New York Red Bulls vs. FC Dallas: First Kick Match Thread

Pizza Hut Park, The People's Democratic Republic of Texas*
TV: NBC Sports

There's nothing quite like a nice match thread to kick off First Kick for the New York Red Bulls! It all starts over again today -- the optimism (is not actually) back, we can('t) win everything, it's all (im)possible. The off-season cycle of delusion has reached its peak, and we're about to see whether or not the Red Bulls are actually any good. Pre-season would indicate that the defense is close to its 2010 levels, but that the goal-scoring potential of the team may have reverted to that very same form of two years ago. There are strong indications that we may see a DP attacker in the summer, but for now, the Red Bulls will have to cope with Thierry Henry (poor us), but without a central attacking midfielder.

Lineups:

Red Bulls: Ryan Meara; Jan Gunnar Solli, Markus Holgersson, Stephen Keel, Roy Miller; Dane Richards, Dax McCarty, Teemu Tainio, Joel Lindpere; Juan Agudelo, Thierry Henry

Bench: Jeremy Vuolo, Brandon Barklage, Jhonny Arteaga, Connor Lade, Mehdi Ballouchy, Victor Palsson, Kenny Cooper

Dallas: Kevin Hartman, Zach Loyd, Ugo Ihemelu, Hernan Pertuz, Jair Benitez, Brek Shea, Fabian Castillo, Andrew Jacobson, Daniel Hernandez, Ricardo Villar, Blas Perez

Bench: Chris Seitz, George John, Carlos Rodriguez, Matt Hedges, Bobby Warshaw, Andrew Wiedeman, Ruben Luna

Also, we have new away kits! Why the club didn't tell us until now....well, I won't even get into that. Forza!

*I will be using this joke again in 2012, so please forget it quickly.