A two-goal performance by John Wolyniec keyed a 3-0 New York Red Bulls win over the New England Revolution in Wednesday night’s U.S. Open Cup play-in match at Red Bull Arena.

“In the first half, the level of play was even on both sides,” said Red Bulls Head Coach Hans Backe. “But we dominated in the second half, not facing any serious threat at all.”

The Bulls’ first goal came in the 36th minute on a point-blank range shot from forward Wolyniec after Revolution goal keeper Bobby Shuttleworth parried a shot that Conor Chinn really should have buried.

Check out more photos from the match in the gallery.

In the second half, the Bulls scored on a free kick close to the box in the 62nd minute. The play was set up by midfielder Brian Nielsen, passing to Sinisa Ubiparipovic, who got off a terrific shot high into the upper right hand corner of the net. The third and final goal came after Wolyniec took advantage of another rebound in the 68th minute.

The Revs offense was not much of a factor throughout. Passes were either wild or well off-mark, flying far above intended targets and landing out of bounds. And there was a lot of lateral movement by the New England defense, shifting the attack (or lack thereof) from one side of the field to another without making any forward progress. This tactic cost the team 20-30 yards at each possession and prevented players from building any momentum.

For weeks, Bulls’ coach Backe bemoaned an “end-line to end-line” syndrome, calling for more control of the ball at midfield. Tonight the Bulls dominated midfield. Whether the problem is solved for good shall be determined when the Bulls face more capable opponents.

Brian Nielsen displayed his edge over the competition with solid playmaking, revealing potential to be a true “Spiel Kaiser” (top playmaker), with pinpoint passes long and short. Fellow midfielder Tony Tchani did not fare as well, and was replaced at half-time by Luke Sassano.

Wolyniec was taken out of the game in the 70th minute to be replaced by Juan Agudelo.

Backe’s team demonstrated great strides in gaining control at midfield. But the strikers, particularly Chinn, were unable to finish well, often fizzling at the goal mouth after midfielders get the ball to them.

“We saw a lot of lost opportunities through missed shots,” Backe said. “Taking the ball through the last third of the field and finishing well is what it’s all about.”

Backe’s analysis is spot on because there were indeed a dozen or so chances to score that fizzled once the Bulls managed to get the ball inside the box. In the last ten minutes alone, Nielsen, Ubiparipovic, and Agudelo each missed several shots. By that time, the game had been reduced to “shooting fish in a barrel” but the Bulls couldn’t come up with anything else against a weak New England defense.

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Match Facts

New York Red Bulls 3, New England Revolution 0
May 12, 2010 – Red Bull Arena; Harrison, NJ
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Preliminary Round Match

Scoring Summary:
NY: John Wolyniec 1 (unassisted) 36’
NY: Sinisa Ubiparipovic 1 (Brian Nielsen 1) 62’
NY: John Wolyniec 2 (unassisted) 64’

Disciplinary Summary:
NE: Pat Phelan (caution) 88’

Lineups:
New York Red Bulls – Greg Sutton (GK), Chris Albright (Irving Garcia 63’), Carlos Mendes, Andrew Boyens, Danleigh Borman, Jeremy Hall, Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Tony Tchani (Luke Sassano 46’), Brian Nielsen, John Wolyniec (Juan Agudelo 76’), Conor Chinn

Substitutes Not Used: Bouna Coundoul, Roy Miller

New England Revolution – Bobby Shuttleworth, Marko Perovic, Zak Boggs, Seth Sinovic (Khano Smith 61’), Chris Tierney, Nico Colaluca, Pat Phelan, Joseph Niouky, Kenny Mansally, Kheli Dube, Zack Schilawski

Substitutes Not Used: Tim Murray, Sainey Nyassi

Referee: Shane Moody
Referee’s Assistants: Greg Barkey, Brian Dunn
4th Referee: Jose Carlos Rivero
Attendance: 1,935

Silver Lake Soccer Club, in Staten Island, N.Y., was formed in 1970 by Dr. Gabriel Nigrin as an opportunity to give youth a place to play soccer. Its most famous alumni is John Wolyniec, longtime Major League Soccer striker currently in his third stint with the New York/New Jersey MLS franchise.

“He played most of his childhood up until his high school years,” Silver Lake president Anthony Carucci said of Wolyniec. The club prides itself on the success of its teams over individual accolades, however. Its clubs have won nine ENNYSA (Eastern NY Youth Soccer Association) State Cups, Premier League as well as Region 1 competition.

“Right now we have five teams,” said Carucci. “All our teams are competing for the top of the division in the Cosmopolitan [Junior Soccer] League in New York. We compete strongly in MAPS in New Jersey. Our theory is quality, not quantity.”

Three of the teams are also competing in the newly formed New York Club Soccer League State Cup, founded by U.S. Club Soccer and are currently in the Round of 16. They will be fielding at least seven squads by the Fall of 2010 with hopes of reaching 10 teams by 2011.

Three teams will also compete in The Virginian Memorial Day soccer tournament.

“We do a lot of things differently,” said Carucci. “We have disadvantaged youth in our clubs…these kids would not be playing travel soccer. If we can develop these kids and they get a scholarship to college one day, we’ve done our job. That’s how we look at it.”

Coaches and board members all have soccer in their blood, some have even played on professional teams in Europe. Two coaches and long time Silver Lake Soccer Club members, Zoran Bistre and Franco Legovich, have won seven State Cups between them.

“Most of us have been in and around the game for a long time,” said Carucci. “All of our coaches right now have at least an ‘E’ license. I would say a majority of us have ‘D’.” A few plan to get the ‘C’ license this year as well.

The club prides itself on teaching the game of soccer the way it was meant to be played, through training, sportsmanship and character building. Any player who is serious about the beautiful game belongs at Silver Lake Soccer Club.

The organization also has a beginner program called First Steps, designed for new players, both boys and girls, between the ages of 4 – 8. Here they will get their first taste of the beautiful game while working with some of our best coaches and trainers. The year round program will help teach self esteem, coordination, fitness and fun as well as the fundamentals of soccer. The children in this program will have opportunity to play both intramural games as well as games in the Staten Island Youth Soccer League as they prepare for a future in our travel soccer program.

Tryouts for the Fall 2010-Spring 2011 season for boys and girls ages five to 14 will be held May 18 and June 1 at Greenbelt Recreational Center (501 Brielle Ave. Staten Island, NY) at 6:30PM.

For info contact 718-841-7164 or visit www.silverlakesoccer.org. Silver Lake is on FaceBook and Twitter as well.

New York Red Bulls rookie Conor Chinn has reasons to smile. Two of them, in fact, for the number of goals he scored for his team in Tuesday night’s frigid US Open Cup play-in game against the Philadelphia Union at Red Bull Arena. The Red Bulls fielded a squad made up almost entirely of second-stringers, but still dominated the match against the Union, who played almost all starters. In the end the 2-1 scoreline did no justice to the team’s performance–probably its best of the season.

Enjoy this photo of Chinn celebrating one of his goals with teammate Andrew Boyens. Listen to Hans Backe’s postgame press conference, if you haven’t already or skip to the player ratings at the bottom of this page.

Player Ratings

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest.

Greg Sutton 5.5
Looked a bit stiff. And there was the goal, which he should have done more to prevent. Bouna Time will return.

Luke Sassano: 7
Played well. The assist was a thing of beauty. Easily the team’s best goal of the season. Clearly has skills. Also did well after being switched to centerback though there were one or two moments late in the match where he was caught flat footed.

Carlos Mendes: 5
Didn’t make any egregious mistakes but did not look at all comfortable out there. Didn’t move well. Clearly not match fit. Would expect him to be the first player cut at this point.

Andrew Boyens: 7
Solid. Didn’t notice any crucial errors (but will probably need to see a replay of Sebastien Le Toux’ goal to be sure. Seemed to move a little better than I remember.

Danleigh Borman: 7.5
Shut his side of the field down and also provided good service to the attack. Made some nice runs. A serviceable left midfielder or left back for sure.

Sinisa Ubiparipovic: 5
Yeah he got an assist on the second goal but it was Stammler and Sassano (and obviously Chinn) who did the heavy lifting. Did a few things right but more often than not seemed to be holding up the flow of the team’s passing game. Also blew what would have been a 3-on-1 in the second half and had several other chances go wanting.

Seth Stammler: 8.5
Provided leadership, poise and serenity to the team’s game. A pillar in defensive midfield and additionally a lynchpin for its attacks. This would have been a completely different game without him–and not in a good way. The man of the match. Now why isn’t he starting again?

Tony Tchani: 8
After a few nervous moments in the opening minutes he came on strong. Dominated the flow of the game at times. This is a guy who has size, strength, but also solid technical ability and vision to boot. A Jozy Altidore of the midfield–if he were five or six years younger. Even so, he could be a dominant player in MLS, perhaps even soon.

Brian Nielsen: 6.5
Had some nice moves in the early going but ran out of gas. Also got a bit sloppy and generally seems to lack creativity. Perhaps that is also due to not knowing his teammates well yet. Needs to get match fit. It’ll come.

Juan Agudelo: 6
Not a bad first start but would have liked to see more of him. Seemed tentative, which it turns out was due to a knock he picked up in practice. “A collision with the goalkeeper” that had him in the hospital for stomach tests Tuesday morning. Turns out it was just badly bruised. Showed excellent ball and body control though. Will be a special player someday. Kid’s only 17, remember.

Conor Chinn: 7
The weird thing about Chinn is he does not stand out for his pace or skill on the ball or even his size–just his ability to score goals. We saw this in the preseason. He simply has a nose for goal and is able to do what it takes, whether by hook or crook, to get the ball into the net. Both goals were examples of this: him making the run, getting himself in position, then seeing the play through. Of course he also missed plenty of chances too, particularly in the second half. Should have ended up with four or five goals.

Subs:
Albright: 8
Looked very solid at right back. Defended very well. Broke up plays and stayed in front of his man. In other words: all the stuff Jeremy Hall is unable to do. Looking forward to seeing him start the San Jose game next week.

Woly: 4
Looked a bit lost. Did nothing to contribute to the team’s attack and was tentative when he did have the ball. Perhaps still nursing injuries.

Da Luz: 4
That backheel was nice but otherwise disappointed. Didn’t even seem to keep his position. Misplayed several balls. It’s hard to come into a game cold but was expecting more from him.

Garcia: N/A
Kid has pace though. Could be a good player some day.

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Match Facts

Philadelphia Union at New York Red Bulls, April 27, 2009
Lamar Hunt US Open play-in game

Scoring Summary
NY — Conor Chinn (unassisted) 16
NY — Conor Chinn (Sassano, Ubiparipovic) 41
PHI — Sébastien Le Toux (Arrieta) 68

Misconduct Summary
PHI — Jacobson (yellow card) 31
NY — Borman (yellow card) 66
NY — Boyens (yellow card) 81

Lineups
Philadelphia: Seitz, Salinas, Orozco, Califf, Stahl (Arrieta), Torres (Moreno), Jacobson, Okugo, Zimmerman (Miglioranizi), Mwanga, McInerney (Le Toux).

New York: Sutton, Sassano, Mendes (Albright), Boyens, Borman, Ubiparipovic (García), Stammler, Tchani, Nielsen (da Luz), Agudelo (Wolyniec), Chinn.

Attendance: 3,015

The New York Red Bulls announced today, April 21, that midfielder/forward Macoumba Kandji would undergo foot surgery and miss 8-12 weeks. Kandji broke the fifth metatarsal in his right foot in training April 20 and was due for surgery at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery.

The injury is a blow to the team, as Kandji started all four regular season games this season. He scored the winning goal against Seattle on March 27 in the Red Bulls’ first away win in nearly two years. Otherwise, his performances were mixed. His player ratings were 4.5 for the season opener against the Chicago Fire, 8 for the aforementioned Seattle match, 6 for the loss at Chivas on April 10 and 5.5 for Saturday’s victory over FC Dallas. This works out to an average rating of exactly 6. (Of course the ratings are entirely subjective so take them with a grain of salt if you don’t already. But for what it’s worth, his Metrofanatic.com rating, which is voted on by fans, is 5.6).

The question becomes who should step in to fill the 6’4-sized void left by Mac, who has started at both forward and left midfield this year? Have your say in the poll below. Then read our take below that.

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ASN’s take:
With the arrival of Salou Ibrahim, Kandji’s days at forward were numbered anyway. While Ibrahim has not impressed in his limited time on the pitch so far, Hans Backe has given every indication he will let the Ghanaian play his way into shape as a starter alongside Juan Pablo Angel.

That leaves left midfield, where Kandji was effectively keeping the spot warm for Brian Nielsen, who is reportedly ready to go against Philadelphia this weekend. If Nielsen isn’t ready, expect Sinisa Ubiparipovic, who has also started at left mid, to get the call against Philadelphia.

So from the looks of it, Kandji was about to be moved to the bench anyway. His presence there will surely be missed, as he can create matchup problems and provide spark as a late game substitute. But with the acquisition of Ibrahim, and the impending arrival of Nielsen, it does not really mean New York is losing a starter.

Who will take Kandji’s role on the bench then? Conor Chinn is the obvious candidate and not just because he’s of a similar stature. But Chinn has dressed for all but the very first game of the season and we expect him to continue to do so in light of today’s news. Kandji’s injury may have bought some time for John Wolyniec. Danleigh Borman will also see increased time and a regular spot in the travel squad if he doesn’t have one already. A player we’d love to see is Austin da Luz, who appears buried on the depth charts. But he should move up with Kandji out. Whether he gets a chance in a game is another matter entirely.

Welcome to the third installment of this feature, which will run within a day or two of the team’s last game, this season. Today we focus on the New York Red Bulls’ lucky (yeah it was) win over FC Dallas on Saturday evening. To see an explanation of these terms (Good, Bad, Red, Dead) see last week’s issue or read the bottom of this page.

The Good:
Luck, fortune, happenstance; whatever you want to call it. The Red Bulls’ changing fate has buried, at least for now, the “same ol’ Metro” talk. Fact is, last year’s team would not have won any of the three games the Red Bulls did this season. It probably wouldn’t have even taken a point. Sometimes, you’d just rather be lucky than good. This team certainly deserves being on the other side of luck ledger after everything it endured the past 14 seasons.

Bouna Condoul. It’s been said before in this space: As a shot-stopper, Condoul is one of the very best in the business. It’s the play away from his line that gets him into trouble. There were a few hairy moments on Saturday night, but these were very limited (which doesn’t make them any less fatal, of course). Condoul also did several things right on crosses. And nobody is downplaying his saves in the second half; these flat-out kept Red Bull in the game. No surprise that he led our player ratings with an unprecedented (for this season at least) 9/10. What’s particularly impressive is that Condoul looked confident almost immediately after making his first big save. You need to have a short memory as a goalkeeper and there was a lot of fear last week that Bouna’s psyche could be damaged from his gaffe against Chivas. Now, the concern is that he’ll be overconfident!

Juan Pablo Angel. He’s still not his full self, but no question he improved vastly over the team’s first three games. You’ve got to give him credit for not only stepping up and taking the second penalty, but also converting it (speaking of short memories). JPA simply has ice in his veins, which is exactly what you want from an elite striker. And Angel is still in that category.

Dane Richards. I’ve been one of Richards’ harshest critics. Just last week I called him “deplorable…simply not starter material” and said he “has no business taking the field with the starting 11.” This week I’m willing to at least back off that a bit. Richards had a good game vs. Dallas. His passing was crisp, his crosses were on target and his defensive work was very commendable. Only a few times did he “pull a Dane” of putting his head down and trying to win a sprint to the byline. It was his cross to Kandji that led to the first penalty and he very nearly assisted on what should have been a goal by Kandji. Obviously, a lot more is going to be required if we can begin to talk about Richards having turned the corner, but at least it’s something to build on.

Joel Lindpere played a stellar match as well. The assist to Angel was a thing of beauty, but he was front and center at other points too, even defensively.

The Bad
The whole backline had a subpar game. Even Tim Ream was beaten on a few plays close to goal. Mike Petke’s turnover led to Dallas’ goal and he nearly caused several others as well. Roy Miller did many things right but was beaten several times by Atiba Harris. It appears this guy is weak in the air.

But the worst one of all was Jeremy Hall–by far. The second-year player just isn’t a defender. He had some good games last season but for whatever reason nothing seems to be clicking in 2010. Time to move him back to a midfield position. Except, with the impending acquisitions of Brian Nielsen and Luke Rodgers, the midfield is becoming increasingly crowded. Once Chris Albright comes back, Hall’s days as a starter may be numbered anyway. At that point he could become buried in the depth charts.

Salou Ibrahim was next to invisible. He had a golden opportunity to open the score off a Roy Miller cross but wasn’t even able to direct it goalward.

The Red
Speaking of days being numbered, Hans Backe said in the postgame press conference that Nielsen could play forward in addition to left wing, which could mean the end of John Wolyniec’s days with the club. Woly didn’t even dress for Saturday’s match.

Kandji may end up following him out the door. He wasn’t terrible against Dallas, but did very little in terms of creating chances for his team. It just looks like there isn’t a natural position for this guy. Or at least not in MLS.

The Dead
Jeremy Hall at right back. Please. End. It. Now.

Mac Kandji at left wing. It’s been tried more than one time. It hasn’t worked.

Explanation of terms
The Good – Should speak for itself. Players, formations, strategies, substitutions and other things that “looked good” for whatever reason (but not aesthetically. We don’t care about players’ hairstyles and the like).

The Bad – Opposite of good. Who and what looked lousy and why.

The Red – Things that have us concerned. Primarily individual play but could also be strategies, (lack of) substitutions and putting players at positions they have no business occupying (though that practice thankfully appears done with the departure of Juan Carlos Osorio).

The Dead – Players, schemes or strategies that deserve to be put out to pasture.

ASN photographer Scott Marsh was at the New York Red Bulls exhibition match at Army on March 29. The Red Bulls won 3-1 on goals from Juan Agudelo (2x) and Conor Chinn. Red Bulls Reader has a proper recap of the match along with video highlights.

Trialist Damani Ralph also saw substantial time in the match and assisted on Agudelo’s winning goal. A previous version of this post was unable to identify the 20-year old Jamaican, who last played for Russian champions Rubin Kazan. Ralph was the 2003 MLS rookie of the year after being drafted in the first round out of the University of Connecticut by the Chicago Fire. He has been capped 18 times by the Jamaican national team.

A few of our favorite photos follow, complete with snarky commentary (by ASN). Even more of these photos are on our Facebook page.

All photos ©Scott Marsh / ASN

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New York Red Bulls head coach Hans Backe today said he had decided on all but two starters for the March 27 opening day match against the Chicago Fire. “I would say I have nine out of 11 [starters] in my head for the Chicago game,” he told ASN. He declined to provide specifics but did effectively rule out a few possibilities.

Carl Robinson “is close to being a starter–yeah definitely.”

Tony Tchani “not probably as a starter–but he’s rather close,” said Backe. “He’s improving all the time I would say. I think the youngsters haven’t been through a preseason like this so they’re rather tired.”

Conor Chinn, “he’s good for goals. He’s always in the box. He’s a very brave striker.” But probably not as a starter either.

The team will in all likelihood play a 4-4-2 formation, Backe said. The Red Bulls are unlikely to cut any more players before opening day. “I think we are 21 players, so we are close…we have perhaps one or two players on the injured list if you look at [Chris] Albright and Kevin Goldthwaite.”

Ibrahim Salou is not signed. “He is just here for trial. He will play on Saturday against Santos and I will take a decision after that.” There are no other trialists on the team.

John Agudelo “is in the squad for us and I don’t know if they have signed the contract yet–but I think they will.”

Strike talks

Labor talks were a particularly popular discussion point, as might be expected. Players were extremely tight-lipped and did not provide any new information, preferring to defer to the team’s union representative, John Wolyniec. When cornered by reporters, Wolyniec tried to say as little as possible in as quiet a tone as possible, as evidenced in this video:

Be sure to view the other videos from media day.

Speaking to ASN later, he did reiterate the union’s resolve on the matter. “We’re pretty united–we’ve been talking about this for a long time,” he said. “There are certain issues that we really need to resolve as far as players’ rights go. We don’t think we’re asking for anything unreasonable. Hopefully we can get that done.”

Just in case there was any doubt, Wolyniec ruled out any possibility of kicking off the 2010 campaign without a new collective bargaining agreement. “We will not start the season without it,” he said.

Keith Furman and First Row Photos were kind enough to supply ASN with a bevy of photographs from the New York Red Bulls 2010 media day event. Here are just a tiny sample of our favorites, complete with snarky commentary (by ASN). For more media day coverage check the videos we supplied as well as this story.

All photos ©Keith Furman / First Row Photos

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ASN is at Red Bull Arena for the New York Red Bulls 2010 media day activities. We will be updating this post constantly throughout the day, so be sure to check back often. Also follow us on Twitter, if you aren’t doing so already, where we have been posting photos.

Red Bulls GM Eric Stover introduces Red Bull Arena in cake form!

The all time First XI MetroBulls:

Here is footage from the intrasquad practice match that was played earlier. Just ignore the goofy commentary, keeping in mind these are unedited.

Practice Videos

The New York Red Bulls’ best, last chance to make something of their season went down in flames at Giants Stadium Wednesday night. Despite a positive 2-2 result from the first leg, and even though they took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute of the return leg, the team just couldn’t get it done. Instead, New York pulled one of its typical self destruction acts in the waning minutes of the first half, yielding a pair of goals after falling asleep at the switch. The second goal was undoubtedly the more infuriating of the two, coming as a result of a Kevin Goldthwaite brainfart in stoppage time. The second half saw no goals and the Red Bulls ended up on the wrong end of a 2-1 final score (4-3 in aggregate) that sees them exit the CONCACAF Champions League in the preliminary round.

No words can really do justice to this type of performance. In a season marked by bitter disappointment it may suffice to say that the team has once again hit a new low. At least now there is no place further to fall. The MLS playoffs were long ago removed from the equation. The U.S. Open Cup campaign ended before it really began, at the hand of archrivals D.C. United. Now the team’s last vestige of hope, the CONCACAF Champions League, is gone as well. To say a change in leadership is necessary, including the dismissal of not only Juan Carlos Osorio but also Jeff Agoos and ideally Erik Stover, is akin to beating a dead horse. The damage is almost too nauseating to contemplate, especially after the promise of last season’s playoff run and the uncharacteristic tones of optimism in this year’s preseason. Now it’s all over. A half dozen home games remain until the curtain can finally fall on 14 years of tortured history. Will the last one to leave remember to shut the lights?

Videos

The following were shot by ASN at the conclusion of Wednesday’s match. More ASN videos can be seen on our YouTube page.

Juan Carlos Osorio’s initial reaction in the postgame press conference:

John Wolyniec gives his thoughts on the game:

Woly addresses the team’s propensity for allowing goals in the last five minutes of a half:

Kevin Goldthwaite, whose gaffe in first half stoppage time ended up costing the Red Bulls the game, does not seem terribly perturbed by it here. He also says the club lacks “leadership” while adding he would hate to see Osorio lose his job. His thoughts on Osorio seem perfectly genuine but see for yourself.

Danny Cepero: “It’s awful. It’s frustrating…feels like we’re in quicksand”

Jeremy Hall is asked if he feels “a change is needed at the top” of the organization: