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.

Some Related Stories:

Category: MLS, World Football

« David Beckham Sells out Match that probably won’t happen | Home | Daily Dose 05.25.07 »

The Offside RSS Feeds

Tom

Sadly, I'm fairly sure that if I played striker against the Fire backline right now, I'd also look like I could dominate MLS.
Nick

Great game..JPA looks set to dominate the MLS
Nick

Great match...JPA looks set to dominate the MLS
Nicholas

After the performance against Chicago Fire, JPA certainly looks set to dominate the MLS
Laurie

Damn straight!
Gianfranco

AGREED
Clint

We rule for being the only handful of people in America to watch the game!
Laurie

Definitely the best MLS game I've seen so far.
Gianfranco

Def best MLS games of the season, NYRB looks very good.
Laurie

Yeah, Chicago looked downright French through most of the game -- breathtakingly, stunningly beautiful passing and a complete inability to put it in the net!

(Did I just say that about my beloved Bleus?)
Clint

"Chicago is staring at their fourth straight loss. In a row."

It's a shame Wynalda's accurate and honest opinions are getting wasted next to ESPNs game-callers.
Clint

That third goal was beautiful. What do you think? Best game of the season? I like that Toronto win a few weeks ago, too, but this is easily the most attractive football I've seen since the Colts were on their unbeaten streak last year.
Gianfranco

Clint I would def take the pay cut, and Laurie I agree the ball movement up front for NYRB is almost *GASP* European!!
Laurie

Oh, damn, did I just say "football"? My Eurosnobbery is alive and well.
Laurie

I think this is some of the prettiest football I've seen in MLS all season. From both teams, believe it or not.
Clint

I just thought of something, Gianfranco. If you take away the job (and football is a job to these folks), where would you rather play? A place like Birmingham for 100% of your current salary, or New York City (well, at least the Oranges, NJ) for 70% of your salary. If I had already made a couple million and someone offered me the chance to make even half my market value to play somewhere like New York or London or some other highly desirable city for a young man with loads of money, I know what I would take.

Although, i guess the same doesn't apply to NBA or NFL athletes. I love the guys who sign as free agents with a sorry team in a horrible city just to make an extra 5%.
Gianfranco

i agree Clint...its clost to shameful
Gianfranco

WOW...talk about fast start
Clint

Despite being the only commenter so far, I think there are more people reading theoffside tonight than there are at this game.
Clint

Actually, if an over-30 guy who couldn't dominate at Aston Villa (although I'll admit they were manager and owner challenged while he was there) can step in and within two weeks become, easily, the best player in MLS, why on earth doesn't MLS go out and get other players in his position. Older, but not ancient, out of favor and needing a summer or two to boost their morale and get plenty of PT during the European off-seasons. If Angel keeps this up through fall do you think more teams in Europe and/or Argentina will be interested than in January this year? Or will even a spectacular season only result in shrugs from rich teams overseas?
Clint

Wow. With JPA there is it safe to put Nie in the championship game now?