Money Can’t Buy You Everything, but…

By: Eric Giacometti | May 10th, 2011

109261486JG001_New_York_Red Apparently, it can buy you damn entertaining soccer for 90 minutes, though. Throughout the week, everyone in MLS was hyping this game to be the greatest game of the year, and while hype is usually unsubstantiated, this game lived up to all the buzz surrounding the league’s two marquee franchises.

With both New York and LA leading their respective conferences, this early season clash of Supporters’ Shield contenders was billed as a match of dazzling DPs, East vs. West, Juan Pablo Angel vs. New York, Thierry Henry vs. David Beckham, Landon Donovan vs. Rafa Marquez, and so on and so forth. From the first minute, everyone knew this game would be something special. Both teams were out looking for three points and give credit to the Red Bulls for not being afraid to push their tactics despite playing on the road against a top team.

Their perseverance paid quick dividends as New York’s poster boy found the back of the net just four minutes into the match. After Dane Richards played a through ball into the box (presumably played for Dwayne De Rosario, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here), Henry latched onto it, rounded Donovan Ricketts and slotted it home to put New York up early and LA back on their heels.

The Red Bulls, who love to play possession football under Backe’s new approach, struggled to do so at the Home Depot Center on Saturday. This can be attributed to the pressure that the Galaxy applied to the midfield all night, but more importantly, New York sorely missed their midfield rock, Teemu Tainio. With out the Finn patrolling the middle of the park, the distribution just wasn’t there and the Red Bulls struggled to keep possession at times. In place of Tainio was everyone’s favorite, Mehdi Ballouchy. Clearly out of position in the holding midfielder slot, Ballouchy did not make his presence felt. I would have rather seen Carl Robinson, who is a natural defensive midfielder, but Backe’s man-crush lives on.

The first half featured plenty of chances for both sides, but LA cashed in minutes before halftime courtesy of a Beckham-Donovan link up via a corner kick. Beckham’s swerving ball found the U.S. hero on the back post who sent a header flying past Bouna Coundoul (with Roy Miller once again the culprit). But it could have been 2-1 heading into the locker rooms if not for the play of Tim Ream. Off of another feed from Beckham, Donovan latched onto a through ball and got by Coundoul who rushed out at Donovan. With a wide-open net in sight, Landon pushed the ball goal bound, only to watch the hustling Ream sweep it away inches before the ball crossed the plane. It was a brilliant save and surely saved a point for New York.

Perhaps my favorite story line from the night was the Donovan-Luke Rodgers banter. After Rodgers had a run in with Ricketts, 1127pt5 Rodgers went right over to the big Jamaican and the two had a good laugh. Suddenly, Donovan comes running over, petitioning to the ref to have Rodgers sent off. Never one to back away from a fight, Rodgers gets right up in Donovan’s face and lets him know what he thinks of his whining (presumably channeling his inner-Ray Lewis). That move represents New York and endeared him to the fans even more.

The second half saw the pace of the match slow down and the scoring chances diminish. DeRo and Richards both had good chances that they couldn’t convert, but LA had their fair share as well. Overall, 1-1 is a fair result. Given the cross-country road trip and the star power that LA has, there’s nothing wrong with being content to walk away with a draw. What are your thoughts? What do you think of the Rodgers-Donovan spat? Are you ready for the August 28^th yet?
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Category: Bouna Coundoul, CURRENT ROSTER, Carl Robinson, Dane Richards, Dwyane De Rosario, FORMER METROS, Mehdi Ballouchy, News, Rafa Marquez, Red Bulls, Roundup!, Roy Miller, Teemu Tainio, Thierry Henry, Tim Ream

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RobStyles

It was a solid display on NY's part. I too would have preferred Robbo over Medhi but hindsight is 20/20 and we still walked away with the draw, not much to complain about.
Fulhamerica

Although we looked very vulnerable to LA's quick attack's I thought we played a solid game without my boy Tainio. After the match was over however I was more focused on my attitude toward Donovan than the result. When he wears red white and blue donovan plays with a chip on his shoulder, he goes all out and fights for the result. When he plays in the MLS he plays like he owns the place, like he is the ref and its very childish and he comes off as more of a "prick" as Luke RoDgers said. Then after the fair banter off the field by RoDgers, Donovan cowardly tweets, something to the extent of "I'm confused, who is Luke Rogers?" This just shows how much of a little immature whiny girl donovan is in real life. I hope Tim Howard and Clint give him a beating when he gets to the nat'l team camp coming up in early June.