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The New York Red Bulls (0-0-1) make their second consecutive trip out to the west coast, this time to take on defending Supporter Shield winner San Jose (0-1-0). The Red Bulls are coming off a 3-3 draw away in Portland. San Jose is coming off a 2-0 home opening loss to RSL. New York once again had to charter a flight out to the west coast as their original flight on Friday was delayed far too long. New York has been criticized for not staying out on the West Coast all week, in the sun, and returning to the snowy conditions of the northeast. Returning to familiar and comfortable surroundings, coupled with the red-eye out of Portland and the late Sunday night kick-off in San Jose were all reasons Mike Petke gave for returning home. Here are a few things to look for in this match.
New York’s Defense
As long as this season progresses and there is uncertainty, the back line for New York will always be a talking point. However, it is early in the season and Petke says he is looking to find a consistent back four that is always putting in a 100% performance. Until then, expect things to change for the defense. Jamison Olave will likely be the one staying point in the early goings as long as he is healthy. I also think it is safe to say that Petke does not see Heath Pearce as a fullback, meaning he and Holgersson will challenge for the spot alongside Olave. Either way, the defensive line has to look out for a guy named Chris Wondolowski. Supposedly he had one of the best seasons for a forward last year with 27 goals. Wondo is a guy who loves to move around the box and get right out of the line of sight of the centerbacks. Communication on where Wondo is will be very important as well as not letting him get to loose balls inside the box. Wondo had seven attempts against RSL and barely made Rimmando work. If he receives the kind of service he did against RSL and that many loose balls fall to him, it is highly doubtful he doesn’t put away those chances against New York. As for the fullbacks, New York should go with a more of a defensive left back and attacking right back. This will hopefully counter the way SJ will probably line up. Without Marvin Chavez blazing down the wing, Frank Yallop turned to Shea Salinas on the right and captain Ramiro Corrales on the left. Corrales tucked in to give the center midfielders defensive help, while Salinas had an excellent first hour to the game jumpstarting a lot of the Quakes attack down the right flank.
Injuries
The Quakes are still pretty injured and will definitely miss the play of Chavez, Beitishour, Gordon, and Lenhart. Mike Fucito partnered with Wondo up top against RSL and had a good game but he is questionable with a quad strain. Without much depth at forward, and no Simon Dawkins to put in midfield, it will be interesting to see how Yallop decides to play it. As for New York, Juninho picked up a strain while playing in Portland. Petke has tipped that Johnny Steele might see start in his place but Eric Alexander also showed well in pre-season and could very well see minutes in SJ. If Steele goes, NY may sit in a 4-4-2 of old with McCarty and Cahill in the middle working a lot like they did last year. Steele and Bover would likely be the wide men in this case, with Henry and Espindola up top.
Goals, goals, goals
It is always a fun match when the Red Bulls take on the Quakes over the past few seasons. Since SJ knocked out the Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2010, these two teams have done nothing but score copious amounts of goals against each other. With the Quakes injured and the Red Bulls still finding their cohesion, expect no different tonight.
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