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Rank and File: Union at Red Bull New York

Plus some more information on the bus attack at Red Bull Arena this past Saturday.

Before we get to this week's ratings, some more information has circulated about the attack on the Sons of Ben's bus outside Red Bull Arena on Saturday.

Two posts on the Red Bulls fans' message board MetroFanatic contained details of the incident. They are presented below without editing, except for the removal of an expletive.

The first came from a witness to the incident:

I was one car behind the bus when it happened. To be honest, there were three guys and they were completely wasted. They kept on coming back towards the bus that was caught in traffic and throwing rocks (small). These guys were not ESC members, one was wearing a liverpool jersey. It just seemed to me as if they might have been european fans that think mls is their new reason for violence. No excuses though, these guys acted like morons and it was just an isolated event. I alerted the first police officer I saw, just to make sure no one got hurt....


The second came from a poster who was involved in the attack.:

They talked some [expletive deleted] from the comfort of their bus seats to me and my friends... anti LFC, NJ, RB dribble. I have some pride in me, along with some pints, about the LFC and NJ so I returned the favor by trying to make their comfortable bus seat, not so comfortable.

Not every act of violence at an American game is green street wanna's be's.... some of us have pride in our hometown and it's football and a true distaste for down river trash. Not everyone who attends a match or writes on the net has to be an over weight Dungeons and Dragon's gamer. .... and we're off to the honeycomb again.


Brad Youtz, who took the photo I posted yesterday, told AOL Fanhouse's Brian Straus that there had been "no incidents prior to the attack."

"It was just good-natured stuff outside the stadium, then they started throwing rocks," Youtz said. "There was nothing that would lead them to, in my opinion, to follow the bus." A few rocks were hurled from distance, then "one guy wound up from less than a yard away and heaved a rock at the bus. He was angry."


Major League Soccer gave a statement to Straus that "both clubs, their supporters groups and the league office are working together with local law enforcement to gather information about the actions."

We can only work from the evidence that we have. I wasn't there, so I can only relay accounts that are already in the public domain.

And I'll repeat what I said yesterday: if I hear about the Sons of Ben or other fans at Union games engaging in bad behavior, I'll write about it here. Whether you've come to American soccer from Liverpool or Lafayette Hill, there's no place for hooliganism in the sport in this country.

Now it's time to find out how you rated the Union's performance against the Red Bulls. I tried to come up with a better transition, but couldn't. It happens sometimes.

Be sure to come back here tonight for live coverage of the Union's U.S. Open Cup game at Red Bull Arena. My Philly.com colleague Matt Mullin will be at the game and will be hosting a live chat from press row. If you're planning on going, remember that it's an 8:00 p.m. kickoff.

Goalkeeper

Chris Seitz: 5.13
- "I've been harsh on Seitz, but he can't be faulted for this one. Had it not been for him, the final score would have been much worse." (Nathan Marinoff)

Defenders

Cristian Arrieta: 5.63
- "Not nearly as effective inside as he is out wide in the back.  Was a calming presence though." (Dan Gontkof)

Jordan Harvey: 5.50

Michael Orozco: 3.00
- "Forget about Robert Pires - this team needs help on defense, badly. This was the third game out of four in which an avoidable error by Orozco cost the team dearly." (Nathan Marinoff)

Shea Salinas: 6.60
- "His speed was a nice feature in the back, I expect that we will see some more of that from him in future games. Still a little green back there." (Dan Gontkof)

Midfielders

Fred: 6.25
- "Fred and Torres continue to do well, but I think in this match they were trying too hard or trying something different that they weren't confident about. In any case it didn't work, but they tried hard." (Ethan Gomberg)

Andrew Jacobson: 5.625

Stefani Miglioranzi: 6.00

Roger Torres: 5.875

Nick Zimmerman: 5.00

Forwards

Sebastien Le Toux: 6.50
- "As much fun as it is to watch Moreno and Torres feed Le Toux, perhaps one of them might like to try taking a shot themselves on occasion? Le Toux may be the focal point of the attack, but he can't be the only threat if this team is to be respectable." (Nathan Marinoff)

Jack McInerney: 5.63

Alejandro Moreno: 6.88
- "I never thought much of Moreno on his other MLS teams but he has really proven to be a perfect player for the Union. Tireless and selfless worker with more skill than first meets the eye." (Alex Seldin)

Danny Mwanga: 4.38
- "Mwanga looks to me as though he's playing out of position in his two appearances. It also looks like he lacks pace." (Jeff Prigge)