Red Bull/Chivas US review

by Matthew Roth on Jun 6, 2010 10:51 AM EDT

So this is a quick review with thoughts from the game, more complete review later. As always feel free to add your own thoughts.

- The referees continue to make incredibly poor calls. Not just against the Red Bulls but against opposing teams as well. It started with the "elbow" against New England and continued today with the "offsides" call for on the owngoal. The referees shouldn't be dictating the game and recently they have. I know that Hans Backe has already stated that there is problems with the officials. When a long time european coach gives his opinions that there are problems, it may be wise to investigate.

- The goal by Stammler was a thing of beauty. It was a rocket and I hope to see more of the same in the future. I'm happy to see that Hans is begining to give playing time to Stammler and Mendes as well as Wully.

- Bouna Coundoul showed why he's the starter. He had a great game and was able to prevent the Chivas offense from converting on some very good looks. The defense also played a great part in this prevention.

- The field work was amazing at points. The movement of the ball was incredible and I like this improvement. The team is playing small ball as well and greating fast break opportunities. The fact we didn't convert on them is a problem, but at least we're creating the looks.

- Lastly, the announced attendance was over 18,000. The team seems to have fallen back into padding the numbers with youth soccer clubs who receive group rates. I hope one day the team can consistently achieve these sort of numbers without doing this.

The opinions stated herein are wholly those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of OnceAMetro.com or SBNation.com.

Tweet Comment 5 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

The offsides call was the right call. He was off when the ball was kicked. He doesn’t need to actually touch the ball to be deemed offsides he just needs to be involved in the play, which he obviously was. I watched the replay about 5 times and all 5 times he looked off by about a step.

by TerpsTerpsTerps on Jun 6, 2010 11:22 AM EDT reply actions

Thanks, from the live perspective He didn't appear to be offsides.

Follow me on twitter @thisredengine

Also please check out SBnation's Red Bulls blog @ www.onceametro.com

by Matthew Roth on Jun 6, 2010 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree with all your points except the last one. What’s wrong with selling tickets to youth soccer clubs? In what way does that “pad” their numbers? It’s fans in the seats. Would it be better if they could fill the stadium with full price ticket sales? Sure would, but they can’t right now.

And, yes, kids who play soccer are “fans”, too or, better yet, they can BECOME fans who later fill supporters sections and buy season tickets.

by stevehoff on Jun 8, 2010 11:11 AM EDT reply actions

I agree, most teams in all sports do this. Unless you’re the Red Sox and every single game is a sell out you tend to have things like Camp Day or some such promotion where the youth groups get discounted tickets. It’s not just a RBNY phenomenon.

Go west young man.

by David Hanssen on Jun 8, 2010 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions

The front office/marketing department is having a lot of issues right now

The main office of Red Bull athletics isn’t happy with the attendance numbers so far, and the numbers announced are based on tickets sold not scanned through the turnstiles. Which is what my main issue is. At this point they haven’t done a good time selling games with their “Stage is Set” marketing campaign so they are doing the next thing which is have 50 youth teams.

In the future is this a good thing? Yes, I’m all for growing the fan base and hope those kids tell their parents to buy tickets, but until they do, I’m not sold.

Follow me on twitter @thisredengine

Also please check out SBnation's Red Bulls blog @ www.onceametro.com

by Matthew Roth on Jun 8, 2010 1:53 PM EDT up reply actions