Interstate 95 rivals New York Red Bulls and New England Revolution clashed at Giants Stadium on Saturday for the third and final time this regular season. New England entered this match already qualified for the MLS Cup playoffs while the Red Bulls are still struggling for points at a crucial point in the season.
The New York Red Bulls dominated the entire three match series against New England and was defintely the better of the two teams, but this was not visible by simply looking at the scoreline. The rivalry heated up at the very first minute of the first match which took place on Saturday July 14th at Gaints Stadium. Despite creating any chances and dominating the entire game, the Red Bulls lost this one 1-0. The second meeting at Foxboro near Boston on Saturday August 25th was even worse as the Red Bulls suffered a 2-1 loss at the hands of New England. At this match, the Red Bulls were clearly the better of the two teams but an unfortunate own goal gave New England the game winner at the 80th minute. The score was 1-1 until then, but Red Bulls player Carlos Mendes passed the ball to Red Bulls goalie Jon Conway from forty yards away only for Conway to misjudge the pass and see the ball trickle right into the back of the goal conceding a gift of three points to New England who clearly did not deserve it and extended the gap betweent he two teams by nine points in the standings at that point in the season. What was even more unfortunate was the fact that Red Bulls goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus, arguably one of the best goalies in Red Bulls franchise hisotry, could not make the trip up north due to personal reasons, giving Conway, a reserve, the chance to start. This match did, however, see Livingston, New Jersey native and US Under 20 World Cup star Jozy Altidore score his eigth career goal.
The match at Giants Stadium this past Saturday night gave the Red Bulls one final chance to post a win against the New England Revolution. Again, the Red Bulls did dominate the entire match, but only managed a disspointing 2-2 draw giving both teams only a point in the standings. The first goal was scored 22 minutes into the match by New England's Taylor Twellman, who has become rather well known for his participation in the US national team's Gold Cup squad this summer. The red Bulls answered fifteen minutes with the equalizer. The goal was scored by Francis Doe giving him his first gaol of the season and was assisted by Dane Richards. Doe and Richards are two players unkown to most Red BUlls fans but came out as heroes against the Revolution. The scoreline remained the same frot he rest of the first half. Second half scoring opened once again by Twellman at the 70th minute giving him his 14th goal of the season and putting New England in the lead once again in the lead. Juan Pablo Angel, a contender for the MLS MVP award, scored his 16th goal of the season and the equalizer for the Red Bulls six minutes before the final whistle giving the Red Bulls only a point in the standings.
These results put the Red Bulls in third place in the Eastern Conference standings with 38 points and below Interstate 95 rivals DC United (first place with 50 points) and New England (second with 46 points). Both of these teams have clinched MLS Cup playoff spots. At this point in the regular season, the Red Bulls can still qualify, but if things stay as they are now, they may end up playing the New England Revolution two more times in the two-legged first round of the playoffs. All three of these teams have played 26 games each and only have four more matches remaining this season. The following is the schedule and my prediction for the remaining Red Bulls matches this season:
Saturday 9/29 vs Real Salt Lake (televized nationally on Fox Soccer channel): This match is expected to be an automatic win for the Red Bulls and an easy chance for the Red Bulls to pocket three points. This western conference team is currently in fifth place in the Western Conferece standings with only 23 points in 26 matches and only the Los Angeles Galaxy below them. However, the one other time that the Red Bulls met with this team resulted in a 3-3 draw and the Red Bulls were unable to stop a Real Salt Lake comeback. However, this was an away match for the Red Bulls and being that the Red Bulls have an 8-3-2 record at home and assuming that Red Bull coach Bruce Arena is smart enough to start players like Claudio Reyna, Juan Pablo Angel, Altidore, and Clint Mathis, the Red Bulls could win this one easily with talent liek this.
Thursday 10/4 at Toronto FC (televized nationally on ESPN 2): Newcomers this seaosn to Major League Soccer, Toronto has failed to make a huge impression. The Red bulls are currently 2-0 against this team (2-1 away, 3-0 home). If the Red Bulls manage to lose this one, I would be really surprised.
Saturday 10/13 vs Kansas City Wizards (televized on MSG 2): This is the final home match for the Red Bulls and this team is defintely tougher than the two teams that will be facing before this. Currently two points below the Red Bulls in the standings in fourth place in the East, this match will probably even ore crucial for Kansas City than it will be for the third place Red Bulls. Their current reconrd against Kansas City is 0-1-1 (3-2 away loss, 3-3 home draw). Being that the Red Bulls have a good record at home (8-3-2) and their match against the Wizards at home was a nail-biter for all fans, this match can go either way. However, Kansas City will be going into this game after meeting an almost unstoppable DC United team at home a week before. My Prediction: 2-1 Red Bulls.
Thrusday 10/18 at Los Angeles Galaxy (televized nationally on ESPN 2): The Red Bulls will end their reuglar season in Home Depot Center against West Coast rival LOs Angeles Galaxy. The Red Bulls have met the Galaxy twice this season, one of which was a 3-1 loss in a qualifying match for the US Open Cup and had no bearing on the regular season standings. However, it was against David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy that the Red Bulls played their most thrilling and high scoring game of the season in front of 66,237 fans in Giants Stadium, a record for any soccer match in the United States in the last few years. In this match, David Beckham did take part in assiitng the Galaxy in 3 of their goals, but he failed to create much magic in the second half and could not penetrate the outstanding Red Bull defense as New York defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy 5-4 in arguably the most exciting match in the history of Major League Soccer. It was defintely the most popular with over 60,000 spectators, many of which have not ever seen a soccer game live before. With David Beckham out for the rest of the season, the Red Bulls have a good chance to win against Los Angeles once again, although they may not be able to make a repeat of that magical night. However, since the Galaxy is close to the bottom of the playoff standings, Landon Donovan and the Los Angeles Galaxy will definitely make a greater effort to win this match. I tie may be possible in this match but I do not see the Red Bulls losing.
For more information regarding the New York Red Bulls and too witness their rush to the 2007 MLS Cup, check out the New York Bulls official website.
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