Oh what a painful existence it is to be a New York Red Bulls fan. Trophyless for 15+ years, the perennial butt of rivals' jokes, a legacy of failure and frustration that is unmatched in Major League Soccer. For fans carrying such a burden, is it too much to ask of their club to take a US Open Cup quarterfinal match against Chicago Fire seriously? After all, with just two wins the Red Bulls could have been in their first major final since 2008 and would have had an excellent chance to bring home some meaningful hardware, while punching their ticket for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Apparently it is. Playing without a single first team member (with the arguable exception of Hans Backe's illegitimate son Mehdi Ballouchy) and coached by a former defender one year out of uniform and an injured midfielder currently on the roster (Mike Petke and Carl Robinson), the Red Bulls suffered an ignominious 4-0 defeat on Tuesday afternoon in Bridgeview, Illinois. Given the disparity in team quality, leadership and experience, you could argue that this loss fait accompli before a ball was even kicked. Goals by Orr Barrouch (2), former Red Bull Dominic Oduro and Yamith Cuesta helped the Fire stomp all over New York in a game that wasn't close in any way, shape or form. In fact, the Red Bulls were fortunate to be down just 1-0 at halftime, thanks to some heroics between the sticks by Bouna Condoul. They were badly outshot on the night, and to say that Chicago had the lion's share of possession would be putting it mildly.

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Whether Hans Backe likes it or not (I'm guessing he doesn't), the New York Red Bulls have a midweek game for the third week in succession, as they take on the Chicago Fire this evening at Toyota Park in the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup. A win would put the Red Bulls into the semifinals for the first time sine 2003, when New York got all the way to the Cup Final.

Unfortunately, Backe decided some weeks ago to play a second- and third-string team, made up mostly of rookies.The only players with significant league experience are goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul, right back Chris Albright (who features for the first time this season), and midfielder/striker Mehdi Ballouchy, who will wear the captain's armband. Backe didn't even send enough substitutes to fill out the New York bench. Ain't it wonderful.

By contrast, Chicago will send out a number of regulars, including goalkeeper Sean Johnson, midfielders Patrick Nyarko and Marco Pappa, as well as striker (and former Red Bull) Dominic Oduro.

Lineups:

Red Bulls: Bouna Coundoul, Chris Albright; Stephen Keel, Tyler Lassiter, Mike Jones; Teddy Schneider, John Rooney, Matt Kassel, Austin da Luz; Mehdi Ballouchy (C), Corey Hertzog

Subs: Alex Horwath, Sacir Hot, Marcos Paullo

Chicago: Sean Johnson, Jalil Anibaba, Josip Mikulic, Yamith Cuesta, Gonzalo Segares, Daniel Paladini, Logan Pause (C), Patrick Nyarko, Marco Pappa, Dominic Oduro, Cristian Nazarit

Subs: John Conway, Pari Pantazopoulos, Dasan Robinson, Baggio Husidic, Michael Videira, Orr Barouch, Diego Chaves

You can find Fire perspective at A Hot Time in Old Town.

Kickoff is at 6 PM, and the game will be streamed live on Chicago's website.

Nothing can ever be simple for the New York Red Bulls, can it? The start time for tonight's US Open Cup quarterfinal against the Chicago Fire, originally scheduled for 8:30 PM, has been moved up to 6 PM. The change is apparently due to a lighting storm which caused a power outage at Toyota Park, meaning that the game cannot be played under the stadium's floodlights.

The first news emerged when Red Bulls' left back/centerback Mike Jones tweeted this:

@mikewhojonesy: Chicago changed the game on us to 5:00 [Central Time] somehow and tried to screw us. But now we're super pissed so even better for us. Leeeggoo

Which was followed by this from striker Corey Hertzog:

@HertzogRBNY06: Game Change to 5 p.m. Ct!!

Before the club finally confirmed the time change:

@NewYorkRedBulls: The start time for tonight's @USOpenCup match vs. @ChicagoFire has been moved up to 6:00 PM ET. Watch the match live on chicago-fire.com

Red Bulls fans may remember a similar problem at Red Bull Arena earlier this season, before the game against Chivas USA. However, in that case, the kickoff was delayed, the power was restored, and the match was played as normal. Except for that part about Chivas winning.

No matter the kickoff time, we'll still have our usual live match thread here, so check back around 6 PM this evening for the fun of watching our C team get knocked out of the cup. Defeatism is punishable by death. Forza.

The New York Red Bulls return to Bridgeview, Illinois on Tuesday night to take on Chicago Fire for the second time in three weeks, but it will be a much different squad making the trip this evening than it was in late June. Following Saturday's loss to DC United, Hans Backe indicated that he would be bringing just thirteen outfield players and two goalkeepers to Chicago, leaving virtually the entire first team home to recuperate and get ready for the upcoming trip to Los Angeles and the league game against Chivas USA.

On Backe's current list of priorities, winning the US Open Cup would seem to rank somewhere behind re-arranging his sock drawer. That's a shame, because the Red Bulls will never have a more inviting path to the final and, eventually, the CONCACAF Champions League. Chicago, having fired Carlos de los Cobos and replaced him - on an interim basis - with Frank Klopas, is near the bottom of the standings in the Eastern Conference. The Red Bulls likely semifinal opponents, should they make it past Chicago, would be Sporting Kansas City, who have had an up and down season.

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The New York Red Bulls are set to take on the Chicago Fire tonight in New York's first U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal under manager Hans Backe.  We swapped three questions with Tweed Thornton of the Chicago Fire blog Hot Time in Old Town ahead of the match.  

Be sure to check back here later for a match preview and live game commentary.  The game will be streaming live on the Chicago Fire's website.  On to our questions!   

1) Once a Metro: Some teams take the Open Cup very seriously and field competitive squads, others mix and match lineups or use predominantly bench and reserve players. Who have the Fire trotted out so far in their Open Cup qualifiers and first official tournament match? Who do you expect to see on Tuesday night against New York? Could fatigue from Chicago's match on Saturday night in Los Angeles be a factor?

Hot Time in Old Town: The Chicago Fire have had 18 different players start in USOC matches. In addition to those 18, Dominic Oduro and Orr Barouch have entered games as substitutes. The only regulars that haven't seen any time are Jon Conway and Baggio Husidic and they each made the bench for all three USOC related games. The fact that the Fire played a game this past Saturday will add some complications to Klopas's decisions but this squad runs deep.

When the New York Red Bulls played in Chicago on June 26th, the Fire had their USOC game against Rochester on June 28th. Sean Johnson and Daniel Paladini were the only players to start in both games. Despite that, the lineup against Rochester represented about 1/3rd of the total minutes played in MLS Regular Season games. Chicago played seven matches in June but will have played just two games in the past 14 days when the dawn opens on July 12th. The playoffs are beginning to look distant for the team and the USOC might be the only chance the team has at winning a trophy this year. If Pari Pantazopoulos and Corben Bone start in the place of Gonzalo Segares and Marco Pappa, that would be a nod to fatigue but don't count those players out either. The Fire have been rumored to be bringing in good talent when the transfer market opens. Certain ‘reserve' players will bring a modest amount of regular playing time in addition to a hunger to fight for their spot in the game day 18.

2) Once a Metro: Any word on ticket sales for the match? What kind of crowds do Open Cup matches typically draw in Chicago?

(Hot Time in Old Town's questions for us and more after the jump)

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The New York Red Bulls advanced to the quarterfinal stage of the US Open Cup for the first time since 2006 with a 2-1 win over FC New York at Red Bull Arena on Tuesday night. The Red Bulls fell behind early in the first half, but bounced back with goals from Corey Hertzog and John Rooney to prevent a second successive Round of 16 exit against a third-division opponent.

In the first half, Red Bulls midfielder Marcos Paullo started well with a couple of shots from distance that were just off the mark. Juan Agudelo carried the ball well and made some good moves in the box, but got frustrated easily by pesky defenders as well as his own teammates who often seemed to be on a different page than him.   FC New York played physically and mostly allowed the Red Bulls to possess the ball while denying them any real goal scoring opportunities through the first half but also did not create any of their own.  

After entering at halftime for FC New York, Owen Morrison struck a rocket from well outside the box into the goal's upper corner past former Red Bulls starting goalkeeper Greg Sutton.  After a bit of taunting from the five FC New York fans in attendance toward the South Ward ("We can't hear you!!"), Corey Hertzog responded minutes later putting in a shot from a crazy angle near the end line showing a flash of his previous Nittany Lion goal scoring abilities. While his goal came after fifty-eight minutes of not touching the ball without being in an offsides position or knocking it out of bounds, Hertzog finished the match well and even showed a knack for holding up possession in the corner during the final minutes of play - something Hans Backe hopefully took note of for when the Red Bulls are protecting one-goal leads in the future.  

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Just 52 hours after closing out a 1-1 draw with Chicago, the New York Red Bulls are back in action tonight as they take on USL Pro side FC New York in the 3rd Round of the US Open Cup at Red Bull Arena. This is the Red Bulls' first Cup game of the season, and they will try to improve on last year's Cup performance, when they crashed out at the same stage away to the Harrisburg City Islanders.

Juan Agudelo, Tim Ream, and <shudder> Greg Sutton will all probably start for the Red Bulls, but most of the starting XI will likely be reserves. For those of you who can't make it out to the game, I'm sure a kind soul amongst you will post the lineups for everyone to see. Thank you, kind soul!

Kickoff is at 8 PM, and you can watch the game on NewYorkRedBulls.com. Forza.

The visit of USL Pro side FC New York to Red Bull Arena on Tuesday night will mark the first meeting ever between the area's only two professional clubs (yes, Cosmos - you're still just an apparel line). When, several years ago, the Queens-based outfit announced its intention to join what was then the USL First Division, co-owner Doug Peterson made grand pronouncements about an (eventual) heated rivalry with the Red Bulls. A series of delays kept the club from actually taking the field until 2011, but now Peterson finally has his wish. By knocking off the New York Pancyprian-Freedoms in a penalty shootout after 120+ minutes of scoreless soccer, FC New York booked its ticket to the Third Round of the US Open Cup where it will get a chance to put its money where Peterson's mouth was way back in 2009.

It has been a turbulent first season for the fledgling team. Currently 3-5-5 and in fourth place in USL Pro's Eastern Conference, FC New York is on its third gaffer of the season - interim manager Paul Shaw - and has struggled to find the back of the net, with a scoreless streak that now stands at 221 minutes after Friday's 0-0 draw against Richmond Kickers. The squad boasts few, if any, names that Red Bulls fans will recognize. One player to watch out for might be midfielder Jhonny Artega, who netted a hat trick in their US Open Cup First Round victory over Western Mass Pioneers. New England Revolution loaned striker Ilija Stolica to FC New York back in April, but strangely he has yet to see any time on the pitch.

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