WTF is wrong with Curtain? Dude is whiter than his uniform. Now that he's in SoCal, he needs to get outside more often. I had to turn the contrast down on my monitor just to view the picture.
Another Colombian forward in camp with the Red Bulls: COLOMBIAN CONNECTION: Red Bulls bring Echeverry into camp Here's a picture of Echeverry in action with Atletico Nacional: Apparently, Echeverry had just left Atletico Nacional and joined Millonarios. This article states that Echeverry is 30 years old and has converted 27 goals in 203 first division games (not a prolific scorer, if you ask me). Also, he played 17 games with Atletico Nacional last season and scored 0 goals. That's right, 0 goals.
If we sign a dud player like that for more than a $30k salary, there would have to be some sleazy business going on. I'd seriously have to wonder if Octavio Zambrano and his kickback machine is back in charge.
http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/article.php?article_id=13046 It looks like Serna might not make the team.
Dude, that is the last thing we need here again. I know JCO worked under OZ but i sure hope he didn't pick up THAT nasty little dirty dealing habit from him.
That's how it works all over the world. Not everyone plays that game but ALOT do. Hey why do you think that certain players ask for guaranteed playing time?
RBNY have 2-0 just 13 min into the game... first one a counterattack and second one a penalty by Angel. 28th min: 3-0. Our goalie missed the ball at a cornerkick and some RBNY player easily headed in 3-0.
This is our first pre season game. I think 5-6 players in the starting line up would start in the league in april.
Its our second preseason game, so i'd say we are roughtly at the same point. I would assume NY is playing as close to a first team as possible the first 45 and the second team and trialists mostly in the second 45. EDIT: Actually looking at the first XI today: Only Reyna, Angle, Kovolenko, Richards and Conway are regular starters.
Here is the starting second half line-up: Hammarby score: http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/02/mls-pre-season.html
Just updated: http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/02/mls-pre-season.html PRE-SEASON WIN: Red Bulls down Hammarby, 3-1
Apparently, when the LA Galaxy say closed-door, they really mean closed-door these days. I wasn't able to watch the Galaxy's scrimmage vs. UCLA, but I needed my live soccer fix, so I went and watched the Red Bulls play Hammarby instead. From what I could see, the first-half lineup wasn't quite a 3-4-1-2 as Ives says, more like a 4-4-2 "Y" with Reyna playing deep and in front of Kovalenko. It actually looked to me like David Roth (wearing #5, and playing very well, both of which bode well for his chances at making the roster) was playing left back, and Sinisa Ubiparipovic was playing left wing, though Roth and Ubiparipovic interchanged quite a bit. The first half back line wasn't all that severely tested, as Hammarby attacked mainly up their left wing and Kovalenko and Leitch stopped everything. The second half was an actual 3-5-2. Borman (#12) was active on the left wing and served up some good crosses, but needed a lot of "coaching" from Cepero and Mendes on his defensive positioning. I don't know if he's ever played the wingback role before. Fitness also seemed to be a bit of an issue later on in the half, though this is obviously the case with a lot of players just coming out of college. Nunez looked decent as a central playmaker, but didn't get a lot of chances to impress as the Red Bulls were pinned in their half for most of the second half. Stammler pretty much singlehandedly kept the defense from getting overrun - other than Mendes, the second half defenders weren't doing well. Palguta (#22 on the left) was technically sound, but exposed by pace - he might be OK in MLS as a center back in a 4-back set, but definitely doesn't have the speed to play in a back three. On the right side, Niziolek (#38) was turned inside out when Hammarby scored, and didn't look comfortable on the ball at all. One final note that Ives didn't mention: Luke Sassano exited the game around the 85th minute with some kind of injury. Wolyniec re-entered to replace him, and turned out to be a quite serviceable defensive midfielder.
More Red Bulls tidbits from Ives, including: Also, Ives speculates that either Parke or Mendes and either Stammler or Kovalenko will be traded. Red Bulls training camp update
Why don't they drop DVB at that salary and keep Dema - although I wouldn't be shocked to see Dema's contract re-worked - I love him, but he is not worth 200k. Seth Stammler makes 105k now? Wow. Knowing the way this franchise has always worked, we will trade Jeff Parke just to ******** with 101.
Things are stating to make sense, at least in my mind. Dema gets traded to the Fire for Conde, and Stammler slides into the DM role.
I do not believe Stammler is a good holding midfielder when he played in that slot he is often out of position. I believe keeping Dema and using Stammler a trade bait and if the RBNY can't find that attacking midfielder then they should stick with 3-4-1-2 with the starting 11 like this: -----Angel--Altidore (Echeverry)---- ----------Doe-------------- TBD--Reyna----Dema---Richards TBD-------Conde? (Parke)---Freeman