The best moments of the Barclays New York challenge
The New York Red Bulls recently played host to the Barclays New York Challenge. The event featured teams like Manchester City, Sporting, Tottenham and the Red Bull team themselves. Although the tournament was exciting as a whole, there were some moments during the matches that stood out amongst the rest. Here is a look at some of those moments.
Despite the fact that Carlos Mendes was the captain for the New York Red Bulls, Thierry Henry led the team out on the pitch and was greeted by an audacious uproar from the crowd that could deafen any one. The chants from the crowds were both in favour and against Henry. The Tottenham fans were obviously amongst those who were booing the player. No matter what side the fans were supporting, everyone knew that this was a special moment.
Three minutes after the start of the second half in the game between Tottenham and Sporting, Jamie Valdes received a pass about twenty five yards from goal. The score was locked at one all and this seemed like a position that wasn’t very threatening. Valdes however took this opportunity to get past a defender and then struck a clean low shot into the right side of the post. This goal saw Sporting go from being on level terms with Tottenham to leading them by two goals to one.
In the match between Manchester City and the Red Bulls, Dane Richards received the ball some forty yards from the goal. He had no open options so he began dribbling the ball up field. He then got into a full stride and left Wayne Bridge for dead before whipping in a deadly low ball towards Mac Kandij, who had the simple task of directing it into the goal and that is just what he did. This gave the Red Bull’s a one nil lead over City but what was special was that every one witnessed the potential that Kandij possessed. Most fans were also left wondering as to why he doesn’t do that during league games.
The winning goal that the Red Bull’s scored against Manchester City was nothing short of being spectacular as well. Kandij once again received the ball but this time with his back towards the City goal. He used his quick feet and footwork to get past two defenders and deliver a guided pass to the feet of Dane Richards. Richards was currently standing on the right side of the field a good twenty five yards away from the goal. Dane took a touch to get the ball out of his feet and then unleashed a thunder bolt which hit the underside of the cross bar before going into the goal. It was a goal that saw the Red Bull’s take the lead against Manchester City who eventually went on to win the match.
In the opening game between Tottenham and the Red Bulls, Joel Lindpere, rounded a defender got to the byline and crossed a ball into the path of the always ready Thierry Henry. Henry raced towards the ball and guided it with finesse and grace into the far post, leaving the goal keeper for dead. The goal might have looked to have been easy, but everyone on the pitch knew just how difficult it was to finish off a goal like that. The Red Bull arena went crazy as Henry netted the opening goal on his debut for the Red Bulls. The goal was only sweater for Henry as it was scored against his former Arsenal rivals Tottenham.
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