Hello to everyone that reads the great stories here on Major League Soccer Talk, my name is Daniel Feuerstein & obviously you have heard my voice on Podcast #65 with Kartik Krishnaiyer on the David Beckham story.

I hope all of you will enjoy reading my articles as I display my passion for the game here in the United States. From my club Red Bull NY (RBNY), our league, the US Men’s National Team and of course US Soccer’s version of the FA Cup that is the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

Let me start my first report on my favorite club here in Major League Soccer that was the NY/NJ MetroStars and are now Red Bull NY, or the New York Red Bulls however you want to call them. Last season was a dream playoff run for my club as the regular season was easy to forget. Sure there were some fabulous matches to discuss, but everything was so inconsistent you never felt at ease with this club.

So many coaching changes and so many players coming and going the count sounded like a plague hitting a certain city or a couple of towns within a group. Well I have to say that for the first time since the 2003 US Open Cup run to get to that final I have felt as well as many of my fellow supporters from the Empire Supporters Club (ESC) Raging Bull Nation and the Kearny Army that joined in last season finally feel a buzz going thru the swamps of the Meadowlands and thru the streets of New York City.

So many injuries hit our club when Jamaican International Dane Richards had his leg muscle stretched during pre-season training at Red Bull Salzberg and lost him for the first two to three months of last season as well as the injured lower back of Juan Pablo Angel for the first half of last season, but came back strong in the second half with twelve goals. The transfer of Josy Altidore to La Liga’s Villarreal and then the cavalry came from South America as Jorge Rojas, Gabriel Cichero in Venezuela & Juan Pietravallo from Argentina joined the ranks during MLS summer transfer window.

Of course the saga of doping came up as both Jon Conway & Jeff Parke were caught testing positive for illegal substances they put into their bodies, so a new hero was born as the club barley held on to the last playoff spot for MLS Cup. Danny Cepero made history as the first keeper to score a goal, regardless if it was a field turf bounce. It was the best thing to happen in his first ever match in the league & of course it all came crashing down when the Chicago Fire blitzed RBNY in the final match of the regular season and the surprise that DC United couldn’t score a goal in Columbus that allowed my club to enter the post season thru the back door.

A ho-hum 1st leg draw at Giants Stadium against then two time defending league champions Houston Dynamo and then out of no where a three nil victory and a four to one aggregate score at Robertson Stadium sending the club to play against Real Salt Lake not just for a chance at the MLS Cup, but an opportunity to particiapte in International Club Competition. A Dave van den Bergh goal along with many posts RSL struck gave NY some luck to advance.

We all know how the final ended, but with an off season to address certain problems, Juan Carlos Osorio had solved most of the issues with attackers up front & in the midfield. The defense might have a touch of suspect with the center backs but old reliable Mike Petke has returned.

For the first time this club will be involved with three seperate tournaments in the MLS Regular season, US Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions League. Four if they qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs. This has been an exciting time since the end of the 2008 season & I just can’t wait for Thursday, March 19th to come around. Fireworks will be exploding & that huge shadow that is the memory of the defunct New York Cosmos will soon disappear.

Come on you Red Bulls.