It was the MLS game of the year in 2007. A crowd of 66,000 fans packed Giants Stadium as the David Beckham tour made a stop in New York.
While many went to the game just to catch a glimpse of Beckham, the fans witnessed a thrilling match, won 5-4 by the Red Bulls.
In what he calls the beginning of his team's second season, Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio is hoping for yet another exciting match with the same result. Just without as many goals conceded.
"I think everybody remembers last season being one of the best games," he said. "Hopefully that will be the case again -- different type of game though -- but I hope it's the beginning of a good second part of the season for us."
There have already been 45,000 tickets sold for Saturday's highly anticipated rematch. And Osorio is sure that his team, which is coming off of back-to-back losses, will respond to what is expected to be an electric atmosphere.
"If any of them who is not motivated enough to play the game in front of over 45,000 people then they are in the wrong profession," Osorio said. "Hopefully that will be the case and everybody involved will be ready to go from the whistle and hopefully will contribute to a very good game, the game that gives us a good result and the game we want to play."
Both teams, each sporting new coaches, are drastically different this year. The Galaxy, who missed the playoffs last season, are one point out of first place in the Western Conference. Beckham, this time around, is fully fit and his influence on the attack had paid major dividends.
"I think it's been pretty good. I've set out to make as many assists as possible and I've done that so far," Beckham said. "I think I have seven and I've scored a few goals, which I'm not used to doing that often so I've enjoyed that part of it. The most important part is the team and the team's progression."
Los Angeles has scored more goals (34 in 16 games) than any other team in the league. Twenty-two of those goals have come from Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle, who are tied for the league lead with 11 goals apiece.
"With Buddle being on a hot streak, it really is tough," Dave van den Bergh said. "Beckham being creative behind Donovan and Buddle, you've got to take the service from Beckham away and that's part of the problem solved, but you still have Donovan and Buddle making runs through the defense."
While New York in winless in its last four games in all competitions, the Galaxy come to New York following an emotional 1-1 draw with Chivas USA following back-to-back losses to D.C. United and the New England Revolution.
In fact, the Galaxy are 1-5-1 against teams from the East, their lone win coming against the Kansas City Wizards on May 24 at The Home Depot Center.
"I think it's a good opportunity for us to step up," Galaxy first-year coach Ruud Gullit said. "We had a setback against D.C. for various reasons, especially in the second half with the heat and everything, and of course, in New England. But I think we played much better. I think the team is playing better and we are looking forward to the game."
Although Beckham didn't score in last year's goalfest, he played a part in all four of his team's goals, mostly off of set pieces in and around the box. That is something the Red Bulls need to keep to a minimum in order to prevent Beckham from doing what he does best.
"He's very dangerous in set plays and that was something that we did very well in our first game against them in L.A.," Osorio said. "We fouled them only four times in the first 45 minutes. If we manage to do that and tactically we are aware of where the danger is and control the attackers then we will limit them to few options and hopefully that will be the case."
While he might be known the world over for his patented free kicks, Beckham's ability to cross the ball in the run of play is also very much a concern for the Red Bulls. At The Home Depot Center earlier this year, van den Bergh harassed Beckham down the flank and the two got into more than one confrontation on the night.
"I think he's an intelligent player," Osorio said of van den Bergh. "David knows a lot about the game, tactically he's very capable of reading the game and he knows what Beckham's strengths are and the things that's not very good at. I think he always plays a very good game against him."
In addition to any set piece in the attacking third, Beckham can impact the game on the right flank or in the middle of the field. Osorio said his team prepared for both situations.
"I think the only adjustment we need to make is will he play in a wide position in a 4-4-2 or is he going to play in a central position in a 4-2-3-1 or in a 4-1-4-1," he said. "If he plays in a central position then obviously it's different than playing on the flank."
There is, though, the other part of the Galaxy, particularly the 18 goals against, by far the most in the league. That is something the Red Bulls hope they can exploit.
"They still have one of the most scored on defenses in MLS so I'm confident that we're going to get our opportunities," van den Bergh said. "Hopefully we'll put some of them away this time."
However, New York wasn't very effective in the offensive third in the first half of the season. Without Jozy Altidore, who scored a brace in last year's thriller at Giants Stadium and was sold to Villarreal of Spain's La Liga, and Juan Pablo Angel, who scored the winner but has been hampered by injury, New York has scored just 16 goals on the season. Only San Jose (11 goals) has fewer goals.
And the Red Bulls haven't scored more than one goal in any game since beating the Galaxy in Carson on May 10.
But Osorio hopes that will change come Saturday. Angel, who scored in a 2-1 loss at Kansas City -- his first start since June 5 -- is getting back to match fitness and recently signed Jorge Rojas is expected to start as the attacking midfielder, replacing Claudio Reyna, who announced his retirement Wednesday.
Argentinean defensive midfielder Juan Pietravallo, who is also a part of Osorio's midseason rebuilding project, could also see time for a Red Bulls team desperate for three points in its lone home game in July.
"We have managed to control the anxiety to just sign players for just the sake of signing players," Osorio said. "We have given all our players numerous opportunities to show what they can do. Finally we decided we needed to strengthen a couple of positions and we went and did it. Hopefully tomorrow it will be the first opportunity for everybody to see that we have done a good job as far as that."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
