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…

Is Blanco the best DP MLS has seen so far? (Getty Images)

I’ve had this thought for a little while, on the surface the Designated Player rule is good as it brings quality players into Major League Soccer that do help in more areas than just on the field itself. We know the cons against it like teams spending so much money on one player but I started looking at all the past and present DPs and started wondering if this rule really is worth it.

Now first of all I’m not going to advocate for or against this rule today. I just merely want to point out who’s done well with it and who’s not. We’ve seen this rule in place for a couple seasons now and so far only a few clubs have ventured out with this rule. Now it seems like most clubs are going away from the rule, currently only five clubs have a DP (Toronto, New York, LA, Seattle and Houston).

Also, so far five clubs (or six if you count Philly too) have yet to use their DP slot. RSL won MLS Cup 2009 without one so maybe they aren’t worth the money.

So let’s take a deeper look into each DP. What worked about it and what didn’t work on and off the field. We’ll go from worst to best in this instance. I’d also like to note that two fo the DPs on this list have only played a little under a half season with their clubs so grading and discussing them at length seemed unfair at this time. If you are wondering about who I am talking about here those two are Houston’s Luis Angel Landin and Toronto’s Julian De Guzman. (For the record I like De Guzman but don’t care of Landin…but saying that I am very curious about their upcoming seasons.) Continue Reading…

Juan Carlos Osorio didn't help matters in New York. (Getty Images)

Not much was good in 2009 for the New York Red Bulls. Fresh off a trip to the MLS Cup in 2008 many thought this could be a break out season for the club. Instead the season got started with a bang in a bad way by losing to an expansion club on opening day 3-0 in Seattle. The Red Bulls failed to get a win until the middle of April and by the time summer had rolled around the club had already lost seven games out of 12 regular season matches.

The times the Red Bulls did win was at home, all five wins came at home against clubs that had terrible road records on the year like Dallas, Real Salt Lake, San Jose and Toronto. Their only good win of the year came at home against the Columbus Crew on a day that saw the club reach it’s only winning streak of the season.

You could blame a lot of the season on poor coaching by Juan Carlos Osorio early on. Osorio changed the line-ups with this club more than most of us change clothes in a week. It seemed as though every time we turned around there was a different person in the starting lineup for Osorio. Throw that in with the fact that Osorio and Jeff Agoos made terrible calls on player pickups and the Red Bulls got to where they are at today.

When Osorio stepped down Richie Williams stepped in for the interim role. Not much changed but the club did win more games under Williams than Osorio. Still the club never won a road game all season and their winless streak on the road is growing still to this date.

So with the theme that I plan on using with all MLS clubs this year when I review their season I plan on asking a couple questions to sum things up. What went right? What went wrong? And what is next?

What Went Right In 2009?
Not much went right in 2009 but the five games that were won were done in mostly big ways when the offense actually came alive and was mostly healthy. Big results like 5-0 over Toronto on the season finale, 4-1 over San Jose, or even the 2-0 win over RSL. One could say the Red Bulls did draw six games on the year and while that isn’t bad it isn’t great either. Four of their draws did come before the All-Star break and only one was a shutout.

What Went Wrong In 2009?
Just about everything. Moves that were made never panned out to anything. Key players were hurt nearly all season like Juan Pablo Angel. The defense was by far the worst the league has seen in a couple years. You can’t have a -20 goal differential on the season and consider it good. It was certainly a season that Red Bull fans will want to forget and forget quickly.

What’s Next?
For starters finding a coach that actually understands the league setup. New York has had an issue with stability in coaching over the years and that has caused them to be the mess that they are today. Is Richie Williams the right guy for the club? Possibly but I see him going to DC instead. After finding a coach they need to gut this team. If anything this club needs to be a bit more like LA by getting the right mix of young and old on this roster. They’ve signed too many old guys that basically come here and contribute nothing. And they get too many young guys that are overrated and produce nothing. Rebuilding is going to be rough for a club that will want to do a lot for their move to Red Bull Arena. I have no doubt we will see plenty of money spent this winter by this club but it is only a matter of time before we see how well that money was actually spent.

Jason Kreis and RSL need a win tonight to stay in playoff contention. (Getty Images)

While there is an important US game tonight in Washington DC, there happens to also be a MLS game tonight. Yay for MLS scheduling a game right during World Cup qualifying season, in the middle of the week no less.

Still tonight after the US beats Costa Rica (oh yeah, calling a 2-1 win tonight), turn your television sets to ESPN2 to watch even more soccer (at least that part is good!). Real Salt Lake hosts New York Red Bulls tonight in a must-win game for the home-side. Oddly enough the last time these two squared off at Rio Tinto Stadium it was for the right to go to MLS Cup 2008.

Its win or be pretty much be eliminated for the Lakers tonight. RSL sits 34 points with three games left. The mission is to keep winning and survive another game of being in contention. Anything less just won’t cut it for Jason Kreis’ bunch. Interesting thing is out of all the clubs that have struggled at Rio Tinto or in Salt Lake for that matter, New York has never lost to RSL in Salt Lake.

RSL has to get their key offensive guys involved early and break the rust off from their long 18-day layover (thank God we will have balanced schedules next season and no more weird layoffs for clubs). Robbie Findley is one guy that has to be involved early. He tends to be hot and cold too often and this is a game that he has to heat up for here. New York’s defense is the worst in the league and when on the road they are just flat out pathetic. They have to pressure the backline with Findley and Yura Movsisyan.

The thing is I believe RSL will come out a bit flat in this one due to the layoff between games. New York oddly enough probably stands a good shot at getting at least a point out of this game as these two always seem to play to a draw (six draws in nine meetings all-time). I see Juan Pablo Angel and company putting enough pressure on RSL in this one to get a draw. I just don’t see them doing enough to get their first road win of the year here though.

Something about this game screams a draw and that’s what I am going with tonight. I haven’t been high on RSL all season for a reason but I wouldn’t mind seeing them actually show up for once tonight and remind me how good they can be. Angel gets one for New York early and Movsisyan ties things up in the second half for RSL.

WVH Prediction: RSL 1, New York 1

Just as the playoff race gets hot, the goals of the week get hotter. Something about a playoff race that makes the goals just a little bit better if you ask me.

Order of goals: Jamie Moreno, Ramon Sanchez, Ryan Johnson, Sacha Kljestan, Juan Pablo Angel, Dwayne De Rosario, Chad Barret, Brian McBride, Jeff Cunningham, Eddie Gaven, Fredy Montero, and Shalrie Joseph.

Plenty of good goals this past week in Major League Soccer. Some were better than others but that is for you all to decide. I’ve took out what I thought were some of the best from this past week including one hat trick.

Order of video: Geoff Cameron, Nate Jaqua, Kheli Dube (hat trick), Juan Pablo Angel, Dax McCarty, Dane Richards, Chris Wondonlowski, Sacha Kljestan, and Landon Donovan.

How's the tension between Landon Donovan and David Beckham? (Getty Images)

Let’s just say tonight’s clash in Giant’s Stadium will be an interesting one to tune into if you can. While the Red Bulls are embarking on one of the worst seasons in league history, the LA Galaxy are hoping their chances of reaching the playoffs for the first time in a couple years continue to grow as they get the return of David Beckham.

A lot of hype is going into this game due to the new book out by Grant Wahl (great read if you haven’t picked it up already). Thing is it probably won’t nearly be enough hype to get this game to the level it was two years ago at Giant’s Stadium when 66,000+ were on hand to witness an epic 5-4 clash between the Red Bulls and Galaxy. The Red Bulls won that first Beckham meeting.

This isn’t your 2007 Galaxy, nor is it your 2008 Galaxy. While Beckham has been off in Europe these last couple months the mix of young and old has served Bruce Arena pretty well. Even with only 24 points in the standings, the Galaxy are in playoff contention. That’s something the previous two Galaxy clubs couldn’t say at this point in the season.

I think we can expect a physical game tonight between these two sides. The biggest question will be how Beckham is used on the field for Arena. Currently the Galaxy do well by holding enough possession early to grab a goal and then allow their defense to sit back to get points.

The Red Bulls are faced with their 20th match of the season tonight. They are still a bit banged up with injuries here though several players are slowly starting to get healthy. Which may be good for their CONCACAF Champions League games but it may not mean they will be back for tonight’s game. Defensively the Red Bulls still have too many questions and that may be enough for Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle to do their work in front of the net.

I do see this game being closer than some would imagine with the way the Galaxy have played in recent weeks. The addition of Beckham makes it tougher for Arena I believe. The balance is there for him to step in and just play his game. But the bigger question will be how his teammates respond. I have no doubt the Galaxy will come through with points in this one but the points will most likely be a result of Donovan than Beckham.

New York will make it interesting as long as Juan Pablo Angel is finding space around the penalty box. If he can get just a little bit open I think he could be real dangerous against a fairly young Galaxy defense. In the end though I think LA returns home with a rare three points on an east coast road trip.

WVH Prediction: LA 2, New York 1