RED BULLS-RAPIDS PRE-GAME

New York looks to extend its winning streak to four when they take on the Colorado Rapids tonight at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO. The hosts are expecting a capacity crowd but it has been cloudy over the past couple of hours with intermittent rain in the area. Let’s hope it clears up!

Here is the lineup for your Red Bulls (8-5-0, 24 pts.), who enter the match looking to catch up again to Eastern Conference leader Columbus (27 pts.) after the Crew’s 2-1 win over Chicago last night:

—————————Angel——————————

————————–Lindpere—————————–

Ubiparipovic—–Tchani—–Stammler——-Richards

Borman———Ream—–Mendes————–Albright

————————-Coundoul—————————

Substitutes: Sutton, Miller, Chinn, Hall, Sassano, Petke, Ibrahim

A few notes to get you started:

– The team is coming off a 3-0 win over the Kansas City Wizards last Saturday with Juan Pablo Angel, the MLS Player of the Week, scoring twice and Salou Ibrahim tallying the eventual game-winner. New York also fell out of the U.S. Open Cup with a 1-0 extra time loss at Harrisburg last Tuesday.

– One change from the XI that played against the Wizards on Saturday with Ibrahim making way for Dane Richards, who will be playing his first match since he injured his hamstring in a 2-1 win over the Houston Dynamo on June 2 at Red Bull Arena.

– Joel Lindpere will function as a second striker just behind Angel to help New York keep possession on the large pitch here in Colorado and provide service to the Colombian forward.

– Angel comes into this match with four goals in four games (one vs. NE, one vs. HOU, two vs. KC). He went into the weekend in a tie for second in MLS in goals with Dwayne De Rosario, one back of Edson Buddle.

– Bouna Coundoul and Mike Petke were both former Rapids players before joining New York.

– The Rapids, coached by Gary Smith, are 6-3-3 with 21 points and are currently behind the Galaxy and Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference. They most recently tied Houston, 2-2, last weekend.

– Typically, the Rapids play a 4-2-3-1. Here is their lineup:

———————- Casey———————

Smith—————Ballouchy———Cummings

—————-Larentowicz—-Mastroeni——

Earls————Palguta—-Moor————Wynne

—————————Pickens——————————

Substitutes: Joyce, LaBauex, Kimura, Clark, Thompson, Lopez, Amarikwa

Kickoff is at 9:00 PM and will be televised live on MSG, with Steve Cangialosi and Shep Messing calling the game! We’ll be doing live commentary on the match via our Twitter account (@newyorkredbulls). Enjoy the match!