There might be a new owner and a new name, but it was yet another tumultuous season for the MLS team in the New York area. Like the MetroStars before them, the Red Bulls endured a mediocre regular season and another first-round playoff ouster.
But there is a sense of optimism heading into next season because there is stability in the front office. The Austrian energy drink has made a $100 million investment to the MLS club and Bruce Arena, who is the club's sporting director - a fancy way for saying head coach and general manager - has job security unparalleled in the league.
A few days after he learned his contract as U.S. national team wouldn't be renewed after unprecedented success in eight years at the helm, Arena returned to Major League Soccer in July, charged with taking the club out of its 10-year funk of mediocrity. Arena took over in August and set a modest goal of making the MLS Cup Playoffs.
Mission accomplished, although it took the final day of the regular season to do so. The team lost 2-1 on aggregate to D.C. United in yet another first-round ouster. But first they dominated their rivals at RFK Stadium like no other New York team has done before. A few days short of his 17th birthday, Jozy Altidore became the youngest player to ever score a goal in an MLS Cup playoff game and was a post away from a pair.
"You can see we got better, we played better," Dema Kovalenko said. "It's something good to build on for next year."
But while Arena will be back, what players will return for the start of preseason Jan. 31? As the team cleaned out their lockers earlier this month, Arena said he hadn't made any personnel decisions yet.
"We've got to try and get better in the offseason," he said. "It's a difficult league to try to improve your team a whole lot. You can improve it a little bit, or it can get a little bit worse depending on who's in the right mood at the time."
Last season, just eight players were back from the 24-man roster that finished the 2005 season with a stunning loss at New England in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
"It's certainly not going to be that drastic," Arena said of this year's makeover.
One player who certainly won't be back is Youri Djorkaeff, who retired after a 22-year professional career. Combined with their contractual commitment to Sergio Galvan Rey being up, the Red Bulls have cleared up quite a bit of cash under the salary cap. They have also freed up a senior international slot.
With Jon Conway emerging as the starting goalkeeper at the end of the year, will Tony Meola be back for a 12th MLS season? He's said he has no interest in returning as a backup. Chris Henderson is another MLS original who believes he still deserves to start, although Arena went with Austrian Markus Schopp in the second leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series.
Veteran Steve Jolley, who started 10 games but saw limited minutes after Todd Dunivant arrived in a trade with the Los Angeles Galaxy, is unsure of his future. Another veteran, Mark Lisi, is contemplating retirement after another injury-plagued season and Peter Canero has been an expensive bust and is unlikely to return, which would free up a second senior international slot.
And an additional player might be gone when former Red Bulls coach Mo Johnston makes his selections for Toronto FC in the MLS Expansion Draft Nov. 17. The Red Bulls can protect 11 players from their 28-man roster.
Who is back? Arena said there have been no decisions on any player but it's a pretty safe assumption that Altidore and Marvell Wynne, two teenagers who were in the starting XI at the end of the year, will return, as will Schopp, Kovalenko, Dunivant and the versatile Seth Stammler.
Amado Guevara is an interesting variable. Arena has praised the Red Bulls captain, who enjoyed a second-half resurgence after battling Johnston and former club president and general manager Alexi Lalas in the opening half of the season. Guevara has expressed a strong desire to return next year, but, as was the case with every other player, Arena was non-committal about Guevara's status.
"He's no different than anyone, it's the whole team. There's 23 players who have options that are up," Arena said. "He's no different than anyone else."
Unlike last year, when the club obtained both Altidore and Wynne, help is unlikely to come out of the MLS SuperDraft as the Red Bulls dealt away three of their four picks in trades for Jean-Philippe Peguero and John Wolyniec. All that remains is a second-round pick.
Arena said he is hoping for some salary cap relief and the much talked about "designated player rule" to come into effect, which would surely help a club in one of the league's marquee markets. There certainly is no shortage of rumors since Red Bull have come along as the rumor mill has linked Ronaldo, Luis Figo and even David Beckham with the Red Bulls.
One player who has expressed an interest to come to New York is Claudio Reyna, Arena's former captain with the U.S. national team. Reyna is currently the captain of Manchester City, a club struggling in the English Premiership. He is a native of Springfield, N.J., and has purchased an apartment in Manhattan with his wife, Danielle, according to The New York Times.
"You're talking about a player who is under contract on another team. I think it would be a very unfair thing to do, to talk about any player," Arena said. "There's a lot of players that I'd like to play for Red Bull."
As for the 2006 season, it started and ended at RFK Stadium. And on the first day as well as the last, the team's inconsistency proved to be its downfall. On April 2, the largest traveling support in the history of the league - 800 fans whose trip was paid for completely by Red Bull - were treated to a spectacular opening 45 minutes that saw a world-class free kick by Djorkaeff and a sitter by Edson Buddle give the Red Bulls a 2-0 lead at the half. But D.C. rallied for two second half goals to secure a 2-2 draw.
It was a recurring theme for the Red Bulls - at one moment they'd look like an MLS Cup contender and the next there's a lapse in concentration and another goal for their opponent.
Johnston was fired June 27 after just three wins in the opening 13 games and he was replaced by Richie Williams on an interim basis. Things got worse before they got better. Djorkaeff went on a month-long sabbatical in France to tend to his sick mother. He was also caught in the stands watching France beat Brazil in the World Cup, sparking a worldwide controversy.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the Red Bulls lost three of their next four games before a 1-0 win over Colorado July 14 at Giants Stadium. That game saw the return of Guevara from an early-season funk. With both Lalas and Johnston out of the picture, Guevara returned to his old form, thanks in part to a heart-to-heart with Williams.
A few days later, the Red Bulls welcomed the third coach of the season as Arena was named the organization's 10th coach in its 11-year history.
The club made the playoffs and dominated D.C. at RFK, but once again a lapse in concentration cost the Red Bulls as Christian Gomez snuck in at the far post and fired the fatal blow four minutes from full time.
"We made progress. The record doesn't necessarily indicate that but we made a lot of progress over the last couple months," Arena said after the match. "It was a good effort and good performance to end the year, although to be a better team, you walk off the field tonight with a game next week. And we had that opportunity."
Will that opportunity surface next year? A busy and intriguing offseason might decide that.
The Red Bulls are expected to announce a new training facility for next season and fitness will be a point of emphasis in 2007. But more importantly, Arena said, is improving the roster.
"The No. 1 priority right now is to get better players, but fitness is important. It's a lot easier to get them fit than have a much more talented roster," Arena said. "We can win a relay race if we really want to, but we're trying to win soccer games."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
