USSoccerPlayers’ Clemente Lisi doesn’t see Bruce Arena’s Red Bulls walking away from Gillette Stadium with a victory this weekend, and should they fail, Lisi says the onus falls on Arena, and no one else. And it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise if they do: the Red Bulls, he says, play a “dull brand of soccer,” and several factors contribute to this.
For one thing, the team lacks creativity in midfield. Claudio Reyna and Dema Kovalenko are direct players; sure, Dane Richards makes thrusting runs, but he doesn’t have the vision or spontaneity of a true creative midfielder. Meanwhile, New York’s “major players” as Lisi calls them, are all over 30 — which means that Arena doesn’t have much to build on if the team fails this season.
Indeed, Arena wanted to build his Red Bulls around strong personalities like Reyna and Ronald Waterreus, spending big money to bring them to New York, but he forgot about “expressive individuals,” thinking instead that a workman-like team and one star forward — Juan Pablo Angel — would be enough to succeed in MLS. In light of this, one can’t help but be reminded that Arena saw fit to trade the temperamental but talented Amado Guevara for the aging and injury-prone Reyna, who by most accounts has been bust this season.