Henry Sees Red As RBNY Falls Apart In KC

With two games left to play, the New York Red Bulls traveled to Livestrong Park in Kansas City on Saturday, hoping to secure three critical points that would practically guarantee their post-season campaign. But Kansas City—who had only lost twice at home this season—were not to be underestimated, beating RBNY 2-0.

Sporting Kansas City came roaring out of the gate, pressing hard on the RBNY back line. After bringing the game back under control, New York looked ready to challenge for the length of the game. But in the 28th minute, Thierry Henry became tangled with Roger Espinoza, and when the KC player fell to the pitch on a subsequent play, the NY captain ran through him as he was getting up. Debate rages as to whether the the act was intentional or not, but referee Kevin Stott showed a straight red card and the Red Bulls went down to 10 men.

With the creative spark gone, Kansas City poured it on, managing 24 shots while New York could only manage 6. Teal Bunbury broke the scoring deadlock in the 57th minute on a volley, and Rookie Of The Year candidate CJ Sapong doubled the lead in the 74th. The 2-0 result sends Sporting KC into the playoffs for the first time since 2008, and leaves RBNY barely hanging onto the final playoff spot with 43 points.

All was not lost for the Red Bulls on the day: heated rivals DC United went up 1-0 in the 90th minute, only to see the Chicago Fire come storming back during four minutes of stoppage time to shock United 2-1. With both Chicago and Portland sitting three points behind NY, NY can practically clinch a playoff spot with a win over the Philadelphia Union this Thursday - but they will have to do it without Thierry Henry, who will serve his automatic one game suspension at the worst time imaginable.

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By Dan Dickinson in News on October 16, 2011 8:54 AM

Comments [rss]

gaelic47

You see this all the time at the international level. A referee that doesn't have big match experience, or experience dealing with stars, tries to put his stamp on the game and gives someone a straight red for something he should give a guy a stern warning about. As in "Yo, if you , or your teammates, do something like that again, I'm handing out a red card.

kevd

Also, the reported "sell-out" of US vs. Ecuador was about 75% full. Seriously soccer ticket pricing people? If you can't sell enough seats, make the worst seats cheaper. Isn't it better to have MORE people there, even if you aren't making more money on tickets? If people can spend 12 bucks on cheap seats, they cans spend more on beers.

Oh, the beers at FC Union in Berlin? EUR 2.50

Dan Dickinson

Reported attendance for USA vs. Ecuador was 20,000 or so. RBA seats 25,000. Where did you hear it was a sellout?

kevd

I thought I had read that before hand. I must have been mistaken....
I was very confused because there were so many empty seats. I think they announced 20,707 at half time (kinda pathetic for an international in the country's biggest metropolitan area).

Nice stadium though. Seats could be a tiny bit closer to the field. But it is very good.

kevd

Henry runs into him while he's on the ground. He could see him the whole time.
Definitely not an accident. He was obviously pissed about Espinoza stripping the ball from him from behind - and Espinoza not getting called for a foul Espinoza's hand was in Henry's face and he wrapped up Henry's leg. Should have been a RB direct kick when Henry got stripped.
But, that was nothing serious and nothing malicious, just a missed, minor foul. Happens all the time.

Because of the mild nature of Henry's foul, - Espinoza was bruised but not injured and Henry didn't run right through him but definitely caught him in the shoulder with his leg - I think a caution for unsporting behavior might have been more in order. But, I can't really fault the official for going with a straight red for violent conduct or "serious foul play" since it was far off the ball

Guest

Now a desperate last stand Thursday against the one of the top teams in the league without their top scorer. Awesome.

kevd

a game I was thinking about going to.
we'll see. is it worth $40 to see the Red Bulls without Henry?
Why aren't there cheap tickets? I watched Budesliga 2 in Germany. Admittance. 10 Euros. Roughly comparable level of play. Maybe MLS is a bit better.
Its not like they are selling out..... Ever.