Red Bulls vs. Real Salt Lake (Running Commentary)

Good evening folks. I'm here at Giants STadium and the Red Bulls-REal Salt Lake match is about to kick off. Apologies for the absence of posts today. I had some non-work stuff to take care of today. I'm back now and ready to roll.

Let's get going. Follow the match here and feel free to share your thoughts on the match below:

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FINAL- Red Bulls 2, Real Salt Lake 2. Yes, RSL is playing much better soccer these days but the Red Bulls blew it tonight. Another two points squandered. It may not wind up mattering much but if KC catches the Red Bulls for third place in the East, and the Red Bulls have to face red-hot DC United, then they'll look back to matches like this one.

I'm done for the night folks. Share your thoughts on the match below.

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90+ minutes- An Angel goal is waived off for offside. Good call, Angel was clearly off.

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90th minute- The Red Bulls needed three points here tonight and the defense looks like it has let the team down yet again.

Four minutes of stoppage time.

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87th minute- There's no other way to say it. Chris Leitch is having a shocker tonight.

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80th minute- GOAL RED BULLS. Angel converts the penalty kick. He also breaks the team record for goals in a season, previously held by Adolfo Valencia. RED BULLS 2, RSL 2

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79th minute- RED BULLS PK. Stammler draws the penalty after tripping over Carey Talley.

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78th minute- Matias Mantilla just cleared an Angel header off the line.

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76th minute- GOAL REAL SALT LAKE. Kyle Beckerman finishes a nice sequence that saw Chris Leitch get beat pretty bad on the right flank. Hunter Freeman, pick up the white courtesy phone. RSL 2, Red Bulls 1.

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74th minute- Referee Alex Prus denies a penalty call claim from Dane Richards, who went down in the penalty area. Not sure if it was a bad call but Prus probably shouldn't have jogged toward the penalty spot with his arm pointed out if he wasn't going to call the PK.

Atiba Harris in for Andy Williams.

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70th minute- Van Den Bergh with a hard left-footed shot that Rimando stops. The Red Bulls are moving the ball well and should be able to find a goal in these final 20 minutes.

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64th minute- Altidore comes on for Doe. There's hope for Richards yet.

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64th minute- Reyna's injury has been diagnosed as a left toe sprain.

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63rd minute- I think we'll see Altidore in for Richards. Figures that Richards has a bad game the day before my "Richards for Rookie of the Year" suggestion appears on ESPN.com.

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60th minute- Stammler has moved into the midfield with Mendes playing next to Parke in central defense. I wonder who Altidore comes in for.

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58th minute- Mendes is coming in for Reyna, who has been laboring the past few minutes. Trainer Rick Guter is tending to Reyna on the bench and checking his left leg.

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51st minute- So much for taking Doe out. He put on a great series of moves on Matias Mantilla before slotting a nice shot inside the far post. No assist for Angel. Apparently MLS has decided to get more strict about assists.

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49th minute- GOAL RED BULLS. Francis Doe runs onto an Angel flick, does about four stepovers and slides a left-footed shot past Rimando. And it's 1-1.

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48th minute- I must say that Willis Forko is doing a really good job on Dane Richards. He has the speed to stay with Richards and hasn't let him get loose.

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46th minute- Clint Mathis in for Vide at the half.

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HALFTIME- What will Bruce ARena do at halftime? The attack looks sluggish and needs a boost. He should put in Jozy ALtidore or Clint Mathis in at the half, preferably Mathis because the midfield is flat. Mathis for Vide with Altidore going in for Doe around the 60th minute.

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HALFTIME- The Red Bulls look asleep out there. Credit to Real Salt Lake. Their defense has been solid, though their attack is pretty boring.

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45th minute- Claudio Reyna was just whistled for a foul that was actually committed by an RSL player. Shocking.

Reyna with a nice run and pass to Richards but Richards wastes the possession.

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44th minute- Rimando with a great save on Angel. That was the equalizer. Reyna follows with a great pass to Kovalenko, who hits it like a six-year old.

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43rd minute- You know, I was really hoping to offer some insightful commentary on this match but aside from taking shots at the various bloopers, there's not much to talk about. The Red Bulls can't complete a pass in the attacking third against RSL when they were passing it around at will last week against New England. What's up with that?

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32nd minute- Interesting fact about RSL's goal. It is apparently the first goal the team has scored all year that earned two assists. In other words, RSL hasn't exactly been fun to watch.

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28th minute- After having the back-line make mistakes the past month I must admit I wasn't expecting Waterreus to fall asleep tonight. One good thing for the Red Bulls is that I doubt RSL bunkers in. They have nothing to play for so I'm sure they'll still keep trying to score.

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24th minute- GOAL REAL SALT LAKE. Chris Brown heads home a Chris Wingert cross. Weird play because Ronald Waterreus reacted very late to the header, which he was in position to stop. A bit of a shocker for the water giant.

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21st minute- It's nice seeing Eddie Pope out there. Interestingly enough, I just saw Pope's central defense partner during his REd Bulls days, Steve Jolley. Jolley's doing the Wall Street thing these days. That and dominating the Cosmopolitan League.

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16th minute- Both teams are still feeling each other out here. Salt Lake doesn't look like their attack is going to threaten too much. I'm still waiting for Red Bulls midfield to take control.

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7th minute- Angel with a pair of quality chances. Rimando saves the second. If you're wondering where Jozy Altidore is, he's still not fully fit. He'll get in this game at some point but you can't argue with how well the offense is playing. There's no need to rush him back at this point.

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5th minute- Not a bad crowd at Giants Stadium tonight. Wonder how many of these people got these tickets as part of the Beckham package.

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1st minute- We're under way and Francis Doe gets a shot on goal just 12 seconds into the match.

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PRE-GAME- The Red Bulls are using the same lineup for the third straight match.

Comments

[Hudson Valley]

C'mon NY, let's clintch that playoff spot

[kjk_40b]

lineups?

[kjk_40b]

oops, sorry I didn't see the pre-game info.

[GoJozy!]

The game is not on FSN...what's going on?

[kahlva]

Doe over Altidore again? I hope Jozy gets in there for at least a half,

[kjk_40b]

I think I read the match is on Fox Soccer Channel or FSC.

[toucan]

richards nice pass to doe. too bad offsides

[Hudson Valley]

New York Red Bulls
Starting Lineup
23 - Ronald Waterreus (GK)
6 - Seth Stammler
9 - Juan Pablo Angel
10 - Claudio Reyna
11 - Dave van den Bergh
14 - Joe Vide
19 - Dane Richards
21 - Dema Kovalenko
30 - Francis Doe
33 - Chris Leitch
60 - Jeff Parke

Substitutes
18 - Jon Conway (GK)
3 - Hunter Freeman
4 - Carlos Mendes
13 - Clint Mathis
15 - John Wolyniec
17 - Jozy Altidore
32 - Markus Schopp

[tommymcb]

I am pissed. The game is supposed to be on 700 am in salt lake, but they have a sports talk show instead.

[toucan]

terrible defending by leitch on the rsl goal. didn't we try dema in the back once?

[adamw]

is there somewhere online to watch this game?? im stuck at work.

[tommymcb]

I looked for a stream. I didn't find one.

[Jon G]

I just realized...
RSL is sponsered by Xango, so:
This is a battle of the energy drinks.

and the game has not lacked energy!

Wish I was there.:-(

Go Metro!!!!

[Pete]

Ives, I think you're being a little harsh about the Red Bulls play. On TV I'm finding the game pretty entertaining. Sure RB can't complete a pass in the attacking third to save their lives, but they're combining well and pressing offensively.

Nice to see Doe still hasn't learned to play a one or two touch ball, and I don't understand how Waterreus didn't react, that goal was moving in slow motion!

[Ives]

Pete, who cares if you can knock the ball around 40 yards from goal? RSL will take that all day. It's what they do in the final third that ultimately matters and right now they're not creating chances.

And yes, maybe it's not as ugly as some other matches but I wouldn't call the first half highly-entertaining.

[Pete]

After scoring like this, Doe may never pass the ball again!

We've seen it all season with Richards, if he's matched against an athletic left back, he struggles because they can deny him the (channeling Ty Keough) speed move to get around him. Hopefully we see him switch over to the left a little more to exploit the match-up with Wingert.

[tommymcb]

Ives,
Mathis is out right with Dema and Reyna in the middle?

[Dominghosa]

JPA! Fantasy points! And that is all. I'm out.

[Lawrence]

NYRB's defense blows. There only hope is Reyna.

[tommymcb]

thanks for the commentary.

[Portland Caledonian]

I can't believe Battlefield Earth scored the tying goal.

[Kevin]

Anyone know my mlsnet.com does not even mention the Angel penaalty kick?

[kpugs]

Someone needs to explain to MLS refs just what exactly a) a handball is and b) how to rule offside.

If that had happened before tonight, 4-2 Red Bulls victory.

[kpugs]

P.S. I wasn't referring to the injury time goal...I shouldn't assume 4-2 but 3-2. The play I'm referring to was probably 4. I'm a fanatic, I get worked up. Sorry. Some home fans don't like that, which I don't really get.

[Matt]

Another sterling performance from Reyna. Where are the apologists tonight?

And Waterreus? OK, he made a nice save at the end, but where was he on that first goal? All the mobility of an 80-year old arthritic man.