Red Bulls Come to Stanford

By: Chris | July 1st, 2011

San Jose will look to avenge the 3-0 drubbing New York gave to the Quakes earlier this season. For the first time this season Frank Yallop will be able to pair Wondolowski with Lenhart and Dawkins. The Quakes are taking the previous loss to heart and are energized to put in a grand performance for a grand stadium.

Both teams have had their lineups reinforced after the Gold Cup. The Quakes got Wondo back, relatively rested as he didn’t play a part in the action for the last 2 weeks. New York get Juan Agudelo and Tim Ream back. Ream did not have a very successful Gold Cup and was benched for the last 3 games, so he should be relatively well rested. Agudelo played in some of the later games but was not played in the final so he has also had at least a week to rest up.

Both teams are also missing some key players. The Quakes will be without Bobby Convey as he picked up a knock in the Los Angeles game. Ike Opara is still nursing his foot injury and Khari Stephenson is questionable after his collision with Donovan Ricketts last week. The Red Bulls will be missing Rafa Marquez because he picked up an injury in the Gold Cup final. Luke Rodgers, who terrorized the Quakes in their first meeting this year, is questionable with a foot problem.

The Quakes are once again having issues with the right midfield. They have not been able to find a player who can consistently produce in the position and they have had to shuffle players around in the last few games. With Wondo, Lenhart and Dawkins in the game, Yallop will have to figure out who to play at that right mid position. Wondo played some at the right mid last year, but he’s been a lot better playing as an underneath striker. Unfortunately Dawkins has also been having success playing under Lenhart. If Yallop is going to use a 4-1-4-1 again, he could put Lenhart up top, with Wondo and Dawkins playing forward in the middle diamond. Alternatively Wondo could play out on the right and float into the middle, like he is wont to do.

I think the Quakes will be able to pull out a victory. With the larger stadium that should have around 30,000 spectators, the spectacle that is a game against New York, and the fact that the Quakes will look to make up their humiliating draw against the Galaxy last week; the team should be able to pull out a victory. I’m going to guess 3-2.

Due to the 4th of July weekend, the match has been moved to Stanford stadium and the Front Office is making a large push to get a large turnout for the game. The festivities will include the usual Epicenter fun transplanted to Stanford and there will be a post-match Fireworks extravaganza to celebrate the holiday.

GO QUAKES!