Déjà vu All over Again?

By: Rocky Cole | April 18th, 2009

Last November I’d wake up at three in the morning in a cold sweat screaming, “No, No, Not the Wood!” Yes, nightmares of the Western Conference Championship game between Real Salt Lake and the New York Red Bulls kept me up nights. That tragic game was at Rio Tinto Stadium and RSL had not yet made the place their own. Now, though, RSL seems to be clicking and have shown they can win both at home and on the road. This Saturday RSL rolls into New York to play a Red Bulls team that has not been at its best of late but is still dangerous. RSL may have something to prove after the nightmare of last season’s playoff game against the Red Bulls… but the Bulls are getting desperate for a win to turn their young season around. I won’t be there in person to see this game, but I will be glued to the TV watching the game live and hoping I won’t be replaying it over in my head in a cold sweat at two or three in the morning. $RSL\'s Yura Movsisyan$
Still hoping for Movsisyan to get hot and put some balls in the back of the net. He has been key in some of the goals the team has racked up so far this season, but it would be nice to see him get one, or two, or three. Real has a few injured players and Borchers is questionable with a right ankle strain. The Red Bulls may be a bit worse off with their starting keeper, Danny Ceparo, out with a concussion sustained in last weeks match against the Dynamo, but having watched that game, the rookie keeper, Alec Dufty, who came in for Ceparo, did an admirable job. However, Dufty, good job withstanding, was waived by the team this week to allow the Red Bulls to open a roster spot for El Salvador international defender Alfredo Pacheco, whose international transfer certificate was approved. In my eyes this is a questionable decision and one that may bite New York in the a**. It just doesn’t seem right that a guy comes in and does a fantastic job and then you turn around and waive him. I guess it will be a good karma test.

So, who gets the start in goal for the red Bulls? Goalkeeper Jon Conway, the starter for nearly the entirety of the 2008 season who just ended his ten game suspension for violation of the league’s substance abuse policy. Nice. Well, good luck to Alec Dufty, wherever you are today. From what i saw last week, you will end up playing somewhere. It remains to be seen whether the bulls made a good decision or if their coach and management will be waking up at three in the morning this week. May justice be done!