The New York Red Bulls’ last game in 2009, which happened to be the last soccer game ever to be played at Giants Stadium, marks the end of an era.  The franchise also hopes that this game fully represented a symbolic break from the past, as it never won a trophy in the 14 years that this stadium served as home.[1]   Fans will miss the spacious tailgating and parking areas at Giants Stadium, but nothing else.

 

Both the Red Bulls and their fans tried to make the rainy October 26th finale a memorable farewell.  At the RagingBullNation (RBN) pregame “Roundup,” we gathered around the grill to symbolically exorcise the Meadowlands demons by burning MLS player cards of both external and internal franchise “killers.”  Inside the stadium, RBN Nationals, Diplomats, and friends cheered the team as fervently as ever while the team generated its best offensive production of the season.  Key combinations between Juan Pablo Angel and Mac Kandji, coupled with a stellar performance in goal by Bouna Coundoul, resulted in a 5-0 thrashing of Toronto F.C., knocking our Canadian neighbors out of a playoff spot.

 

This result also prevented the Red Bulls from tying two league non-desirable season records: those of fewest wins (4) and fewest goals scored (25).  The only ignominious record that remains is the 27 and counting road winless streak in regular season MLS games.  The Red Bulls will have to wait at least one game to try to end that record as the team’s next official league encounter will be at its new home, Red Bull Arena, on March 27th 2010, against the Chicago Fire.

 

For those of you who have not been to Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, we urge you to pay this gem a visit.  Surely, the awe-inspiring contemporary architecture, combined with your passion for Red Bulls soccer, will compel you to purchase New York Red Bull 2010 season tickets ASAP.  Seeing it via the webcam will not do it justice.  The natural Kentucky Bluegrass is carefully nurtured with a state-of-the-art moisture management, drainage, breathing, and temperature-control system.

 

No more headaches from trying to discern MLS-regulation field markings from those of other sports.  Yes, my friends, all you will see are soccer-specific markings at Red Bull Arena (RBA), accented by the proximity of seats surrounding the field of play.  If you are still drying out from this season’s “Flood Finale,” take comfort in the fact that RBA will have a unique metal composite fabric roof that will let the warming and cultivating rays of the sun in, but keep the water out of the stands.  The roof will also help amplify support for the home team by its fans. Simply stated, Red Bull Arena will be one of the best soccer venues in North and Central America, if not the best.

 

Metropolitan New York is very fortunate that Red Bull bought out AEG’s share of this stadium two years ago – on November 16, 2007 – and made fundamental changes to the design.  Red Bull Arena is filling up quickly and at least three sections are already sold out.  Huge congratulations to Erik Stover and the entire Red Bulls Front Office team!

 

The concern at this point is not the home venue but the team’s play.  A final, terrific game has not erased the fact that 2009 was a disappointing and at times ugly season but it has left fans puzzled as to why Angel and Kandji could not combine this way over any of the prior 33 contests this year.[2]   The Red Bulls need to find a way to have such performances on a consistent basis and build greater player depth.

 

New York began its 14th season striving to return to MLS Cup but failed to make the playoffs for the first time in seven years.  The Red Bulls played better than its 5 wins, 6 ties and 19 league losses would indicate, and under Richie Williams the team’s record was actually 3 wins, 2 ties and 3 losses (and yes Richie should strongly be considered for/offered the head coaching position).  To be sure, the team seemed haunted at times by bad calls and bad breaks; for instance, a phantom PK call against San Jose recently resulted in a loss instead of a tie.  However, the main reasons for the team’s poor record this year seemed to be:

• too many games that coupled poor finishing and defensive lapses;

• mental mistakes most prevalent in the minutes close to the beginning and endings of the two halves; and

• the failure of player acquisitions.

Colombian forward Juan Pablo Angel seems to have lost a step and was unable to convert at least a half dozen goal scoring opportunities the way he had done in his first two MLS seasons.  However, Juan Pablo was still one of most effective forwards in the league and he had a hand in over half of the team’s goals.  Congratulations to Juan Pablo on becoming the all-time leading scorer in franchise history this year!  Senegalese forward Mac Kandji showed in several games his raw potential and power, but he needed to combine more effectively with his teammates in most of the games.  Not having a true playmaker has also hurt the team.

 

The lapses and mistakes are too numerous to list out but characteristic of this year, during what was arguably the team’s most important game, the usually dependable Kevin Goldthwaite turned the ball over just before the end of the first half which led to the second T-Connection goal and helped oust the Red Bulls from the CONCACAF Champions League competition, effectively limiting the remainder of the team’s season to playing with pride which, to the team’s credit, it did.

 

Perhaps no game was more painful and impactful than the 3-2 loss to D.C. United at home earlier in the season, a game in which New York battled back to have a 2-1 lead in the 90th minute; inexplicably, Salvadoran left back Alfredo Pacheco twice let the man he was marking get to a ball between himself and the goal and Jon Conway, off his line, was unable to get to the balls first or make saves.

 

However the primary reason for the team’s dismal performance was the poor track record in player decisions over the past two years by Jeff Agoos and Juan Carlos Osorio.

 

On the bright side, New York has been doing better in selecting players at the draft, including US midfielders and defenders Jeremy Hall and Nick Zimmerman this past year.  However, the Red Bulls have also wasted two high draft picks on central defenders, Eric Brunner (in 2008) and (Baba)jide Ogunbiyi (in 2009), who would not sign with the club based on contract terms.

 

I don’t know what the allocation fee for Bouna Coundoul was but this Senegalese goalkeeper appears to be the team’s best signing in 2009. Costa Rican right back Carlos Johnson, franchise leading center back Mike Petke, and Spanish midfielder Albert Celades were often strong; but had some moments where they struggled as well.  Too little was seen of Austrian midfielder Ernst Oebster and Argentine defender Walter Garcia to know how they will do.

 

Typically, the acquired players struggled and these included Venezuelan center back, Gabriel Chichero; El Salvadoran defender, Alfredo Pacheco; defender Leo Krupnik, who was born in the Ukraine; Argentine midfielder, Juan Pietravallo; Venezuelan midfielder, Jorge Rojas; Ghanaian forward, Dominic Oduro; and Bermuda midfielder, Khano Smith. The “speed kills” experiment only hurt the Red Bulls, with Oduro and Smith not catching on.  Jamaican midfielder Dane Richards sometimes seemingly tried to do too much and struggled more than the year before.  Also, Cameroon midfielder, Matthew Mbuta, found it difficult to get playing time.

 

The Red Bulls felt the loss of non-returning players, especially Dave van den Bergh.  This is probably true for not only field play but Dave had a great reputation for the important intangibles as well, like work ethic and locker room presence.  Unfortunately, the Red Bulls traded Dave van den Bergh to F.C. Dallas this off-season for too little in exchange.  Yes, there were family concerns at issue, but it is unacceptable to have received anything less than fair value in this trade in light of how van den Bergh played in 2008.  Van den Bergh, who was third in the league this year in assists with 11, was sorely missed by the Red Bulls.  Let us not forget Chris Leitch, who was traded for allocation money and an international slot.  He had 7 assists with the San Jose Earthquakes.  For more on this topic, please read Frank Giase’s “Red Bulls season was doomed by a series of poor personnel decisions.”

 

On a positive note, John Wolyniec won the 4th annual “Heart of the Bull” Award; South African midfielder and defender, Danleigh Borman; Mike Petke; and midfielder, Seth Stammler were nominated as well.  John joins Marvell Wynne, Joe Vide and Seth Stammler as recipients of this award.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Heart of the Bull, it is awarded to the player who makes the most positive contributions to the New York Red Bulls first team and to interacting with the core fan base.

 

As well as John has played, I’m not sure he will be protected in the upcoming Expansion Draft.  As a designated Generation Addition player, Jeremy Hall will be exempt.  I’m assuming that Giorgi Chirgadze will fit into this category as well.  I believe New York will be able to protect 11 more players and I think these will include: Juan Pablo Angel; Danleigh Borman; New Zealand defender, Andrew Boyens; Bouna Coundoul; Kevin Goldthwaite; Carlos Johnson; Macoumba Kandji; Ernest Oebster; Mike Petke; Dane Richards; and Seth Stammler.  If Ernest is not coming back, then the team would protect Walter Garcia, if they have to protect three Senior Internationals.  If not, then either Danny Cepero, Sinisa Ubiparapovic or Luke Sassano would also be protected.

        

This off-season, I will write an article that addresses MLS’ new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), as well as any changes to the New York Red Bulls including hopefully an additional central midfielder to work alongside Seth.  The CBA, which governs player contracts, expires this year and so a new one has to be established.  This is very important for two reasons: 1) MLS cannot afford an interruption of any kind; a lockout/strike would be disastrous; 2) the new salary cap and other key features of the new CBA will dictate how the league is perceived and which players will join the league.

 

MLS should strive to increase the salary cap by $3 million to $5.1 million and increase the roster size by at least six players to 30.  This would help make a huge difference to the quality of the league and MLS’ ability to compete in international tournaments.  The league should get to a point where it can offer some players in Europe and South America around $300,000 per season without putting a strain on the team’s depth and overall roster quality, because too few players represent too large a percentage of the team’s salary cap.  I also hope the Reserve League is resurrected, even if it means that each team’s reserve games are played only against those teams in their conference and against local USL teams.

 

It is time for New York to select a Sporting Director, who will draft as well as New England, acquire MLS talent as well as the Houston Dynamo, and sign overseas talent as well as DC United has historically done and the way the Seattle Sounders did in 2009.  The Red Bulls need a strong start to 2010 and this must begin with making the right decisions on players!

 

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[1] outside of the 2004 pre-season La Manga Cup in Murcia, Spain.

[2] including the US Open Cup and CONCACAF’s Champions League

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