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)

Greetings fans,

What more can I say, other then you cannot ask for a better start to the season then we had last Saturday.  The weather was beautiful, the goals came early, and we earned three points.  Oh yes, the fans!!!!  There were 17,000 plus and as vocal as I can remember.  So from my teammates and I, you the fans earn a BIG “thank you!”  

Personally, it was great to see Dave and Goldy open up their accounts on opening day.  Two guys who have been doubted the most by fans and media definitely proved their worth on Saturday.  

This week we have a good test in Dallas.  It will be our first test on the road, and against a good opposition who definitely have some individuals that are capable of punishing you.  Like us, Dallas has switched its formation to a 3-5-2 as well.  Although, so far it looks as they still have some things to sort out in the back having given up 4 goals in 2 games.  Only time will tell, as we will know how things shake out on Saturday evening. 

If you are a European soccer fan, this week Champions league games have been quite entertaining.  Although, I think it is safe to say that the hands down winner of match of the week has to be Arsenal vs Liverpool.  I wont go into detail on the match as I am sure most of you watched the match, but if you have not I suggest you do.  

As for my injury, it is progressing nicely.  Saw the Doc at the game this weekend and he was quite surprised to see how well my ankle has come along.  He is keeping me in the boot for at least another week.  I was not too happy about that, as the boot is annoying and my ankle feels good.  Yet, he knows more then I do so I will do what he suggest.  After my ankle injury last year, I learned not to rush back!  As I make more progress or get any more good news, I will definitely pass it on.

Once again as I did last week, I will end with answers to your questions.  It is always great reading your questions and seeing what is on your minds.  Some questions make me think, and some must make me laugh.  As always though, I will do my best to answer all them.  Enjoy your weekend, and look forward to seeing you back out at Giants Stadium on the 19^th.

Hello Hunter, we’ve all heard that Chris Innes is training with RBNY,  

have you had a chance to see him/talk with him? Any impressions/ 

thoughts on him/his play so far? 

Noah Z, 

I have met Chris as his has been training with the team since Tuesday.  I cannot give you my honest opinion about his play, as I have only seen him play in training for about 15 mins.  He looks as if he has some quality, is vocal, and good in the air.  

Hi Hunter, since we all know of your great talent on the field, do you have any hidden talents we may not know about? 

Alisha K,

Hidden talents huh?  Not sure I really do have any hidden talents.  I thought long and hard about this question, but cannot seem to come up with anything.  

Bonjour Mr. Freeman, big fan of the blog so far! Who would you say is the biggest jokester in the locker room, which player is the joker of the bunch? My guess is Conway or Woly. 

Steven S,

As you can probably guess, being in a locker room amongst teammates every day there are always jokes and pranks going on.  Usually the rookies catch the brunt of the jokes, but everyone is fair game.  As for who is the joker of the bunch????  I would have say Dave Van Den Bergh.  You are pretty close though with your two guesses, as Wolly is pretty neck and neck with Dave.  Wolly tends to lay low and just wait until you say something that makes absolutely no sense, and then he just murders you for it and makes sure everyone else in the locker room knows what you said as well.

Hey Hunter, I was at the opener on Saturday, I was happy with the result, and very impressed by the crowd, made alot of noise, 101 was amazing as usual! Are you enjoying being coach by JCO? He looks like a very passionate committed manager, definitely a night and day difference from Arena on the touchline.

Anthony S,

You hit it right on the nose; the crowd, atmosphere, and result were all amazing this past weekend.  As I mentioned last week and again this week, you the fans make all the difference in the world.  As for Juan Carlos, he is without a doubt fully committed to the task at hand.  I don’t believe I have ever seen a coach spend more time jotting down ideas, tactics, drills on a piece of paper then Juan Carlos.  Unfortunately, my time away with the Olympic Team and my recent injury have not allowed me to work with him very much.  For the few training sessions I have been able to train with the team I have been pleased.  The sessions are long and intense, but everything we do has a purpose.  There is no time wasted!

Hello Hunter, what sports do you follow very closely, other than soccer? Any favorite TV shows at the moment? Keep up the good work!

Dan G,

Being from Texas I am a huge Football (American Football) fan, and I love my Cowboys.  I know that probably will not sit well with a lot of you because of the Giants, but I stick with my team.  As I tell all my friends, they aren’t called “America’s Team” for nothing.  As far as a favorite TV show at the moment, no question it would have to be Rob and Big.

Thanks again to all of you for reading the blog and submitting questions.  Look forward to meeting some of you throughout the year at the games.  Until next week, take care and enjoy your weekend!

-Hunter