New York Red Bulls (2) 3 B. Wright-Phillips 28, Grella 38,
Kljestan 70 (pen)
Chicago Fire (2) 2 Larowentowicz 13 (pen), Accam 26
Attendance: 17,184
Entrance: $80
Programme: None
Mileage: 41/1,047 (from hotel)
New Ground: 279
Grounds Abroad: 38
Match Report
My apologies in advance if the following post turns into a travelogue rather than the usual afternoon at the football. As said in the previous posting this trip to New York was to celebrate our Ruby Wedding Anniversary and being a sports-loving couple we were to take in a day at the US Open Tennis at Flushing Meadow and a game at the Red Bull Arena, tickets kindly paid for by my brother and his wife.
As far as the tennis goes, Andy Murray rather spoilt the plans by getting knocked out before the quarter finals, but we had a great day watching two very good ladies’ singles quarter finals on the main Arthur Ashe Court and a set of Stan Wawrinka, who after a rain delay was moved to the Louis Armstrong. Flushing Meadow is a very different experience to that of Wimbledon, but I love them both in their different ways.
I chose the New York Red Bulls as the team to visit as they play their home games in a soccer-specific stadium in Harrison, New Jersey rather than the baseball home of the New York Yankees and Frank Lampard’s New York City. On the return journey from the Red Bull Arena, we spent a pleasant 20 minutes on the subway discussing football matters with a knowledgeable young man, who (as a Red Bulls fan) found the Manchester City owned New York City cash-laden model rather distasteful, ringing bells of the Premier League. The lad was very aware of financial troubles that had befallen the likes of Portsmouth and questioned the sustainability of New York City without instant success.
The day of the game was the 14th anniversary of 9/11 and it started by watching on television the reading of the victims’ names by an adult and a child (that was often unborn in 2001) until they got to their relative when they were allowed to make their own tribute. We had been to the memorial the previous day and found it very moving, somewhat upsetting, but the children reading their tributes brought a significant lump to the throat. An aside that moved me to Twitter was that at 08:46, the time the first plane hit the Tower, the bells of churches were to ring out across the city. We went outside of our hotel to listen and could not hear a thing with the traffic continuing to move. My tweet to the mayor of NYC suggested that every traffic light be turned to red for just a few seconds to allow the bells to peel and be heard.
The journey down to Harrison took us down the World Trade Center where we changed trains, this was to be to our benefit after the match as we were able to re-visit the Memorial and see the twin beams rising into the sky.
The Red Bull Arena can be seen from the train as Harrison is approached. Considering the stadium has been open since 2010, the surrounding area remains something of a scrub-land awaiting further development. But inside of the stadium’s perimeter the place comes to life with loud (very loud) music and family-orientated facilities. Sadly, the traditional, at least to the English, matchday programme was a non-runner which was irritating given my unfamiliarity with the teams.
The Red Bulls came into the game in second place in their Division trailing New England Revolution but with the opportunity to go top with a win in this game against the bottom-placed Chicago Fire. With a successful team to follow it was disappointing that at kick-off the 25,000-capacity stadium appeared barely half-full. The attendance eventually grew to 17,000-plus with people still arriving a couple of minutes before half-time, all very strange!
The Red Bulls supporters behind one of the goals generated a fantastic atmosphere. They had a mixture of familiar songs from the English leagues, some that had been long archived. They were whipped up by a drummer in each of the sections and a choirmaster, so it was somewhat orchestrated but nonetheless they kicked up a din and kept it going continuously. Their rendition of the Beatles Twist and Shout was highly amusing with the accompanying hand movements. The only thing lacking from the atmosphere was a presence of away fans to create some banter.
A stirring unfurling of a giant Stars and Stripes and a magnificent rendition of the anthem was the pre-cursor to the teams taking the field. The only familiar name on the Chicago roster was that of the head coach, Frank Yallop who made the best part of 400 appearances for Ipswich Town. The significant names on the Red Bulls team sheet were that of the Wright-Phillips brothers, Bradley and Shaun. Whilst Bradley is seemingly the darling of the Red Bulls with his name decorating many of the supporters’ shirts, Shaun is still getting splinters in his behind only coming from the bench for the final few minutes. Nothing much seems to have changed since his Queens Park Rangers days.
As the game took shape, I would class it as around Championship standard, although some of the first half defending would have been seen as a shambles in the Ryman Premier.
The Red Bulls were stunned to find themselves two goals down after 26 minutes. The home side simply had no answer to the electric place of David Accam, a Ghanian international who plied his trade in England with the illustrious names of Ledbury Town and Evesham United before departing our shores for Sweden where he made is name at Helsingborg.
The opening goal after 14 minutes came from the penalty spot after a foul just inside the left hand side of the box. Jeff Larentowicz calmly shooting home. After 26 minutes, even the vibrant noise behind the goal was brought to silence by a goal stunning both in its creation and the ineptness of the Red Bulls defending.
A long punt out of defence saw Accam surging clear of a pedestrian central defence before selling the goalkeeper a dummy and rolling the ball into an empty net. Undoubtedly, it was a brilliant individual goal, but, oh dear, the defending!
To their credit, the Red Bulls came immediately storming back and halved the deficit within a couple of minutes. Bradley Wright-Phillips received a defence-splitting pass and poked a shot past the goalkeeper, although we had suspicions that the defender making a desperate challenge had the last touch. But in the Red Bulls Arena, nobody is going to take a goal away from Bradley.
Before half-time, the home side were level with more disastrous defending at the heart of the action. A pass from Lloyd Sam, once of Charlton Athletic, found Mike Grella who was given time and space to turn and shoot past the Chicago keeper from inside the six yard box.
A thoroughly entertaining first half for the neutral but one that must have left both Yallop and the Red Bulls coach, Jesse Marsh, shaking their heads. Their talk in the break had the desired effect and the second half saw a far better display of defending.
The Red Bulls eventually won the game with a penalty won by Sam. Sacha Kljestan converting and eventually collecting the man of the match award for his midfield display. Personally, I could not see past the Red Bulls’ Michael “Dax” McCarty, an American midfielder who has spent his entire career in the MLS.
Earlier, and later, in the week we experienced in the sport bar close to our hotel the passion for baseball and, especially, the New York Mets, who are on a fantastic roll to the end of season play-offs. But we witnessed in New Jersey, that there is a growing appetite for soccer and a good standard at that. Let us not forget that just last season, Thierry Henry was gracing the Red Bull Arena.
I will be watching the Red Bulls progress in the upcoming play-offs with great interest, and dare I say, a level of affection for the club.
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