Red Bulls vs. Quakes Leg 1 Preview & Game Thread

The Red Bulls travel to San Jose for the first leg of the Eastern Conference Semi Finals. The Red Bulls had a slight hiccup in Philadelphia losing to the Union but finished the season strong with an absolute domination of the New England Revolution at Red Bull arena. The team has been without Thierry Henry for those games and unfortunately his injury is keeping him out of the game in San Jose today. Whether Henry is considered a bust at this point is up for discussion at a later date, but the team will definitely miss his playmaking abilities. Speaking of injuries the Red Bulls also will be without Tony Tchani, one of the most surprising on field performers this year. Neither player traveled with the team, hopefully rehabbing for the second leg of the opening playoff round.

The Red Bull starting XI will Juan Agudelo, the 17 year old striker from Columbia up top with team captain Juan Pablo Angel. It will be nice to see how they play together as Agudelo is the future while if we are to believe the rumors, Angel is playing his last season as a Red Bull. The midfield will have Lindpere and Richards playing along side Rafa Marquez and Medhi Ballouchy, while the defense remains the same with Roy Miller, Tim Ream, Carlos Mendes, and Chris Albright. Bouna Coundoul will be able to bring his great play to the post season.

I hope the Red Bulls offense can put the ball in the back of the net as the Defense should be able to hold the Earthquakes to a scoreless game.

Game is at 10pm EST on MSG2.