at least that was the focus of a full-page color ad in Monday and Thursday's New York Daily News.
The native of Springfield, N.J., recalls vividly seeing the Cosmos as a 4-year-old. Now the former U.S. national team captain will be center stage at Giants Stadium.
"I have those memories still," said Reyna, who expects between 15-20 friends and family to attend the match. "I was very young but they were a really good team. It was exciting. Remembering that, it would be great if we can start that again, where we have a good team that plays good soccer and the area really gets behind us."
Like last year, the Red Bulls opened the season playing an Eastern Conference foe to a draw on the road as they played to a scoreless tie with Columbus last Saturday night. And like last year, the conditions for the club's home opener should be downright dreadful. The forecast calls for rains and wind with temperatures in the 40s, although that doesn't change Bruce Arena's approach.
"I'm not going to worry about that now, we'll see if that's the case on Sunday," Arena said. "Weather reports are sometimes right and sometimes wrong. I don't have control of it."
Reyna, who arrived via a free transfer from Manchester City, displayed his brilliance and orchestrated a dangerous Red Bulls attack in the opening 20 minutes against the Crew. But a collision with teammate Dane Richards produced a debilitating charley horse on the back of his left thigh and Reyna dropped back in a more defensive role.
"I felt good, but without a doubt this dead-leg injury really slowed me down," said Reyna, who was held out of training until Friday. "I kind of hobbled across the finish line by the end. Before that I did feel good, the team was playing well, I was getting a lot of the ball and I felt comfortable."
While Reyna is playing at "home" for the first time in his career, Clint Mathis returns to a stadium that has been home to some of his greatest moments as a professional. Remember the five-goal game, the 70-yard darting run that led to the MLS Goal of the Year? Both happened at Giants Stadium. And both happened against Dallas.
"It's a phenomenal stadium. There's a lot of things that happened in that stadium, whether it be soccer-wise, football-wise," Mathis said. "That's what used to be my home too for three and a half years and the best parts of my career were in that stadium. I'm excited to come back and hopefully pick up where I left off when I was here."
Mathis, who was acquired in a trade with the Rapids two weeks ago, came on for the final half-hour against Columbus. With the Red Bulls already playing for the draw on the road, Arena just wanted to get Mathis a run. But with the Red Bulls scoring woes in Week 1 and Mathis' history against the Hoops at Giants Stadium, "Cleetus" just might get the start.
"We brought him here to see if he can help us and we're not going to be able to answer that by having him sit on the bench," Arena said. "We've got to get him on the field a little bit more before we decide how he's able to help us and how we're able to utilize him."
One player who won't see action is Markus Schopp. The Austrian midfielder will travel to Berlin on Sunday where he'll undergo sports hernia surgery Monday. Schopp said he suffered the injury in the second leg of last year's Eastern Conference Semifinal Series against D.C. United, when he was subbed out in the first half.
"It happened in the last match of the last season and in the preseason the first weeks were OK, but when we started again, we tried to find some other solutions but in the end the only solution was the surgery," Schopp said. "For sure, I'm not happy about this, but this is part of the game. I hope next week it's done and I can be very concentrated to play the next game."
Richards, a speedy rookie out of Clemson, will likely earn the nod again on the right side. He and Marvell Wynne were dangerous down the flank with their pace, but the distribution and touches left a lot to be desired.
The Red Bulls face a Dallas team that has four points out of back-to-back road games. Sunday's contest marks the third game away from home in an eight-day stretch, a brutal way to open the season. After rallying to play Real Salt Lake to a 2-2 draw, the Hoops beat the Galaxy 2-1 Thursday night at the The Home Depot Center. Scoring the goals was arguably the best scoring tandem in the league -- Carlos Ruiz and Kenny Cooper, who combined for 24 goals a year ago.
"I think it will be tough but they'll benefit from this schedule at a later date," Arena said of Dallas. "Obviously three games on the road, that means they're plus-three in the home column somewhere so there's some advantages down the road. We're not going to win if we play poorly so we've got to focus on ourselves and be ready to play a good game."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
