Jair Marrufo – UGH: Red Bulls 1 – Kansas City 1

By: Dave Martinez | May 18th, 2008

The Good News?

Well, the Red Bulls continue to fight where they havent in the past. This time, facing a surging Kansas City attack, and playing a man down, the Bulls forced a tie, and held that result for a good 25-30 minutes in the end of the second half. This point is that much more important considering all signs were pointing to a loss.

JCO has his men believing, and it shows.

The Bad News?

Jair Marrufo has a hard on against us. That is the only reason I can see for Dave Van Den Bergh getting a straight red, while KC was hanging off of him like a leetch. Ridiculous. And then, to lose our coach due to “inflammatory and abusive language” right before he is about to face one of our biggest rivals next week?

Disgusted.

Can you guess who will be special ed this week?

MAN OF THE MATCH

I love Danleigh Borman. Those signs of brilliance that we witnessed in the offseason are resurfacing in a big way. Sure, Borman is still good for 2-3 bad, head scratching crosses a game, but he is at the very least pushing himself to be better. And how much better can you get than a second game in a row with a goal, and a NON botched celebration to boot (even with a fan crossing over for the hug)! Danleigh, you saved us. And you are our man of the match.

Check this video of his celebration (thanks to Ives). Its a doozy.

TURNING POINT OF THE MATCH

Again, can there be anything more invigorating than a goal after your teammate sees the red card? That was huge.

WHAT THE?! MOMENT OF THE MATCH

What the?! happened about 100 times. How? Well, you tell me where that brick wall with bleach blonde hair in the KC nets came from, and Ill give you your answer. Kevin Hartman was WAY off the meat rack last night, and easily saved KC from losing this game 4-1. Point blank shot after point blank shot, the Cat seemed to find a way to neutralize the attack. He is the WHAT THE?! player of the game for sure.

SPECIAL ED PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Jair Marrufo, why do you hate on us? KC was doing alot of clutching and grabbing all game, highlighted by the piggy back ride Van Den Bergh was giving that resulted in a red card against us. Imagine that? And now, this idiot has cost us our coach for one of the most anticipated games of our 2008 fixture. Ridiculous. Thanks alot.

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Dave Martinez

Even hurt, Angel is top 2-3 if not #1. The guy is really unmatched in the league. Look at how Emilio FELL OFF this year - I mean, that is STEEP. Angel always manages to show up, make an impact, and make the best of his skill, and you dont notice the wear and tear as much as with other footballers of his age.

Without him, Jozy, Dane and the rest of the guys would really be having a much tougher time.
NoLayup Rule

yeah, you can really see the difference already between JCO and Arena.

I honestly feel that Angel might be the best player in all of MLS.
Dave Martinez

Metro Bulls Unite!

Yea totally NLR. Angel, in his current state, is still better than 90% of the players on the pitch, but he cant take on 100% of the offensive creativity and flow. Reyna coming back may help.

Magee was good, but a bit quiet. Borman was electric. And I am so glad to have the threat of Dane back on the wing. It really changes the dimensions of our attack.

And give it up for Hunter Freeman - quietly sending in great crosses and contributing to both ends.

In the end, you have to give JCO a hand - great job making these players play the full 90.
NoLayup Rule

Wow - what a nail bitter!

For starters my good ... Angel. This guy is everything to this team. He makes every successful play, its incredible. Borman looked like a breath of fresh air too though I did like what we were seeing in Magee - to an extent. Conway is playing well too. ANd its great to see Dane back creating havoc!

The bad ... our ball control is horrific! Why cant we control our passes for more than one kick? why do we continue to give away goal kicks and long passes so cheaply? Why do we insist on booting the ball out of bounds on defense rather than trying to control? Uggg!! Its hard to watch at times. Also bad is our playmaking after Angel. It seems everything good happens off an Angel touch, a one on one play or a broken moment. And then again, perhaps our worst feature, defense off set plays. How many times do we get beat off corners and free kicks!?!

Injury has a lot to do with it of course but Id really like to see these weaknesses shored up some.

It'll be good to get Renya back soon - I hope - and Id love to get Echeverry back too! I believe in this kid.

Still, while so much went against us last game and the lords of football seemed to tell us that all those many shots on goal that were cleared or protected away so well meant a shut out we were still able to come away with a point, which is better than a loss for sure.

Go metro-bulls!
Dave Martinez

Ian, thats a great thing - something we havent seen in a long time.

btw - hit me up earlier tommorrow - I got that audio - hysterical . . .
Ian Rose

Too bad. I had a friendly bet on 2-1 to you guys, but considering the start and the way the game looked for long stretches, a draw isn't the worst result. Like you keep saying, they're fighting and that's not a bad thing.