After years of playing at Giants Stadium, the New York Red Bulls finally have a home of their own.

On a night filled with fireworks and celebrities like Super Bowl winner Reggie Bush , singer Kelly Rowland , Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn , and former NY Cosmos great Franz Beckenbauer , the Red Bulls made their triumphant debut at Red Bull Arena by throttling Pele’s former club, Brazilian powerhouse Santos F.C., 3-1 in a friendly match in front of 25,000 fans.

Playing without their superstar, Juan Pablo Angel , the Red Bulls aggressively attacked and outmuscled the Santos.

Newly signed Joel Lindpere scored the first-ever goal at Red Bull Arena in the 11th minute. Two more goals by Mike Petke (44th minute) and Dane Richards (45th minute) gave the Red Bulls a 3-0 halftime lead.

Although Santos F.C. demonstrated beautiful ball movement with their passing, they weren’t able to convert them into goals until the last minute of the game. 

After an embarrassing 2009 campaign, the Red Bulls organization had a busy offseason. With the hiring of Erik Soler as their general manager/sporting director and Hans Backe as their manager, the Red Bulls organization has made it clear that the team will not have another embarrassing season.

With a new attacking strategy, the team had an undefeated preseason with a 7-0-3 record.

With the MLS season less than a week away, the Red Bulls have all the pieces to have a respectable year and attract new fans. With a new arena, manager, general manager, and players, anything less than a winning season will be unacceptable for Red Bull fans.

The next match will be at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 27, against the Chicago Fire.

Cesar Diaz covers Soccer for Latino Sports (www.latinosports.com). Send Cesar a question or comment for potential use in a future column at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots; you need JavaScript enabled to view it. Or write your comments below in the comment section.

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D.C. United press release, March 22

Washington, D.C.—D.C. United announced today the club has signed Academy midfielder/forward Andy Najar to a Generation Adidas contract to join the first team.

The 17-year-old standout is the second player to sign with the first team directly from United’s Academy. He joins goalkeeper Bill Hamid, who signed with the first team in September of last year.

Najar, a native of Honduras, is a green card holder and will be classified as a domestic player on United’s roster.

The talented teenager will be available, along with his United teammates, coaching staff and club executives, to address the media following tomorrow’s training session scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. at the RFK Auxiliary Training Field.

“We are very excited about Andy’s rapid ascent from our U-16 Academy team to our first team,” said United President and CEO Kevin Payne. “This is a great story about the importance of our Academy teams, and the ability those teams give us to find young players who in the past we might never have met.

"We expect Andy's story with D.C. United to help attract even more great young talent to our program, and I can't wait to see him take the field for our first team.”

“We are thrilled to have developed and signed our second home-grown player from our youth Academy,” added United General Manager Dave Kasper. “Andy is a very talented player who possesses excellent technical and tactical abilities. Andy has shown us that he is ready to contribute first team minutes and we are excited about his future.”

Najar has spent the majority of the preseason training with Curt Onalfo’s side and appeared in a total of five preseason matches. He started in the midfield and went the full distance in the first three games against Columbus (Feb. 13), Toronto FC (Feb. 17), and the New York Red Bulls (Feb. 20) while the Black-and-Red were in Bradenton, Florida.

He made his fourth appearance against Real Salt Lake in the Carolina Challenge Cup, entering at halftime. Additionally, Najar started at right back against the Charleston Battery in the Cup finale Saturday night, helping United capture its first Challenge Cup with a 2-0 win over the USL side.

Najar is a versatile player who enjoyed a decorated youth career with United’s U-16 and U-18 Academy teams. In 2009, he played right back with the U-16 team and tallied four goals before moving up to the U-18 side and scoring nine goals as a forward. 

During his time with the Academy program, Najar has received numerous awards and honors for his outstanding play. He was named to the United States Soccer Federation Development Academy Starting XI in 2009 and he was the leading scorer in the US Developmental Academy Finals in Los Angeles in 2009. 

In addition, Najar was named a Washington Post All-Met First Team selection last year at Edison High School in Alexandria after a stellar sophomore season that saw him notch a school-high 22 goals. 

He was also considered to be the top-rated youth player in the United States in 2009 by Top Drawer Soccer, an online publication that rates the country’s premier youth talent.

Name: Andy Najar

Pronunciation: Andy Nuh-HAR

Position: Midfielder/Forward

Height: 5'7"

Weight: 150 pounds

Jersey: No. 14

Date of Birth: March 16, 1993

Age: 17

Place of Birth: Santa Cruz, Choluteca, Honduras

Citizenship: Honduras

Last Club: D.C. United Academy

Roster Status: Generation Adidas

Acquired: Signed on 3/22/10

If you have any questions for Cesar, please contact him This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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FC Dallas finished with the most goals scored in MLS in 2009 (50) but fell a point short of the playoffs, largely because of an inept defense that tied for the most goals against (47).

The team has taken steps to vastly improve that problem, starting at the end of last season.

They acquired central defender Ugo Ihemelu from the Colorado Rapids and then signed fullback and U.S. international Heath Pearce.

After Pearce was signed on Sept. 11, Dallas went 5-2-0, including wins against playoff-bound New England Revolution, MLS Cup runners-up Los Angeles Galaxy, and MLS Cup champions Real Salt Lake. They also gave up only nine goals, an average of 1.29 a game, with two shutouts.

This offseason the team continued to add to its defense by signing goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.

The Hartman signing is a little surprising. Dallas' goal has been manned by captain Dario Sala since 2006 (he did make one appearance in 2005). The team was looking to upgrade the position though, and they couldn’t have done much better than with Hartman.

The 13-year veteran holds MLS records for most career saves, most career victories, and most career shutouts. He was also named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 1999. Even though he is 35, he still started and played every single minute of league action last season.

While head coach Schellas Hyndman has said Sala remains the starter for now, even having arguably the league's greatest goalie in its history pushing him and competing against him can only make the both of them better.

The team also drafted fullback Zach Loyd out of North Carolina with the fifth pick in the draft. Loyd has impressed so much in camp that Hyndman has hinted he may be able to push Pearce up into the midfield.

Pushing Pearce into the midfield would offset the loss of out of contract Dave van den Bergh. Van den Bergh was a threat on the left side of the midfield. The veteran serviced great crosses and could fire off a nice shot of his own.

Pearce has proved in his time with the national team, however, that pushing forward into the attack is definitely a strength of his.

He would join Dax McCarty and second-year mid Brek Shea, both talented midfielders but not as strong offensively as Pearce.

The biggest threat that Dallas owns is Jeff Cunningham.

Cunningham is one of the most prolific goal scorers in MLS history, currently second all-time with 121 goals.

After 32 games with Toronto where he only scored six league goals, Cunningham had a renaissance year in 2009, winning the league’s Golden Boot award with 17 goals. His return to prominence also earned him a few call-ups with the U.S. National Team.

Colombian David Ferreira scored eight goals in 30 starts last season and will be counted on in 2010 to complement Cunningham.

Behind those two there isn’t much depth at the forward position, so another signing should be imminent.

If Dallas can get its defense to tighten up, and Cunningham continues to be the goal scorer he’s been for the majority of his career, the team could return to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.

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With the labor situation all squared away, we are all set for another season of Major League soccer.

The 2010 season kicks off on Thursday with a game between the Seattle Sounders and the expansion team Philadelphia Union.

Pre-season rankings don’t mean a lot at this point in the season, but they give an early indication of who are expected to be the best teams this season. So, without further ado, here is my Week One MLS Power Rankings:

1. Columbus Crew: Two straight Supporters Shields, so I think they are No. 1 right now.

2. LA Galaxy: I can’t believe I have them here either. But, I think Arena will earn it.

3. Seattle Sounders: I like their chances of hoisting even more hardware in 2010.

4. Houston Dynamo: Sure, they lost a ton of talent, but this team is always tough.

5. Chicago Fire: They still have amazing depth, but do they have the desire?

6. Real Salt Lake: Will they defend their title? My magic eight ball says “no way.”

7. Toronto FC: The Reds are poised to push into the postseason with Preki.

8. FC Dallas: Can they continue last year’s streak of domination? I have no idea.

9. Colorado Rapids: This team has the players, but I think they lack the coach.

10. New England Revolution: I love Nicol, but I don’t think this team has the talent.

11. DC United: A new coach, sure, but he is already bringing in busts from KC.

12. Chivas USA: The Goats without Preki will be one llama short of a petting zoo.

13. Kansas City Wizards: I can’t help but think they will be less than mediocre in 2010.

14. New York Red Bulls: Hard not to put them lower based on last year’s debacle.

15. San Jose Earthquakes: They needed to improve, and I —for one —didn’t see it happen.

16. Philadelphia Union: Everybody starts down here, Philly fans. Not everyone stays.

What do you think of the rankings? Who is too high or too low?

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A Landon Donovan missed penalty kick in the shootout prevented the Los Angeles Galaxy from winning the MLS Cup in 2009.

For the regular season and playoff Western Conference champions, it may have been just the beginning of more disappointment for the club.

David Beckham, the team’s designated player and the man media go in a frenzy over, will miss six months—two more additional months than he would have missed after his loan to AC Milan and a trip to the World Cup with England were up—with a torn Achilles tendon suffered in a Serie A match against Chievo Verona.

Missing Beckham is a two-fold problem.

He obviously is a talented player that really helps the team play at its best. Known for his pinpoint bending crosses and shots, Beckham has been very good in transition from defense to offense and providing great service to the forwards.

Although the Galaxy have played well without him in the past, when Beckham returned from loan last season he really pushed the Galaxy over the edge and made them MLS Cup contenders.

The second issue is what kind of fan support will they receive now?

Beckham was a huge draw for the team, both home and away, and generated a lot of income for the franchise. Without him, will the fans still come out to the games? Will Los Angeles have any interest at all in the team, especially if they start to struggle?

The Galaxy’s most important player, Landon Donovan, will also miss a month of the season for the World Cup.

After a successful loan stint at Everton this offseason and if he continues his solid play on the pitch throughout the sport's biggest stage, he may be ready to make a permanent move overseas.

With the threat of losing the team's two most valuable players, the Galaxy could be in danger of free-falling down the standings.

However, the Galaxy does have arguably the greatest American soccer coach in history in Bruce Arena. He's had success with the U.S. Men's National Team and has won MLS Cups with D.C. United as well as bringing the Galaxy there last year.

He's done so by building a roster of "his players", guys he's worked with before and has a good rapport with.

Since coming to Los Angeles, Arena has brought in fullbacks Todd Dunivant and U.S. international Gregg Berhalter to solidify a terrible defense, tenacious midfielder Dema Kovalenko, former U.S. international midfielders Eddie Lewis and Tony Sanneh, Mike Magee and Clint Mathis, both of whom Arena coached in New York, and tenacious midfielder Dema Kovalenko who played for Arena in both D.C. and New York.

All these players are veteran players that know how to win, how to win with Arena's coaching and playing style, and can tutor the younger players. All these traits are important to help cultivate a winning environment.

Speaking of the young players, the Galaxy has struck gold the past couple of years in the draft.

In 2008 the Galaxy selected defender Sean Franklin out of Cal-State Northridge with the fourth overall pick. He played in 27 of the team's 30 league games and was named the Galaxy's Defender of the Year and MLS Rookie of the Year. In 2009 he started all four game of Los Angeles' playoff run.

In 2009 the Galaxy drafted Omar Gonzalez out of Maryland third overall. Standing at a towering 6'5", the rookie center-back started all 30 league games, played every minute of all four playoff games, and was also named MLS Rookie of the Year. This winter he was called into the United States training camp and impressed throughout his workouts.

The Galaxy hope to continue that trend with first rounder and number 16 overall pick Michael Stephens.

The midfielder out of UCLA has had an impressive preseason, scoring a pair of goals in scrimmages against the Bruins, and set up the game-winning goal in a friendly against Puntarenas. Stephens has said that he still needs to work on adjusting to the speed and physicality of the league, but he looks like he can be a solid contributor this season. His ability to play as a center midfielder or out on the wings should come in handy with the absences of Donovan and Beckham.

Arena has managed to build a solid core of role players and improving young studs around the talented but extremely expensive Beckham and Donovan. The big question that will be answered this season is how will they perform without the assistance of the Galaxy's two marquee players?

If no one is ready to step up, it could turn into another long season for Los Angeles.

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The City of Brotherly Love finally has an MLS franchise to embrace.

The Philadelphia Union will embark on its inaugural season with full support from the fan group, the Sons of Ben, and they certainly have a lot to be excited about.

Putting together an entirely new team has its advantages and disadvantages. On the positive side is that the coach, former U.S. Men’s National Team assistant Peter Nowak, can shape the team any way he likes.

The negative is that there is are holes at every single position, on the field and for reserves, that need to be filled.

What Nowak and the rest of the Philadelphia front office seem to have done is follow the blueprint last season by the then-expansion Seattle Sounders: start by creating a stingy defense.

The defense starts between the pipes with heralded prospect Chris Seitz.

Seitz was selected fourth overall in the 2007 MLS Super Draft and is considered to be in line to be one of the next best American goalkeepers.

In his three years at Real Salt Lake, however, he had trouble finding playing time. Nick Rimando shined as the starter, and Seitz was only appeared in seven league games.

Now, he finally gets the chance to live up to his potential. Seitz played for Nowak in the 2008 Summer Olympics and has been awarded the role of No. 1 keeper.

Playing in front of him are two more U.S internationals: center back Danny Califf and left fullback Michael Orozco.

Orozco was a teammate of Seitz’s at the Olympics. He is notorious for the red card he received for throwing an elbow in the final game of group play, a game the U.S. needed to win in order to advance. Still, he is a good defender who became a regular starter for Mexican club San Luis.

Califf was one of the best center backs in MLS when he was a member of the Los Angeles Galaxy from 2000-2004. He was also named to MLS Best XI in 2005 as a member of the San Jose Earthquakes.

He moved to Aalborg of the Danish Superliga where he captained the squad. A strong and tough defender, Califf has made 22 appearances with the U.S. national team.

Filling out the rest of the backline are MLS veterans Shavar Thomas and Jordan Harvey.

The Union also brought in a ton of young talent to develop through the draft.

Danny Mwanga, a freshman out of Oregon State, was the team’s first-ever draft pick and the No. 1 overall selection. Mwanga is a big, strong target, standing at 6’2”, and he has a knack for scoring goals. Nowak and his staff were also impressed by his ability to see the field and to make crisp passes—and his touch on the ball.

Toni Stahl, 24, isn’t as young as the other rookies for Philadelphia. Of all of Philadelphia's selections, the midfielder is thought to be most ready for MLS, and he has impressed early on in the preseason.

Amobi Okugo, from UCLA, is another Pac-10 freshman the team selected in the first round to develop.

Defense is the Union's strength, along with a pool of youngsters that are still developing. Nowak will also rely on MLS veterans Alejandro Moreno, a forward formally of the Columbus Crew, and Fred, a midfielder acquired from D.C. United, to create a solid attack to complement the defense.

It will be difficult to match the success Seattle had in its first season. The Union probably won’t be as good, but it has put together an impressive squad. In the down Eastern Conference this year, the team could fight for a playoff spot.

The Union needs to upgrade at forward and and develop the very young roster before it is a legitimate title contender, but it should be an exciting team to watch as the season progresses.

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The 2010 Major League Soccer season will begin on—time, after the league and its players union agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement on Saturday.

The sides agreed to a new five—year deal.

The highlights of the deals are guaranteed contracts, improved freedom of movement by players out of contract (not quite free agency) and improved compensation for players.

MLS Players Union head Bob Foose said a majority of players will receive guaranteed contracts for the first time and there will be increased player rights within the league when contracts expire.

Even with those wins, the players union still failed to achieve its goal of free agency.

“From our perspective, these negotiations were always about players’ rights,” Foose said, with his members wanting to bring their rights “more in line with leagues from around the world. Soccer is a global game and we were adamant that these changes were necessary to make MLS as competitive as possible,” Foose said.

Major League Soccer has been opposed to giving the players free agency, but they agreed to creating a re-entry draft for players whose contracts end, options are declined or who reach a certain age.

“We think we have made some real improvements in players’ ability to move,” Foose said.

Getting the majority of players on guaranteed contracts was a big win for the Players Union. Not giving in on free—agency and creating a "re—entry" draft was a big win for the league.

But then I guess that is what negotiations are all about. A little bit of give and take so that both sides can walk away from the table relatively happy with what they got.

I find a couple of other interesting tidbits that came out from the negotiations. Player income averaged $147,945 at the start of last season, according to the union.

That sounds really good, but is inflated by the large contracts that players like David Beckham and Landon Donovan are on. The median salary for the 323 players in MLS last year, the point at which an equal amount make above and below, was only $88,000.

MLS commissioner Don Garber also said that Seattle and Toronto were the only profitable teams in MLS last year. Interestingly, these are the two most recent expansion franchises.

Garber also said that teams regular and postseason attendance in 2009 averaged 16,391, down from 16,640 in 2008. Those numbers hide the fact that the Seattle Sounders, who were not in the league in 2008, averaged 30,837 fans per home page in 2009.

Without the Sounders, MLS would have seen a significant decline in overall attendance in 2009. Three MLS teams saw their average attendance fall more than 21 percent: New England (21.9 percent), New York (21.5 percent) and Los Angeles (21.5 percent). D.C. United and Chicago also experienced double—digit percentage declines in average attendance

“We also collectively agreed that we need to grow our television ratings and attendance,” Garber said. “Perhaps five years from now we have a league that’s operating with all teams at a profit."

So we have a labor agreement that both sides can live with and now we can turn our attention to the important stuff for fans and that is the beginning of the MLS season next week.

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In 2009, the New York Red Bull franchise hit rock bottom. The hope for this year is that moving away from the House of Horrors will exorcise the demons that plague the franchise.

After over a decade of promises, the Red Bulls will finally move out of the barren Giants Stadium and into the pinnacle of soccer-specific stadiums in America that will be known as Red Bull Arena.

The hope is that the new stadium will invigorate the fans, and that the increased closeness of the stadium, where the stands are only a mere 21 feet away from the sidelines and 27 feet away from the end-line, will create an entirely different atmosphere compared to the rather empty Giants Stadium.

Still, a shiny new place to call home will not really change the performance of the team on the pitch.

Last season, the Red Bulls finished with the worst record in all of MLS and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2002. Another offseason completed and another roster overhaul has taken place.

The makeover begins with a new coach.

Hans Backe has become the 12th coach since the franchise’s inception in 1996. He has zero experience in MLS, and the past shows that foreign coaches have had more than their share of struggles in the league with strange rules regarding roster sizes, no reserve team, and working with a salary cap.

However, the players seem to be impressed with Backe’s coaching style. They say he knows the game, and most importantly, he is extremely organized.

The players have been jubilant about how Backe has the team focused; has a single game plan and team identity; and how the players have defined roles and understand what is expected of them. This is a far cry from the days of Juan Carlos Osorio’s constant tinkering with the game day lineups and tactics.

Along with a new coach are a slew of new players: international signings, MLS veterans, and rookies alike.

The Red Bulls have brought in two foreign internationals at positions that were huge weaknesses on the left-side of the field last year. Estonian Joel Lindpere is a left midfielder and Costa Rican Roy Miller will man the left fullback spot.

At 28-years-old Lindpere already has 74 appearances with the Estonian national team. Although better suited for the left midfield spot, Backe feels that Lindpere is creative enough that he could wind up playing as an attacking central midfielder.

Miller has been tabbed to play on the left-side of a defense that tied in surrendering a league-worst 47 goals against last season.

Miller, 25, has a good combination of size and speed. He likes to push forward and join the attack, and he is a threat when he does so. His defense does not suffer though, where he is a solid option.

Furthering the team facelift there are the additions of MLS veterans Chris Albright and Carl Robinson.

Albright, a member of the 2006 United States national team that competed in the World Cup, was brought in to bring a veteran presence to the right fullback spot. Jeremy Hall mostly played there last season as a rookie, and while he did a lot of nice things, it was obvious that he was new to the position (Hall had been converted from left midfield).

Robinson, a Welsh international, was a two-time team MVP with Toronto F.C. He is a defensive midfielder who would be valuable either as a starter or coming off the bench, as the Red Bulls have a number of central mids, especially if Lindpere sees time at that position.

Then there are the rookies. When you have as awful a season as the Red Bulls did last year, you get prime choosing spots in the draft.

Second overall pick Tony Tchani is a big, athletic center mid who is a very sharp passer. His potential is great, but he may wind up beginning the season as a substitute because of the deep numbers at his position. It wouldn’t hurt him to be brought in slowly though.

Third-round pick Conor Chinn has had a productive preseason. He is second on the team in goals, netting four.

The rookie that has shown the most though is second-round pick and central defender Tim Ream.

Backe has been impressed by his comfort on the ball, his passing ability, his poise, and his efficiency in the air. Ream looks like he could be starting alongside veteran and Red Bull fan favorite Mike Petke when the season starts.

There are still some returning players that are extremely valuable as well. Designated player and forward Juan Pablo Angel is still a lethal goal scorer; Petke still plays with a ton of passion and can hold down the fort; and Hall, even though he was learning a new position on the fly, overall had an impressive rookie campaign.

There is talent on the roster.

There is a coach with a consistent strategy in place.

There is the new stadium that the league, team, players, and Red Bull fans have dreamed of. An undefeated preseason also gives everyone some optimism.

The consensus coming out of camp is that the team expects to be fighting for a playoff spot. It seems ambitious after the debacle of 2009 and another roster turnover. But with what’s in place it certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

In fact, Red Bull fans will expect a strong campaign from the team this year.

Otherwise, that new stadium will just be like dressing up a pig covered in mud.

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