Palace Baltimore Fall 2-0 To Red Bulls In Exhibition Match

March 13, 2009 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Crystal Palace Baltimore News Release


Baltimore, MD - The New York Red Bulls defeated Crystal Palace Baltimore at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium last night in a pre-season exhibition match. In a reversal of the 2008 US Open Cup score line, the MLS side prevailed 2-0 on goals from Khano Smith late in the first half and former Crystal Palace Baltimore playmaker Matthew Mbuta early in the second.

"We were disappointed with our performance," stated Palace Co-Manager Jim Cherneski. "We played as if we were the lesser team and any time you take that approach, you're going to struggle to get a result."

"We certainly had opportunities," added Palace Co-Manager Pete Medd, "but New York put their chances away."

Both Palace managers bemoaned the plague of injuries that has meant bringing in half a dozen trial players over the past two weeks. "We're disappointed not to be able to play with our best eleven," said Medd. "We'll play a better style of football once everybody's healthy and when the indoor guys are with us. On the plus side, Jordan Seabrook was one trialist who made an impact on the game, and the regular backs played well. Where we were really missing our players last night was in attack."

The first 20 minutes of the match was spent mainly in the middle third of the field as the two sides sized each other up on a chilly night in Annapolis. Shortly after Palace 'keeper Brian Rowland comfortably held on to Jorge Rojas' long-range effort in the 23rd minute, the game suddenly opened up. Andrew Marshall surged upfield, leaving the ball for Shintaro Harada to find Jordan Seabrook breaking into the box. Rather than shooting, Seabrook elected to cut the ball back to Val Teixeira on the penalty spot but the Red Bulls defense had him covered. New York headed straight back to the other end of the field and Rowland had to be at his best to palm away Dane Richards' goal- bound strike from just inside the area.

In the 34th minute, Jordan Seabrook missed a gilt-edged opportunity after a nice first touch to take down Val Texeira's long pass. Seabrook, a 2009 MLS draft 4th round pick for the Colorado Rapids, beat Kevin Goldthwaite and cut in one-on-one with Danny Cepero but the Red Bulls' net-minder made himself big to pull off a great save and keep the score 0-0.

On 41 minutes, Palace should have taken the lead. Jordan Seabrook was involved again as he picked up the ball in his own half, jinked his way past Goldthwaite to the right edge of the penalty area. This time Seabrook's strong cut-back fell to an unmarked Almir Barbosa on the edge of the six yard box. The trialist swung his foot at the ball but failed to make contact.

In the final minute of the first half, the deadlock was finally broken. New York's Khano Smith benefitted from a nice dummy by Juan Pablo Angel, beating the Palace defense and sliding the ball under Rowland to give the Red Bulls the lead going into the break.

The visitors made a host of changes to their lineup for the second half, including bringing on former Palace midfield star, Matthew Mbuta, to replace Dane Richards on the right wing. Mbuta didn't wait long to make his presence felt. John Wolyniec snuck a clever pass to Mbuta inside the box and the young Cameroonian beat Mateus dos Anjos, placing the ball past a helpless Brian Rowland in the Palace net.

A minute later, Dan Lader earned Palace a free kick in a dangerous position, but Shintaro Harada's curling effort sailed just wide of the left post.

Chance were few and far between over the remainder of the contest and the Red Bulls came away with the victory in their final pre-season match before opening up the 2009 MLS season at the Seattle Sounders on March 19.

"It was good to see Matthew," remarked Cherneski on the return of the former Palace player to face his old team. "He was one of the players that caused us the greatest amount of problems last night. He took an excellent goal, did brilliantly with it, beating our defender and finishing calmly. We wish him all the best with the Red Bulls - we hope he excels."

Palace's next match is another exhibition affair, this time against the Rochester Rhinos of USL-1. That game kicks off at 7:30pm back at Palace's regular home venue of UMBC Stadium on Friday April 3.



United Soccer League Championship Stories from March 13, 2009


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