Here’s a nice new Red Bull Arena ad, featuring Jeremy Hall. (H/T to the Vipers Nest)

Juan Pablo Angel will lead the Red Bulls again, who else will step up? (Getty Images)

Its been a little while since we did a preseason look in on a MLS club. We hammered out about half of the league already but with the on-going CBA issue things like this had to take a backseat for a little while. Well today we’re back on the horse and continue on our preseason coverage here.

Today we have the New York Red Bulls. A lot of talk always surrounds this club each year and 2010 will be no different as the club has a new arena (finally) and a new direction in terms of management (yet again). Hans Backe is now the manager with Eric Solar leading the charge in the front office when it comes to player moves. No longer is it Juan Carlos Osorio making ill-advised moves with Jeff Agoos.

The thing is will it actually matter? Will the Solar/Backe move actually pay off and New York shines in their first season in the mecca that will be Red Bull Arena? Time will tell but we can say that anything should be an improvement on last year’s product.

So let’s see where New York is with each part of their roster and what further moves are needed to be made before the season kicks off.

Continue Reading…

Nothing like living as a soccer player, or at least one that gets paid about the same as the guy behind the counter at your local Burger King. A good little video put together by the New York Red Bulls with rookies Jeremy Hall and Nick Zimmerman.

You think they get free Red Bull?

New York Red Bulls: Rookie Cribs - Part 1 from Red Bulls Reader on Vimeo.

I blame the holiday weekend for getting me off to a late start here this week. Plus throw in the fact that I am a homeowner now all the trips to Home Depot and places like that are easily killing off any spare second over the weekend. Oh well, no time to bitch and moan about that but time to get down to business once again this week.

I felt looking at the results and each game this past week that week 16 was really predictable. I know I missed a couple games in my score predictions but aside from the RSL-San Jose game this week lacked a lot of surprise or anything worth getting overly excited about. Maybe that is the dog-days of summer kicking in here for the league but each result was as predictable as the next on Saturday.Which can be a good thing but can also be a bad thing. Continue Reading…

The draft pool is starting to get a little deeper as we head towards this month’s SuperDraft. Word out of the Windy City and now comfirmed by SBI that University of Illinois-Chicago midfielder Baggio Husidic will sign a Generation adiadas contract with MLS.

Some see Husidic as the top attacking midfielder in this draft. His size (at 6′1″) gives him a good advantage over a few others in this draft. Also to go along with this size, his speed is also seen as one of his better assets.

I see Husidic as a mid-first rounder that could move up the board if he continues to impress in some workouts. The need for an attacking midfielder in this draft will be interesting to watch for a few clubs.

Husidic joins a pretty strong Generation adidas class that already includes Maryland defenders Omar Gonzalez, Rodney Wallace and midfielder Jeremy Hall, Akron striker Steve Zakuani, Cal goalkeeper Stefan Frei and Indiana defender Kevin Alston. Some reports suggest other targets Peri Marosevic and Michael Stephens are close to signing and could end up doing so by sometime this week.

Two players from the National champion Maryland side have possibly signed Generation adidas contracts with the league today. Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner reporting today that defensive midfielder Omar Gonzalez and winger Jeremy Hall are expected to sign with the league.

Hall and Gonzalez are the first of a group of players the league is expecting to sign. Many are expecting this draft to be very deep in talent (but don’t they always say that?).

Both guys should be potential first rounders in this year’s draft. But the combine and other workouts could change that outcome (anyone recall Eric Avila fall to the second round last year after being hyped as a top four pick?).

More players are expected to sign in the coming weeks.