Ian Palmer


It appears that the New York Red Bulls of MLS have been hurting this season and unfortunately the US side have suffered both on the pitch and off the pitch as fans have stayed away in droves.

It is hard to pinpoint exactly where things went wrong for last season’s MLS Cup runners-up, but poor performances have seen gates of just over 12,000, an all-time low since they entered the league as an original MLS founder in 1996. The fan situation is especially noticeable when taking into consideration that the Red Bulls play in the cavernous Giants Stadium, which is home to the American football team the New York Giants and holds about 80,000.

Things do though at least look a little brighter on that front as the club will play in a brand new soccer- specific 25,000 seat stadium next season, named the Red Bull Arena.

Life at the Red Bull Arena may be a tough sell and the club will be going into their new home with no momentum whatsoever.  But when the season is put in perspective, the Red Bulls woes must surely be blamed on their form away from home. While the club has been a little less than mediocre at home by winning five and drawing six, they have been truly terrible away from the confines of Giants Stadium by going without a single victory. In fact, New York only took two points out of a possible 45 and were outscored by 27 to three goals.

The season the Red Bulls have endured has also hurt the league, as New York is the biggest market in the country and to have the league’s worst team situated there surely can’t help Major League Soccer sell the sport to the rest of the United States.

But, perhaps this season shouldn't be seen as the total collapse of New York, even though they won only five out of 30 games and drew six, just a slight downturn from the previous campaign. While they made it to the MLS Cup final last season, the Red Bulls didn’t exactly set the football world on fire by finishing in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 11-10-9 and just snuck in as the last team to make the playoffs. Their record on the road last season wasn’t much better either as they only won one game and drew six, albeit managing to score 12 goals.

Another reason for New York's drop to the bottom of the standings has been the lack of a scoring touch. Last season’s side managed 42 goals for and 48 against, while this year’s crew only put the ball in the net 27 times and conceded about the same amount as the last campaign, at 47. Five of those goals scored came in the last game of the season, a 5-0 thrashing of Toronto. So whilst the defence has just about stayed the same, the Red Bulls' strike-force has melted away.

The blame can’t really be placed on the club’s all-time leading scorer and captain, 33-year-old Juan Pablo Angel of Colombia, as his 12 goals in 25 games  are just about half of the team’s output. The former Aston Villa striker has scored 45 times in 72 games for the Red Bulls, so it definitely hurt the team when he missed several games due to a concussion.

New York’s management and squad also went through a few changes this season as several players such as Alfredo Pacheco and Jeff Parke were let go. Jorge Rojas seems to be in the fans' doghouse and Seth Stammler missed a good portion of the season due to injury. Keeper Jon Conway, now of Chivas USA, and Parke were also handed 10-game suspensions near the end of last season for using performance-enhancing drugs and those bans stretched into the start of this season.  To top things off, on 21st August, manager Juan Carlos Osorio resigned and assistant coach Richie Williams took over as interim boss. It did appear Osorio’s days were numbered however and his resignation probably came before his eventual sacking.

What the Red Bulls may never have recovered from though, is the loss of young American superstar Jozy Altidore, who left New York in the summer of 2008 to sign with Spanish club Villarreal, before being loaned out to Hull City of the English Premier League this season.  Altidore scored 15 goals in 37 games for the Red Bulls as a teenager and looked likely to be the franchise player the team and league were hoping for.  And while one player doesn’t make a team, Altidore’s departure definitely coincides with New York’s downfall.

For New York it's now all about next season and there could be light at the end of the tunnel though if the constant rumours about French striker Thierry Henry joining the Red Bulls after the 2010 World Cup come true. At least Angel would then have a striking partner capable of finding the back of the net.

 

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