Welcome to the opening game of the MLS season! We are mere hours away from another 30 game tournament towards the MLS Cup, and the excitement surrounding the Red Bulls hasn’t been this palpable since the signings of Reyna and Angel.

The Bulls open their season against the “Don’t Call Us Expansion” Seattle Sounders. And what a way to open a season; the Sounders have launched a major campaign in the area that has resulted in 20,000 season tickets sold. An atmosphere like that will surely be electric.

For the Bulls, they start the season with a major target on their back as the Western Conference Champions. Surely, starting the season with a win would be of paramount importance.

WHATS AT STAKE

For the Bulls, it is a chance to start off the season on a winning foot. Juan Carlos Osorio has gone to great lengths to create a proper mix of young upstarts and class veterans. The Bulls are currently sporting 3 starters who have at one point or another worn the Captains armband for their international teams. And the youngsters have grown under his tutelage. Coach will be looking to build on last seasons successes through his winter signings, and the cultivation of youth players. In doing so, he hopes to cement a winning attitude amongst the group that would carry them through the season.

For the Sounders, it’s the chance to impress a hungry fan base with a win against a team that made it to the MLS Cup final a mere few months ago. What a better way to get up for a new team, right?

WHAT TO EXPECT

Logic tells you that an expansion team, missing its key player in Freddie Ljunberg, would be looking to take a defensive stance in the bottom third and stand their ground against a more experienced Red Bulls squad.

Well, screw logic.

Fact is, with over 20,000 people in attendance, everyone from Drew Carey, to Sigi Schmid to Courtney Love wants to see the Sounders on the attack. And they will be, until the Red Bulls catch them in transition. Expect a high flying start to the game, with the Red Bulls gaining momentum for the final 2/3rds, and escaping with the win. Not even Keller can hold up that unproven line, especially against the new, faster and more dangerous Red Bulls attack.

KEY PLAYERS

RED BULLS: Jorge Rojas. Red Bull fans have been screaming for a quality CAM since Amado Guevara skipped town. Osorio believes Rojas is that man, and he has shown why this preseason. Expect Rojas to be the Bulls midfield general, directing a lot of the play and creating cheeky seam passes that will surely have the Sounders defense looking for answers. If Rojas proves ineffective, the Sounders have a better chance at a win. Simple as that.

SOUNDERS: Kasey Keller. The one big question mark for the Sounders is their defense. Fredy Montero will be able to hold up the attack, with or without Ljunberg. But Keller may be looking at his backline and asking himself, “Who will save me?!”

If Keller is able to duplicate the kind of play that kept Fulham from relegation, then the Bulls will be in for a long night. Its that simple.

STARTING LINEUPS

Sounders: 4-4-2

——–Jaqua–Montero———-
Nyassi–Evans–Alonso–Le Toux
Sturgis—Marshall-Hurtado-Riley
———–Keller——————

Red Bulls 4-2-3-1

———Angel————
Oduro—Rojas—–Richards
—-Stammler–Celades——
Hall—Petke–Goldie—Johnson
——–Cepero————-

* Good call by StarMetroSC (in the Offside fantasy league- League name: TheOffside, PW: garber) aka Johnny G, for the Khano injury bit.

PREDICTION:

Red Bulls 3 – Sounders 1

Juan Pablo Angel starts the season off solidly with a brace, and Rojas caps it off for the Bulls. Montero nets one for the Sounders.

img credit: seattle times – keller
img credit: ny times – cup

This match will be unique in the sense that both teams symbolize a Cinderella story, much like Columbus in the *ahem* East. RSL and RBNY were never considered on anyones preseason predictions – yours truly included. But here we are, and the Red Bulls are one game away from their first finals appearance.

In a classic newspaper feature, which I will gladly rip off for the purposes of entertainment, ladies and gentlemen, here is how they stack up:

2008 HISTORY – Red Bulls 1 – 0 – 1
EDGE: Red Bulls
The Red Bulls have enjoyed spirited competitions against the Desert boys. The first game this season at the swamp featured plenty of goal scoring opportunities on either side, but it was a Van Den Bergh strike off of a funny deflection that sealed it. Then, the Red Bulls met RSL for the debut of their new home – Rio Tinto Stadium. In a playoff atmosphere, the Bulls were able to come away with a tie, but they nearly cracked under the pressure with 3 yellow cards, and a red to boot. The Bulls were awarded 10 corner kicks that game and they converted on 1. Hell, they started Stammler at CAM! But with all that said, RSL was not able to seal the deal. It’s for that reason that I feel history rides on the side of the Bulls (that, and a litany of ties in Utah).

COACHING EDGE: Red Bulls
Its the classic youth versus experience match up at the head coaching position, as Jason Kreis leads his surging RSL squad against Osorio’s Cinderella side, RBNY. On paper, this one is a no brainer. Osorio is a man with a resume that dwarfs most head coaches in MLS. This season, he has advanced in the playoffs with a lineup featuring alot of heart and little name recogntion. Add onto it that Jason Kreis considers Juan Carlos Osorio as his MLS coaching mentor, and you can close the book on this comparison. He knows Kreis intimately and may be able to exploit that knowledge.

GOALKEEPER
EDGE: Real Salt Lake
Nick Rimando would have been the Red Bulls keeper had desperation not driven RSL to a trade. Danny Cepero has long been on the Red Bulls radar as a potential and future starter. Guaranteed that neither expected to be where they are today. Nick Rimando has been given the opportunity the past two years to prove his merit and worth as a starter, and has come out of the scrutiny unscratched (barely). Rimando is a major part of RSL’s resurgence this season. On the other hand, Danny Cepero has come in like the preverbial cowboy on the white horse. Kick saves, glove saves, grabs in the air, scoring goals, stopping bullets – you name it, the kid has done it. Neither player has much playoff experience to fall back on. But Rimando’s experience makes it tough to judge Cepero the better man.

DEFENDER
EDGE: Real Salt Lake
For as commendable as Andrew Boyens and Diego Jimenez have been in their emergency road, the collective loss of Parke, Stammler, and Mendes along with the horror show on defense that Gabe Cichero has exhibited makes it difficult to say that the Bulls are the stronger of the two sides. But to their collective credit, Boyens, Jimenez, Goldthwaite and Leitch have been outstanding together, shutting down the Houston Dynamo on the road. But RSL, lead by this season centerback standout Jamison Olave, has been able hold opponents to under 2 goals a game for the past two months. Their continuity and additions make them the stronger defensive side.

MIDFIELD
STARTING 11 EDGE: Real Salt Lake
BENCH EDGE: Red Bulls
OVERALL EDGE: Real Salt Lake
From a coaching stand point, Juan Carlos Osorio’s options are so wide and varying that it makes the midfield especially dangerous and unpredictable. On the other side, Jason Kreis has been a bit more steady in his pieces, who’s cohesion may be all the edge they need. So it all depends on the way you look at the situation. Using the last game at RSL as a standard, RSL will most likely be featuring a midfield lead by Kyle Beckerman and the ever dangerous Javi Morales. Dema Kovalenko will be called on to give heavy minutes, as he is hungry to shove a win down Coach Osorios throat (the same person he called two faced all season long).

On the Red Bulls side, Dave Van Den Bergh and Dane Richards will be serving the middle all day and night with their equally distinct and dangerous attacking styles. CDM always seems to be a bit of a mystery, but with the way Luke Sassano has been playing, and with a leg breaker like Juan Pietravallo readily available, Coach Osorio has options. If history is any indication, we will be seeing a 4-5-1 on the road once more, so both may be featured when all is said and done. That leaves a CAM decision to be made; Ubiparipovic has been terrific, but Mike Magee and Jorge Rojas are both valuable commodities on that bench.

Again, it’s a matter of opinion – is it better to have options and unpredictability, or stability and steadyness? I tend to lean towards a steady side, lead by the dangerous Morales.

FORWARDS
EDGE: Red Bulls
Juan Pablo Angel, Mike Magee, Jon Wolyniec, and Macumba Kandji round up a nearly incomparable forward line. Though Clint Mathis, Yura Movsisyan and Robbie Findlay are nothing to scoff at, the Bulls collection of talent will add an unpredictability to the front line, and some options if they either gain or lose a lead. Juan Pablo Angel will be getting alot of unwanted attention, which will open up room for other offensive options. This particular category is strongly on the side of the Bulls.

PREDICTION: Red Bulls 2 – Real Salt Lake 1.

The Red Bulls have a few intangibles that lay in their favor. For starters, they are one of only three teams that has actual experience playing @ Rio Tinto Stadium. That game featured a playoff atmosphere, as stated earlier, that will be a tell tale sign of what they should be expecting. Secondly, the RSL has never beaten the Red Bulls. Odds would say they are due – but this is sport, and in sport, one more win to bury RSL would be considered a curse. Are the Bulls already in RSL’s head? Last but not least, Juan Carlos Osorio knows Kreis so well that he may be able to exploit RSL’s gameplan. You don’t think a young coach would share some intimate knowledge of circumstances with a veteran who has been around the world? This, along with the late season surge and unity, will be what pushes this Cinderella story to center stage.

The Red Bulls face RSL, Saturday, 9:30 Eastern time on Fox Soccer Channel.