The New York Red Bulls' defensive reconstruction continued Thursday when the club released Hugh MacDonald, a developmental player from Monmouth University. That's four defenders who have left the club in 24 hours, an undeniable message from Bruce Arena that he wasn't pleased with a backline that has leaked 11 goals in the last four games.
First there was the trade that sent Todd Dunivant to Toronto FC for Kevin Goldthwaite in a swap of left backs on Wednesday. Later, the club waived reserve defenders Taylor Graham and Tim Regan, and MacDonald followed Thursday.
"It's unfortunate so many defenders went so I'm a bit surprised at that, but obviously they felt like they made some moves to help this team and we picked up some good players," Carlos Mendes said. "Goldthwaite is a great left back. I'm sorry to see Dunny go, he's a great guy and a great player, but we've got to move forward and hopefully turn this around and start playing some better soccer."
Taking MacDonald's spot on the roster will be forward Chris Karcz, a former Rutgers standout who has been training with the Red Bulls for the past three months. The Clifton, N.J., native, who was picked by the Chicago Fire in the 2005 supplemental draft, scored for the Red Bulls reserves in a 2-1 loss at Kansas City on June 3. He's been hampered by knee injuries, having three surgeries to repair the ACL on his left knee.
"We'll see once we get into some of these reserve team games, but he's demonstrated throughout training that he's got a pretty good nose around the goal," Arena said of Karcz. "We thought we wanted to play that out a little longer and look at him for the remainder of the season and see if he has a future."
To fill the void on the roster left by Graham and Regan, Arena will likely sign either former U.S. international Tony Sanneh, versatile Chris Leitch or Argentinean Mariano Fernandez. There's also the chance the Red Bulls will stay active in the trade market, although Arena all but ruled out the international transfers.
"Contracts are now set so essentially that says that everything is done for the most part," Arena said. "You can make trades, but we're not transferring in any international players."
Goldthwaite trained with the Red Bulls for the second time Thursday morning at Montclair State University and will likely start Saturday night against Columbus at Crew Stadium.
"The goal is to win a championship here and that's something I really want to be a part of," he said. "Hopefully I can come in and help out and help the back four out and make us a good, strong, solid unit."
Goldthwaite, in his second full Major League Soccer season, said he already knew several of his new teammates, including Seth Stammler and defenders Mendes, Jeff Parke and Hunter Freeman, which makes the transition a bit easier.
"This definitely was a surprise. It's sad to leave the guys in Toronto, sad to leave the club, it's a great place, a great city," Goldthwaite said. "At the same time, I'm really excited about being here, playing for a guy like Bruce, being in a great area, I have some friends and there are some good guys on the team as well."
Freeman, who trained Thursday, is still nursing a badly sprained left ankle and is listed as questionable for Saturday's game. Dema Kovalenko, who has filled in as an outside back with the dearth of healthy defenders, didn't train and is sidelined with a right groin strain. Two defenders who are healthy are center backs Parke and Mendes. They're also two of the few players remaining from the pre-Arena era.
"It's part of the business and you've got to just come out here and play every day, try and get better," Mendes said. "If something happens, it's going to happen. You can't worry about that, you have to have confidence while you're still here."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
