It was announced yesterday that the New York Red Bulls game on Sunday against rival DC United has been sold out. Ticket sales thus far in 2012 have ranged as high as 21,000 for the home opener, not quite a sellout, to as low as 11,000 for a Wednesday night match against the Houston Dynamo. The average across six home matches has been just over 15,000, but as many supporters will attest the Arena rarely looks that full.

After these disappointing attendance numbers to start the season, a combination of a rival team coming to town, ticket promotions, and the club’s recent form (5-1-2 in league play since the end of April), seems to be bringing in a lot of fans for Sunday night’s game. Many of these fans may love soccer but do not follow the Red Bulls tenaciously. Even the group of soccer obsessed friends I’m going with have only been to Harrison a combined handful of times this season.

Here are some of the least offensive questions they have asked leading up to our New Jersey adventure. For them and all the other fans who may not be as familiar with the 2012 Red Bulls, this one is for you.

1) So how’s the team doing so far?

Two tough losses to start the season against FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake and complete smack downs from DC United and the Chicago Fire have been relatively small hiccups on an otherwise great start to 2012. Despite an almost comical amount of injuries at times, the team has shown off its improved depth and ability to score early and kill off low-scoring games. They are in third place in the Eastern Conference just behind DC and Sporting Kansas City and with a lot of space between them and the 4^th place Chicago Fire. Except for an early exit from the U.S. Open Cup, there’s still hope for the team to compete for MLS Cup and even the Supporters Shield.

2) How are our designated players Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez doing?

Henry had a great start to the year and is near the top of the league in goals despite being out with a pulled hamstring for the majority of the last few weeks. Marquez has been disappointing after having what sounded like a recommitted effort during the offseason. His occasional skilled passing over the top has led to a couple of goals, but he just hasn’t had the tenacity in the center of the field that the position requires. He has also spent a lot of time injured or suspended. With any luck, the Red Bulls will move him during the summer transfer window but no one is holding their breath for that to happen. The good news for fans interested in seeing the team’s two highest paid players is that they are both expected to start on Sunday.

3) What is Larry Bird doing playing keeper?

Continue reading this post »

Regardless of tonight's winner, Cal FC or the Wilmington Hammerheads, they'll head up to Oregon to play the Portland Timbers next week in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup.

This, if you'll remember, is a different arrangement than any other MLS team has when they enter the Open Cup May 29. Who goes where is decided by the winners of tonight's games, essentially a toss-up for the team waiting with a bye to the next round.

Of course, we don't know what prompted the change in prospective venue. As is often the case with lower league teams, they'll rent space from a local college or high school or play on a municipal field and we all know when the team doesn't own its field, the team is subject to the whims of whoever does. So maybe Wilmington, who would've stayed home if it wasn't for this new arrangement, was content to give their players a chance at playing in front of a raucous Portland crowd instead of finding a new place to play. That's what happened, right Merritt Paulson?

Continue reading this post »

Libraries. Silent movies. Sneaking to the fridge for a late night snack. All of these things, particularly the last one, make more noise than the New York Red Bulls since exiting the MLS Playoffs back in November with a loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy.

While it's flattering to have so many rumors swirling around New York players departing on loan or permanent transfers, not much has been coming out of Harrison on incoming players except for a recent find in a Swedish newspaper on a possible new central defender. The Red Bulls completely cleaned house after the MLS re-entry draft and since then have only officially announced the signing of a single homegrown player, defender Connor Lade, bringing their listed roster to a grand total of twenty players (out of a possible thirty). So here at Once a Metro, we took a closer look around the league to see how the Red Bulls measure up to other clubs in terms of their roster spots left to fill.

Continue reading this post »

It's that time of year again! Break out your aluminum poles, get ready to air some grievances, warm up for the feats of strength -- and there may even be a Festivus miracle.

The Festivus Pole(s)

This year's Festivus Pole goes to Juan Agudelo, for hitting the woodwork twice against Philadelphia back in April.

Here's the first. And the second. Not the best day (in terms of end product) for The Great Hope of American soccer. This game was in some ways a reflection of his season -- he is undoubtedly talented, but no one can be sure whether he will be able to fix the many problems with his game and fulfill his potential: becoming the first top-level striker that the United States has produced. He's at a tipping point, and the difference between being the next Clint Dempsey (or better) and the next Freddy Adu is both as small and as large as a few inches on a crossbar or post.

The Airing of Grievances

Mehdi Ballouchy, Brian Nielsen, Rafa Márquez, and Greg Sutton: you have all disappointed me greatly over the past year.

Mehdi, your languid playing style is frequently mistaken (read: is not mistaken) for a lack of commitment on your part to the Red Bulls' cause. Start running, either on the pitch, or to another team.

Brian, get fit or go back to Denmark.

Rafa, I have nothing to say to you. Stand in that corner until your contract is up.

Greg, best of luck in Montreal. You need it.

Honorable mention to Tim Ream for falling off a cliff after the first seven games.

[I'm keeping Backe and Solér out to prevent any further gnashing of teeth over whether or not they should stay -- they are staying.]

Continue reading this post »

To go along with your fake team?

Let's take a minute off from playoff stress to have a laugh at America's favorite soccer brand that likes to masquerade as our "crosstown rival." The same "crosstown rival" that looks fondly back on a blackout in the midst of looting, vandalism, economic uncertainty, and a serial killer with t-shirts and stuff. But it was cool, man. You just had to be there.

But anyway, if you're an Xbox Live user and are looking for ways to spiff up your avatar, look no further than this white Cosmos graphic tee for the low, low price of 80 Microsoft Points.

Because, well, why the hell not. Unfortunately, you can't get any MLS gear aside from the the "rave green" home jersey of the Seattle Sounders, which was a limited time offer.

There was a New York Times story a while back that made waves in the MLS blogosphere. The story asserted that Newark got the short end of the urban development stick by building a minor league baseball stadium, while Harrison got it absolutely right with Red Bull Arena.

Ignoring the fact that the timelines don't really match up, as there's only a slim chance Newark actually had any choice in the matter, it looks like things didn't work out quite so well for Newark's neighbor on the other side of the Passaic, either.

Harrison, the gracious host of tomorrow's U.S.-Ecuador game, was newly crowned as the fourth most likely city to go bankrupt. The city's credit rating was downgraded to junk bond levels and has a $6 million budget gap. The city had plans to lay off 17 percent of its police and 29 percent of its firefighters to close the gap, prompting Deadspin to call Harrison "one of the poorest, most lawless places in America."

To add to Harrison's issues, in June Bloomberg reported Red Bull is challenging their taxable status, allegedly owning $1.4 million to the city in property taxes. Red Bull says the Harrison Redevelopment Agency owns the land and thus isn't on the hook for the property taxes involved.

Continue reading this post »

When a team is doing poorly, the blame usually falls on one prominent person - in (American) football it's the quarterback and in baseball it's the manager.  But in soccer it's not always quite so clear.  This season, the vitriol around the New York Red Bulls has been directed mainly at Erik Soler and Hans Backe.  Last Wednesday, it seemed as if every shortcoming of the Red Bulls suddenly became an afterthought as with one public critique of his teammates and in particular fan favorite Tim Ream, Rafa Marquez became the undisputed villain among Red Bull fans - all that's missing is a fake Twitter account. 

Here at Once a Metro, The Case Against Rafa Marquez summed up the anti-Rafa sentiment well: "...Marquez is representative of exactly what this team should not be: overpaid, lackadaisical, elitist."  A nationwide lightbulb went off as American soccer followers simultaneously realized why the Red Bulls have underperformed this season (Rafa Marquez).  Grant Wahl wondered how he could have predicted Marquez to be MLS Defender of the Year and concluded that bringing Marquez to New York was a "huge mistake," a true kiss of death from someone who witnessed first hand the disaster that was David Beckham's arrival with the L.A. Galaxy.       

Lost in much of the debate is how the fall of Rafa Marquez started long before his disparaging comments after a 3-1 loss to Real Salt Lake last week.  And it happened before Red Bull fans, who also followed the Gold Cup, noticed an enormous gap between his energy and level of play for his country and his lackadaisical performances for his club.  

Continue reading this post »

While it’s old news that the Red Bulls drew against the Vancouver Whitecaps, what fans might have is that Saturday’s draw, in probably the greatest irony in MLS history, pulled even with the Chicago Fire for most draws in a season with 15.

An almost certain cause for celebration.

In the context of American sports a draw is an odd thing. The cliché goes “winning cures all.” Rarely does anyone criticize a team that’s winning. Conversely, losing creates tension. It’s when the fans start booing (or, in our case, protesting), the media starts speculating and the locker room gets testy. It stands to reason, then, that draws should result in some kind of apathetic shrugging and pushes some kind of strange neutrality.

But not when you’re a Red Bulls fan in 2011. In fact, over the last five months we in the South Ward have been schooled in the many varieties of draw. Let’s take a look at some, shall we?

Continue reading this post »