New York Red Bulls 2 Barça 6
Wednesday, 06 August 08, 05:35 PM · Comments (32)
Barça continued their preseason run of good form with a 2-6 win over the New York Red Bulls tonight at the Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The first half was much better than the second when Samuel Eto'o was on the pitch and with two more goals he increased his preseason total to five in just 159 minutes. Joan Laporta, Txiki Begiristain, Pep Guardiola - we have our number nine here already, please don't balls things up by selling him.
Barça dominated the first half completely but took 15 minutes before penetrating the Red Bulls' defence, but when Barça switched into another gear the result was devastating. First Eto'o got past his man on the left and centred for Thierry Henry to finish but from an offside position. Two minutes later Xavi fed Alves on the right and when the cross came in Xavi had moved into the area unmarked to head home the opening goal. Within a minute Barça went two up when Xavi sent a great ball into Eto'o who controlled well before sending a firm side-footed shot past the keeper.
In the 23rd minute Marquez made a good run into the area but his cross was intercepted by a defender sending the ball out for a corner. From Xavi's corner the ball came to Iniesta whose cross/shot was flicked in by Marquez for the third. Three minutes later Henry had a shot turned onto the post and it looked as though Barça were going to run riot. However, in the 30th minute Victor Valdés failed to hold a cross from the left and Stammler was on hand at the far post to fire home.
Barça continued to dominate and Alves made a great run into the area only to see the goalkeeper somehow divert the ball onto the post. Then just before half time Hleb made a good run into the area before pulling the ball back to Eto'o who showed great speed in bursting through the middle and slotting the ball home.
With six half time changes it was always going to be difficult for Barça to keep up the rhythm and the second half was generally disappointing. We did, however, get another chance to see Jeffren and Pedro impress, and the youngsters both ended up on the scoresheet with late goals. Before then a lack of intensity in defence allowed Rojas to grab another for Red Bulls, and this will be an important aspect for Pep Guardiola to deal with in the Champions League qualifier. Incidentally, Barça's opponents will be Wisla Krakow who tonight beat Beitar Jerusalem 5-0.
The main positives to take from tonight's game were the performances from Xavi and Eto'o who both looked in fine form. Thierry Henry was better than against Chivas, and Hleb looks like he could be a good buy. Alves continues to impress but it will take some getting used to seeing a right back turn up in so many positions. And as I said Jeffren and Pedro both continue to show that they may just have enough to break into the first team one day.
For any of you people who made it to the game today, please send us your comments on your first hand impressions and experiences from the game.
Barça (first half): Valdés; Alves, Marquez, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi, Keita, Iniesta; Hleb, Eto'o, Henry.
Barça (second half): Valdés; Puyol, Marquez (Caceres m60), Pique, Abidal; Gudjohnsen, Toure, Busquets; Pedro, Bojan, Henry (Jeffren m60)
Goals: m17 Xavi 0-1, m18 Eto'o 0-2, m24 Marquez 0-3, m30 Stammler 1-3, m43 Eto'o 1-4, m60 Rojas 2-4, m80 Jeffren 2-5, m85 Pedro 2-6.
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incredible first half i must say, looked like the 05/06 barca out there, and as for xKORUS16x, don't get ahead of yourself buddy, you actually think wisla will beat barca? WISLA?? all the boys need to do is repeat the first half performance for the whole qualifier game and i assure you itl be a goal fest. Looking forward to the new season!
Now i know why everyone is so hard on Victor Valdes..... What the f@#k he is doing in Barca goal...... He doesn't even deserves to be on Barca Z team!!!!!!
Nic, completely agree. The best signing Barca can make at this point is to keep Sammy for another season.
Jeffren and Pedrito look pretty damn good. At least they can provide backup. I don't know if they are 100% ready for La Liga ... but surely Pep will give them some minutes.
What really annoyed me about the game was Abidal. And how he just simply did not care to defend. Barca were up 4-1 and Abidal just let the RedBulls waltz right in. @#%$##^ , If I was Pep .... @#%$@#% . Barca did well to make sure there was no way back for the RedBulls.
I am very happy to see Barca doing so well and getting all of our players into match fitness in time for the Wisla game. Boca @ the camp should be fun tho. Wish they were playing River ... River > Boca 
Another great result!
Here are the highlights in all espn glory.
LINK
That video doesn't work. Does anyone have a link to non-Youtube highlights?
Hey barcacanada, thanks for the link, great goals by Barca, and did you see eto and hleb, amazing 4th goal. But seeing Valdes in the starting line up makes me soo disgusted. Seriously although Pinto hasnt had much game time, he cant be worse then that fumbling idiot, who against Liverpool in the CL 2 seasons ago almost singlehandedly screwed us. I think they should sit him out a few games so he can have time to reflect
Even Jorquera is better...........
Despite that, we seem to be enjoying the football, but we havent really had a challenge yet, we might against wisla, but i'm quite confident we will win
Eto'o = 20 GOALS 
32 Comments · Add yours
keep eto'o.. he has proved why he deserve to stay! Valdes conceded 2 goals! ! VALDES need to improve his performance before the CL match!!
Barca! Wisla will win! and you can end your champions league journey!