MLS Thursday Night: New York Red Bull v Chicago

By: Bob | May 24th, 2007

Forget Memorial Day, the new unofficial start to summer is MLS Thursday Night on ESPN. It is now safe to wear white shoes. Or whatever color shoes Juan Pablo Angel wears this evening for RBNY. The former Aston Villa striker scored a goal and set up two more last week and he gives us all an excuse to be excited about this one. Not that we need an excuse. We have had the MLS Thursday Night ~~kool-aid~~ Red Bull and it tastes good.

Angel’s new team has been one of the more pleasant surprises of the young MLS season. New York is in second place in the Eastern Conference and is a veritable scoring machine with 12 goals in 7 games. Bruce Arena’s boys take on a Chicago Fire side that comes limping into the contest having lost its last three games, including last week in front of the masses watching on ESPN. This is the first time these two teams have met this season. Chicago leads the all-time series 15-6-8.

A few things to keep an eye on while you dust off the Speedo and get yourself mentally and physically prepared for a summer of MLS madness.

1. The Bone Crusher – The Ukrainian Assassin Dema Kovalenko began his career with the Chicago Fire where he not only played 90 games but he also broke the leg and ended the career of Dallas Burn defender Brandon Pollard. From there he was traded to DC United for Justin Mapp. That is where he broke the leg of Dallas Burn midfielder Ronnie O’Brien on another nasty tackle. From there he joined Red Bull New York where he has not broken any legs nor has he scored a goal in 16 appearances. He could do both tonight.

2. The Old Warrior – You may know that Chris Armas has played in more than 190 games for the Chicago Fire and that he has earned 66 caps for the United States, but did you know that he also has played for Puerto Rico five times? Neither did I, but it is on Wikipedia so it must be gospel. The 34-year-old midfielder was a freshman in college when Red Bull New York forward Jozy Altidore was born.

3. Estadio de los Gigantes – Nothing says atmosphere more than a 70,000 seat stadium with a few thousand fans. Help is on the way. Red Bull New York will eventually move out of Giants Stadium, but not until September 2008. Looks like they’ll be moving from a dump of stadium to, well, a dump.

Enjoy the game tonight and as always feel free to use this space to discuss all things MLS or the latest summer fashion. I’m taking a long weekend. Daryl will be running the show on Friday and parts of the weekend. Be well.