Tonight the Red Bulls host the Philadelphia Union for the second time in four days. After New York's 2-1 victory on Saturday afternoon, the Union return to Red Bull Arena in the preliminary round of the 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The Red Bulls will look to stay perfect at Red Bull Arena, where they have yet to lose.
Tonight, the Red Bulls will trot out mostly a reserve side. Initially, Hans Backe said he placed a lot of importance in the Cup, and planned on playing the team's best players. However, after Saturday's match, he insisted that due to the congested fixture schedule with the recently scheduled friendlies, he would be forced to play mostly players that have not played much in the team's first five league matches. According to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, the Red Bulls will lineup as follows:
Chinn Agudelo
Nielsen Tchani Stammler Ubiparipovic
Borman Mendes Boyens Sassano
Sutton
According to Lewis, Chris Albright will make his first appearance in a Red Bulls uniform, and will play in the second half, as will rookie Austin Da Luz. Expect Da Luz to take over for Nielsen on left wing, as the Dane is not yet in game-shape. It will be exciting to see how the forward duo of Conor Chinn and academy product Juan Agudelo do. Chinn has been a scoring machine in preseason and friendlies, and Agudelo is an exciting young prospect to watch out for. These two could impress a lot of people tonight. Also, the Red Bulls organization and fans will be anxious to watch Tony Tchani, the midfielder who the Red Bulls spent the number 2 overall draft spot on this offseason.
We'll have full post game reaction after the match, so stay tuned.