Hey ya’ll!

On The Field

Our last game was against San Jose this past Saturday. It was a game that I think all the boys would like to forget. We got quite the whoopin’! We ended up losing 4-0. The score does not really reveal how the game really went. We did not play well by any means, but we did not deserve to lose 4-0. Hey it’s just one of those games you try to learn from, but also one where you kind of just have to forget and move on. We have to understand that there are going to be games like that from time to time. We just must make sure that we learn our lesson from that game and make sure that it does not happen again. We were missing a couple key players on our team, which in my mind no doubt hurt us. We have plenty of depth on the team and guys that can step in and not miss a beat, but we sure did miss Micheal Parkhurst and Shalrie Joseph in San Jose. “Parky” was just getting home for the Olympics and Shalrie was serving a one game suspension for his red card against Chicago the week before. Sometimes you do not really notice or realize how much a player means to the team until they are not out there. I realized that about Parky and Shalrie in San Jose. Look, I understand that it is a team game and that every player is vital to the team’s success. I am a big proponent of the team concept and believe that should be stressed with every team. But I also realize the importance of certain players. I can’t say enough about Shalrie and Parky as players and as people. They are very vital to the team and our success and I fully realized their importance to our team in their absence against San Jose. It will be good to have them back for our upcoming game against DC United on Wednesday.

Off The Field

Off the field not too much has been going on with me over the past week or so. We have been traveling quite a bit, so mainly I have just been resting up and taking it easy. I put a lot of importance on soccer. It is something that I am passionate about and I want to do the very best that I can. I am very competitive and have very high standards for myself so I want to win every game and I want to play the best I can in every game. It doesn’t really always work out like that though. In fact, things here recently have not been going that way at all. Sometimes I can put so much into soccer that it affects my life outside the game. A bad practice or game or lose can turn my world upside down. Now, for the most part I am a positive and sensible person, but sometimes I just lose it. You know the saying “leave all your work at work when you leave?” Well I have been trying to apply that to my life. I was becoming somebody that I did not want to become. I was miserable to be around at times. Now I am not saying by any means that I have lost my competitive edge or anything at all like that, I am just saying that I am trying to adapt to the pressures and demands of the professional game in a better manner. There are a lot of ups and downs in sports, just like there are in life. I believe, among other things, that what separates athletes is how they deal with things when they are down. I had a good first year, it would have been great if we won the Cup, so coming into this year my expectations and goals were much higher. I wanted to establish myself as a starter and a premier player in the league. Things have not gone like I had planned them, but I believe in myself and have faith that God has plans for me and that he will take care of me. I know that sulking and doubting will only hurt me further, so I am trying to continue to work hard and try and look on the positive side of things. Like I said, I believe in myself, and I know that without a doubt I can be a good professional.

So like I said, our next game is Wednesday against good ‘ole D.C. United. I really can’t stand DC so I am looking forward to the game and hoping to put them in their place. They are a good team and have some really good players, but they are not the quality that we are. I do not say that to be arrogant, I just believe it to be the truth. I don’t consider myself an arrogant man at all, in fact I feel that I am very humble.I definitely owe that and accredit that to my upbringing and my parents. My parents raised me right. I cannot thank them enough for all that they have done for me, sacrificed for me, given me, and loved and cared for me. I owe all that I am and all that I have and have become to my parents. They have always stood by my side, no matter what. I am so grateful for the hours they put into driving me to tournaments, washing my stained and dirty uniforms, and their love, sacrifice, and support for me following my dreams. There was a time in my life when I would not have been able to express that. As I have gotten older and matured, I have begun to realize more and more how blessed I have been and am to have such wonderful parents. I hope one day I can make millions and take care of them like they have of me. Somewhat kidding, but that would be nice huh? I hope one day I can be the kind of parent to my kids as my parents were to me.

-Hope ya’ll enjoyed this week’s blog! Have a great rest of the week-Take care, God bless, and be easy!

-wells

Real Salt Lake defeated defending champion DC United in penalty kicks to win the second annual SUM U-17 MLS Cup held at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Col. The final, which was held Thursday morning, was the culmination of the weeklong tournament that saw 14 teams compete for the crown of best U-17 team in the country. (San Jose did not field a squad, while the host Rapids fielded two.)The competition was marked by the phenomenal play of Real Salt Lake striker James Rogers. Rogers, who just completed his freshman year at Highland High School in Salt Lake City, scored an unbelievable seven goals in his team’s five games. An all-state selection last season, Rogers scored RSL’s only goal in regulation in the final game against DC United.Rogers’ story also goes beyond his success at the SUM Cup. Rogers, who was born in 1993, arrived in the United States in 2004 as a refugee from war-torn Sierra Leone. He will likely be a sought after prospect after his success at both the SUM Cup and his participation in the Olympic Development Program last winter.Another player who had a standout tournament were DC United supersub Michael Burgos, who despite not starting in any games, scored four goals for DC. Burgos tallied DC’s only goal in the final and had two goals in United’s 3-0 semifinal victory versus Chivas USA.DC United’s Peado Boue and Travis Pittman, along with FC Dallas’ Gabriel Funes also had outstanding tournaments.With the victory RSL qualifies for both the prestigious Dallas Cup and U-17 Clubs Youth World Cup.

News coming from RFK is saying that Ben Olsen will be on Tom Soehn’s 18-man roster. This is the first time all season that he has been made available. He will be on the bench for this match even though his ankle is still sore.

DC United announced Thursday that they have released Argentian striker Franco Niell. Niell only made 7 league appearances for United, failing to find the back of the net. The 25 year old striker was signed from Argentinos Juniors earlier this season. This would seem to suggest that DC may have another player in mind, and released Niell in order to free up an international spot and cap space, what do you think?

Hello Fans,

Sorry for the long lay off, but last week was a bit crazy.  Game in DC Saturday, followed by a game in New England midweek, and another game at home on Saturday.  On top of that my parents paid me a visit from Texas on Thursday, so needless to say I haven’t had much spare time!  Speaking of time, it doesn’t get much better this week as we head to Phoenix, Arizona for a friendly game against Chivas (of Mexico).  Then we head straight from there to Los Angeles for our game Saturday night against Chivas USA.  A nice, nine-day road trip.  Oh but wait, the story gets even better!  Our flight was supposed to leave from Newark around 6:30pm tonight, but we were delayed and didn’t depart until 9:30pm.  Have to love being in the hands of the commercial airlines!

I am writing this blog from the plane.  I guess you could call it my office for the next week (and the hotel).  I am looking forward to Phoenix, as it is one of the few places that I have yet to visit.  Thank goodness the stadium we are playing in has a retractable roof, since it has been a balmy 100+ degrees for about eight days in a row in Phoenix!  Oh, don’t worry though, the forecast while we are there for 3 days, highs around 110 and lows around 80. 

We are currently in the middle of hectic time of the year for us.  As I mentioned before, we just played three games in eight days.  Over the next two weeks we will play another four games in various competitions:

6/25- Friendly vs Chivas (Mexico)   Phoenix, AZ

6/28- MLS vs Chivas USA    Carson, CA

7/1- US Open Cup vs Harrisburg City Islanders     TBD

7/4- MLS vs Colorado        Denver, CO

That makes for 4 games, in 10 days!  I am getting tired just thinking about it.  What can you do, the schedule is what it is and you have to play the cards you are dealt.  Hopefully we can get results in all of our games and along the way some young guys who have not played that much gain some playing time and experience.  These next four games will be a great opportunity for many guys to prove to coach that they deserve a spot on field or as a sub. 

About those past two games….

Clearly in DC, we were quite poor.  Every team is going to have a game here and there where things might not go their way, but that was not the case for us that game.  We simply just didn’t want it as bad as the other team.  We were out worked and the result showed.

In New England, there were some changes made; mentality, formation, and personnel.  I thought the team did a great job of letting New England know from the beginning that what happened in DC was not going to happen again.  It wasn’t always pretty, but it was effective.  There was some good soccer played, along with some scrappy soccer.  At the end of the day we had put ourselves in a wonderful position to grab three points on the road against the best team in the league.  Unfortunately we gave up a goal late (one that none of us were pleased with, because we knew it was way too easy).  At the end of the day we still had earned a point, but more importantly we could look ourselves in the mirror and know that we had given an honest effort and gone toe to toe with the best team in the league at their place.  We had something to build on!

On Saturday against Dallas, we fielded the same lineup as we did midweek against New England.  I thought the team did an even better job of letting it be known to Dallas that it was not going to be an easy day on the job.  From the beginning we sustained high pressure and gave them little room to play.  Eventually that paid off for as, after Sinisia delivered a great ball off a corner kick and Gold was there to nock it home for just a few yards out.  It was another great start for the second game in a row, and one that we fully deserved.  If it were not for their keeper to make some quality saves throughout the match we could have found ourselves up at least two goals, if not three.  Dallas’ chances were few and far between.  Their best chance coming towards the end of the game, but Conway was there to make a terrific save and preserve the clean sheet.  It was a great stepping-stone from our performance in New England, and we were able to gain another notch in the win column. 

Looking forward to this weekends match against Chivas USA, I think we have to bring the same heart and desire to the game that we did last week. If we continue to build on our past two games and get a bit lucky, then we have a great chance of coming back with some points. 

Your Questions Answered:

1. Hey Hunter, after the departure of Jozy, looks like you guys might 

be in the market for a striker, if you could pick a striker to join 

the Red Bulls, no matter how unlikely, who would be in your top 5?

-Stanley E

Stanley,

Fernando Torres, Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Toni, Miroslav Klose

2. Hello Hunter, after the D.C United result, it was rumored that JCO 

really gave you guys a talking to, do you think this helped the team 

turn in a stronger performance against New England?

-George M

George,

I would have to say that based on our past 2 results against New England and Dallas that it definitely didn’t hurt!  We all realized that the DC game was a poor effort and performance, and one we do not want to re-create.  There was only room for improvement after that game.  I think in both the New England and Dallas games you saw a much more inspired and passionate team on the field, yet a team that still played some good soccer as well.

3 Hiya Hunter, I’ve read that there are many professional players that

 play lots of footy video games, are there any guys on the Red Bulls 

that are particularly big on video games? Any card players? Thanks!

-Jessy F

Jessy,

To be honest I am not sure who is good at FIFA on our team.  I never have been one for playing footy video games.  As far as card players, there are plenty of those on the team.  The usual suspects playing cards are usually myself, Magee, Boyens, DVB, Leitch, Goldy, and Conway.

4.Hi Mr. Freeman, if you had to mark Cristiano Ronaldo, how would you 

go about it?

-Michael W

Michael,

Kick him as hard as I could and hopefully he would have to come out of the game.  Haha, no in all seriousness though I am not sure that there is a good/right way to mark him.  If you try to get close to him and deny him the ball he still has the speed to get in behind you.  But if you respect his speed and give him just a few yards of space to get the ball and run at you, you are in trouble too.  He has such great quality in so many categories (speed, skill, passing, shooting, heading).  He is one of those guys that you have to mark by committee, because I don’t think that there is any ONE defender in the world that likes their chances of stopping him 1v1 over 90 minutes.

5. Hey Hunta! (i’m from the bronx) If you could bring one player from 

another MLS team to RBNY, who would it be and why?

-Johnny G

Johnny,

Hunta huh?  I thought that was Boston talk.  I had a coach from Boston, and he used to always call me Hunta.  Guess the Bronx and Boston have something in common other than baseball! 

To answer your question, that’s a tough one.  I will go what player I would take for each position:

Forward- Dwayne De Rosario (plays there sometimes, and had to list him here so I could fit in Gomez)

Mid- Christian Gomez (very creative)/ Shalrie Joseph (dependable, hard working)

Defender- Eddie Robinson (no one likes to play against him)

GK- Brad Guzan (very good and young)

Steven Goff wrote a great article based on conversations with Santino Quaranta about the players battle with drug addiction. The young DC United Midfielder/Forward discusses the last few years of his life, and his destructive addiction to pain killers. I suggest every single Major League Soccer fan read this story, great work by Steven Goff, who is always a class act. ead the article Steve Goff Washington Post

The 2008 Superliga schedule was officially announced Thursday afternoon and is as follows:
SuperLiga™ 2008 Schedule*?(All Times Eastern) / * Subject to change

Saturday, July 12

D.C. United vs. CD Guadalajara (RFK Stadium – Washington D.C.) 20:00

Houston Dynamo vs. Atlante (Robertson Stadium – Houston, TX) 22:00

Sunday, July 13

NE Revolution vs. Santos (Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, MA) 20:00

Chivas USA vs. Pachuca CF (Home Depot Center – Carson, CA) 22:00

Tuesday, July 15

D.C. United vs. Atlante (RFK Stadium – Washington D.C.) 20:00

Houston Dynamo vs. CD Guadalajara (Robertson Stadium – Houston, TX) 22:00

Wednesday, July 16

NE Revolution vs. Pachuca CF (Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, MA) 20:00

Chivas USA vs. Santos (Home Depot Center – Carson, CA) 22:00

Saturday, July 19

D.C. United vs. Houston Dynamo (RFK Stadium – Washington D.C.) 20:00

Atlante vs. CD Guadalajara (Buck Shaw – Santa Clara, CA) 22:00

Sunday, July 20

Chivas USA vs. NE Revolution (Venue TBD – Los Angeles, CA) 20:00

Santos vs. Pachuca CF (Pizza Hut Park – Frisco, TX) 22:00

Tuesday, July 29 - Semifinal 1 (Location TBD)

Wednesday, July 30 - Semifinal 2 (Location TBD)

Tuesday, August 5 - Final (Location TBD)

 DC United announced Friday that 24 year old defender Jeff Curtin has officially announced his retirement. Curtin was picked up in the waiver draft after being wavied by Chicago, who drafted him in the 2nd round of the 2006 MLS Superdraft. Curtin made 3 appearances for the Fire, scoring one goal, after spending 4 years at Georgetown University. Curtin did not make a first team appearance for DC, and his older brother Jim currently plays for Chivas USA.

 Rating: 2 (Possible)

According to several reports out of England, Newcastle United striker Mark Viduka is eyeing a movel to DC United. The 32 year old striker has 43 caps for Australia and has played with EPL sides Leeds United, Middlesborough and most recently Newcastle United. Viduka managed to net 7 goals last season for Newcastle, and is still considered a dangerous Premier League striker.

Chivas USA take on DC United Saturday at the HDC.

Two teams, two conference champions, Both are struggling to find form after a rocky start.

Chivas USA have six people on this weeks injury list, five out and one questionable. The out includes Alecko Eskandarian, Raphael Wicky, Alex Zotinca, Lawson Vaughn and Jonathan Bornstein. Carey Talley is questionable.

Mentality is key and defense is the issue. If Chivas USA wants to see success, then the team has to defend as a unit. The midfield has to track back and pressure the squad. The burden will fall on Pancho Mendoza and Sacha Kljestan. Both players will need to play both defense and offense all game.

I anticipate the usual starters in the offense and midfield. The defense is anyone’s guess. Both Shavar Thomas and Claudio Suarez will start in the midfield. I would give Bobby Burling the nod for right back. I thought he put together a decent performance. On the left, I would like to see Gerson Mayen get the start. If not, Mayen, maybe go after a 3-5-2 with Thomas wide. Have Talley (if healthy) or Marsch as the defensive mid. Something like this.

——Razov————-Galindo——-

Mendoza————————-Kljestan
——–Paladini-Marsch-Nagamura——

—-Thomas—–Suarez—–Burling—–

Play what you have.

I guess the only thing that could save the team is that DC is almost as injured as Chivas USA. DC is not expecting Olson, Peralta, McTavish or Fred. Emilio may be benched due to poor performance.