put the game out of reach in the 68th minute on a beautiful pass from Victor Manosalvas. Travis Ives recorded the shutout.

On Sunday, March 29, the team defeated second place FC Delco 1-0. Gonzalez scored a great goal from 25 yards out on a pass from Paul Ehrenworth in the 25th minute. That was all goalkeeper Keith Cardona needed as he recorded the clean sheet.

"We had a lot of different guys help us this weekend," said U16 head coach Rob Elliott. "We put together some very good soccer this weekend and were able to limit chances from both PA Classics and Delco."

NOTE: With Schultz Academy's loss to Clearwater Chargers over the weekend, New York Red Bulls U16s are the only undefeated team left out of the 148 teams participating in the US Soccer Development Academy.

U15s: The U15 Red Bulls had a hard fought, well played game this weekend with Albertson SC on Saturday, March 28. Unfortunately, with less than five minutes remaining the team gave up two goals resulting in their first setback in the newly formed Pre-Academy League, losing 2-0. With several chances in both halves, including two breakaways, the usual high octane offense could not finish on the day. "Sometimes soccer is cruel in that way," said U15 head coach Stan Lembryk. "We had a good solid day; we battled a very good team but just could not put the game away. In the end it's all about gaining experience and learning from the game."

U14s: The U14 Red Bulls played its second Pre-Academy game on Saturday, March 28, taking on Albertson SC. The Red Bulls went ahead 1-0, with Aron Basuljevic scoring off well-taken free kick by Diego Ceron.

"We did a good job of pressuring as a team and winning the ball, something we have struggled with," stated U14 head coach Cris da Silva. "We kept good possession and also created many opportunities to score."

With the 1-0 win, the team improves to 1-0-1.

A Look Ahead:

Sunday April 5- Monday, April 13

U14 Red Bulls at Mediterranean International Cup

U15 Red Bulls at Mediterranean International Cup

Check out the New York Red Bulls Statistics



Major League Soccer Stories from March 30, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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