The Los Angeles Galaxy will begin their chase for the 2011 MLS Cup title today against a New York Red Bulls squad intent on shaking up the playoff field wih an upset of the Supporters Shield winners (3pm, ESPN2).
Today's Western Conference semifinal first leg brings us to frigid Red Bull Arena, where some surprising snow covered the area on Saturday. The sun is out though, and much of the snow has already melted, leaving a chilly but playable set-up at Red Bull Arena today.
The Red Bulls come in having already played a playoff game, a 2-0 Wild Card round victory against FC Dallas on Wednesday.
SBI will be providing commentary on today's match so please feel free to follow along with the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today's commentary is after the jump):
Don’t see NYRB winning this if they go ahead with the strategy of sitting back and absorbing pressure.
Let’s go Red Bull!!!
Can’t wait to start hearing the “NY doesn’t sell out playoff games against LA” comments. The entire area was hit pretty hard by the storm last night with half a million people without power and many major train lines being down so they can clear the tracks of downed trees.
And as for the cold weather, I wonder how the LA players will deal with it.
LA…GALAXY
LA…GALAXY
LA…GALAXY
(at least I pretend we are at the HDC).
Galaxy 2 NY 2 Is My prediction.
Someone for NY should consider playing defense.
A lot of empty seats at the Red Bulls Arena…how exciting those playoffs are…Colorado also had about 17 people at their game on Thursday…
Well, that’s it then. RBNY is incapable of coming back to get more than a tie. When scoring first, Backe doesn’t lose, when scored on first, Backe doesn’t win. Add that with Il Bruce’s bunker mentality and it’s over.
Sloppy play! No way either of these teams would stand up to what RSL showed.
I don’t know about Colorado, but I don’t know how people get to games with trees landing on their cars or with no power. Streaming at the Library. Never fails.
I’m surprised Backe lined up 3 Americans…lol…go gaLAxy!!! Once again Backe shows his incompetence!
Where is LD?
I noticed that too. Pretty much didn’t touch the ball in the first half.
Wow Luke Rodgers that is ridiculous… how does that not get either a yellow or an ejection?
See I called it…
Ream nearly giving the game away…again.
That’s a good excuse for today but what about the entire season? Every match there is some type of excuse but it’s never; “New Yorkers don’t care”
He’s looked pretty good otherwise, and it’s not like it’s his fault his feet got a bit tangled with Donovan’s and he stumbled…
Henry is the biggest whiner, gd, play the game and if you’re just too old to keep up anymore then retire.
Its incredible that they play this game in NY. The mediocre qualifier gets a home game versus the first place team in the league. I don’t get it.
sloppy play – sloppy field. Seems as though LA’s been trying to kill off the game since the 30 min mark. They don’t look like MLS champs to me.
Champions win. They don’t concern themselves with some guy, who calls himself “Predicto”, on a Jersey blog being impressed or not.
Have you watched the way LA plays? This is straight out of Il Bruce’s playbook. Get a goal on a set piece or great play from a Donovan/Beckham and then kill off the game and look for the counter. This is pretty much as expected.
LA won something like eight 1-0 games this year.
An NYRB dont look like a team worthy of being in the playoffs! 70 minutes and the best US talent is still on the bench. Blame your coach.
EVERY TEAM IN THIS ROUND GETS A HOME GAME, JESUS….
Luke Rodgers should have a red card by now. A yellow for that dive and a yellow for dissent.
Fair enough, and I’ll go back to the “New York likes a winner, hates a loser” trend and we have been anything but winners this season or in seasons past.
Wow that should have been Franklin’s second yellow – not even a foul called. I guess the ref looked at Beckham and Becks said “play on”.
Luke dove. The commentators said it, the replay showed it and you’re the only one that doesn’t believe it.
Haha, Henry counting the seconds that Saunders is holding the ball. Kudos to the cameraman.
Should have been red carded for charging into Yost and shoving him into the netting.
check ives’ commentary above.
Funny how there were almost no empty seats at Met Life for the Giant’s game up the road. Did it not snow there? There were entire sections at RBA where no tickets were sold. Those weren’t “no shows”.
Where is Donovan?!?!?! Dude’s a magician.
Hans Backe hates Juan Agudelo more than John Terry hates black people.
Did anyone else see Henry kick Beckham when he was on the ground?
Hans Backe should be fired subbing in Balouchy over Agudelo. That decision alone is worth a firing.
You can’t win when your best player is on the bench, best player minus Lindpere.
Marquez is gone for the playoffs because he’s the only one that threw a punch. Stay classy NY!
Marquez is such a classy player.
Typical dirty Marquez move…throwing the ball at at a player
too soon, too soon.
No way Marquez should play in the 2nd leg! Dude is totally classless. We saw it with his actions against Cobi Jones, so we shouldn’t be suprised.
He threw it at Donovan.
Its just frustration on his part. He was horrible today…
Wow, that was a tough game to watch. I like LA and sometimes they are inspired, but not today.
hahahhahahaha marquez is the biggest p*ssy i have ever seen. Starts sh!t then falls to the ground without being touched.
I am a Fire fan, so I didn’t really have a horse in the fight here but any team with Rogers,Henry and Marquez is pretty much impossible to root for. What a triumvirate of classless losers.
What do you expect from New York? Class? haha. This was the best game that New York has played all year. They still lost! Expect dominance at the HDC by the Galaxy, and now they will be playing pissed. LOVE IT!!!
That explains the ball throwing but what about the fact that he punched Juninho in the face? Frustration or classless?
Agreed…definitely a suspension coming for Marquez. I don’t know what was more embarrassing, the missed headbutt right hook combination or getting knocked down by the air. Just pathetic.
Another 1-0 in the books for Il Bruce. It’s almost like watching 2004 Greece.
Or they will play boring like usual. Dominating of course, but snooze worthy. Still,I’d rather them win then some of the other options…
At first I thought he was just throwing the ball to the ref – and he bad aim. But watching again – looked intentional. Strange actions by marquez.
Klinsi must be rolling his head in disgust
Rafa Marquez is an absolute piece of human excrement and an embarassment to the MLS and soccer in general.
If I were a Mexico fan (thank God I’m not), or a NYRB fan, I could not cheer for him at all.
He is a gigantic piece of horsecrap and I legitimately wish bad things to happen to him because that’s what he does to other players.
Alexi Lalas just said LA can’t sell more than 15k seats because of a rule. Anyone care to explain?
Yeah but his boss is Soler who is equally incompetent and Scandinivian we are thou greater than thou mentality…
The question is that no doubt this incompetent ref just wanted this game to be done with as it ended up being too much drama for his dumb behind so my question is can the league look into this and suspend Marquez or even Juninho for defending himself? Marquez needs to be sent packing to Mexico with a one way ticket for the season!
It is an agreement with Cal State where the stadium is located – they can’t sell more than 15K on a weeknight to preserve parking for students. LA has a $14MM payroll but can’t get this lifted? weak.
The Galaxy has an agreement with Cal State Dominguez hills university (where the home depot center is located) that if there is a game played during the weekday of a calendar school day that they cannot sell more than 15,000 tickets due to the parking issues it would create for their students.
It’s a deal they have with Cal State-Dominguez Hills, or whatever school’s campus the stadium is on. On school nights they can only sell X amount of seats because of parking or something for night classes. Something like that.
Thanks to all
Come on Eric J.! The best defense in the league and the second highest scoring offense in the league and you aren’t happy????
One step forward. 15 steps back.
Hopefuly this was Marquez’ MLS swan song. He’s not happy here. We’re not happy with him here.
Our team plays so much better without him.
I really hope he’s suspended in game 2 so that we have at least a fighting chance against the Gals.
Great to see Henry’s passion. Keep it up!
Fuera Marquez!
Apparently Marquez + Juninho sent off after the game.
Thanks for clarifying things Jesus
Hopefully the Galaxy can successfully lobby to have Marquez’s red card ban lifted.
Ha-ha. Absolutely right. Marquez’s passing was so bad throughout the game it almost looked as if he was doing everything he could to keep NYRB from scoring a goal. His first several shots were jokes, and his last shot was straight at the LA goalkeeper–like kicking the ball straight at a tree. A good coach would have pulled him off the field by the 55th minute. And after the game, not saying Marquez did it intentionally, but by throwing the ball at an LA player it is now guaranteed he will get a suspension and not have to play again this season. Pathetic.
I am not anti or pro NYRB, so totally objectively I have to say the team played today as if it has no soul whatsoever. It is a poorly coached team with horrible defense (I do think Ream could do better in a different situation) and a bunch of players who look miserable on the field and don’t communicate with each other at all. I am not huge fan of Agudelo on the USMNT, but he is a spark-plug type of player who has something to prove and any coach who would leave him on the bench after the 70th minute in this sort of game is fool. The NYRB need a new coach and a new general manager bad who can remake the team into something fans can be proud of.
He got a red card so it’s safe to say he won’t play the 2nd leg.
the Galaxy goalie is Saunders
BREAKING NEWS: Marquez is scum
post of the week
Not letting opponents score = BORING
Forget suspending Marquez, revoke his visa!
I did, what a cheap shot.
Galaxy actually lost a player, while NY just got better by leaving Rafa off the field.
ref has no balls, that’s why. Unbelievable he gets away with it!
I wonder if Garber and the rest of the MLS Head Office Boys overturn
Juninho Red? If they really want the Galaxy to win the cup this
year, they’ll make it happen!
Once again, This Guy, it was over 22k this game which is great for MLS, and a Chicago Fire fan harping on NYRB attendance is downright hilarious.
Bruce Arena snoozeball. Organized team though.
What was the Juninho red card for? He only pushed Rafa. Players push each other all the time without a card. It should be revoked.
+1. Classless on the field, reflects the clowns managing this $14 million fiasco. Soler and Backe built this circus. What a shame. Hope Agudelo gets out of there somehow as well, what a waste of his talent.
Haha…
Yes…the video evidence proves as much…
link to twitpic.com
I watched it live at the game – Juninho punched the Red Bull’s Keel in the face, which, beyond drawing a red would probably get you felony assault if you did it on the street. Pretty ugly and doesn’t speak so well for his character – but, I’m not sure how the rules work on something like this. If Juninho is allowed to play after two games he should consider himself pretty lucky.
And as someone who watched it live at the game and is therefore almost certainly a Red Bulls fan… you will say nothing about the fact that Marquez started it by throwing the ball at Donovan, and nothing about the fact that Marquez threw punches, and nothing about the fact that Marquez dropped to the ground and feigned injury when no one had touched him, right?
What does it matter that you were at the game, we have more than enough video footage to decide for ourselves what happened.