For the fourth straight April, the New York Red Bulls are visiting D.C. United, and for probably the third straight April, we here at B&RU are taking the opportunity to share the highlights from the first of this series of early spring encounters, back in 2012. Back in that April meeting, Drunk Uncle Hans Backe coached the Red Bulls, and his Metros ran out a flat 4-4-2 while Ben Olsen's United played a diamond-ish 4-1-3-2 with Dwayne De Rosario manning the point underneath Maicon Santos (now signed with Thomas Rongen's NASL Tampa Bay Rowdies) and Chris Pontius.
I expect most readers of this site to remember how that encounter ended. For those who don't, it was glorious.
The formations and the Metro technical staff weren't the only things that will be different from this Saturday at RFK. The weather that year was dreadful - 40s and pouring, all day. DC hadn't made the playoffs in years. Dwayne De Rosario was coming off an MVP season. And Chris Pontius was primarily used as an outside midfielder, making a rare cameo at forward on this day.
What a cameo it was. Enough text, watch the video, and let's see more of this kind of compehensive victory come Saturday.