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We have almost arrived: tomorrow the New York Red Bulls take on the Seattle Sounders at Red Bull Arena for New York's first game of the MLS season. Juan Agudelo is expected to be fit and probably start for New York alongside Thierry Henry in the Red Bulls' attack as they seek to inflict a second successive defeat on Seattle, who lost 1-0 at home to the LA Galaxy on Tuesday.
It's been a busy week for Red Bulls' news, particularly after media day on Tuesday. SB Nation New York's Howard Megdal has this roundup, while MetroFanatic conducted a bizarre interview with Brian Nielsen that will probably not endear him to the RBNY faithful.
On a more positive note, Red Bulls midfield dynamo Joel Lindpere will forgo the chance to play for the Estonian national team this season so that he can concentrate on his club football. As I said in the "10 Places to Improve" post, that guy is the gold standard of commitment and work rate. He knows how to win over a fanbase.
For those of you in search of a little more season preview stuff, here's a short one that I wrote for the SB Nation Soccer page, as well as a profile of New York's Juan Agudelo.
The most unsettling news (or lack of news) this week has been that the Red Bulls still have not finished negotiating a TV deal for the 2011 season. The club announced on Thursday that this Saturday's game against Seattle will be broadcast on MSG, but they still do not have a contract that covers the rest of this campaign. Erik Solér has claimed that a deal is imminent, but the club have yet to make an official announcement just a day before First Kick.
If you're looking for something to listen to on way to Red Bull Arena on Saturday, you can finde Episode 18 of Talking Bull with Matt Conroy (of The Viper's Nest), myself, and guests Jeremiah Oshan (of SB Nation's Sounder at Heart) and Ben Rycroft (of Canadian Soccer News) on NASN.tv.
That's all for now. There will be a Seattle preview out by tomorrow morning, and a GameThread for those of you who can't make it on Saturday. Let's go Red Bulls!