Plenty of interesting stuff coming out of Red Bull land today, starting with the official signing of defender Leo Krupnik from Maccabi Haifa, and the return to action of trialist Veljko Paunovic and _ gasp _ enough healthy bodies to run a real training session. Will miracles never cease?
And I’ve officially joined 2009. I’m finally on Twitter.
First, let’s start with the 29-year-old Krupnik, who _ once he gets his ITC and the transfer window opens Wednesday _ may well be only the third healthy centerback on this injury-riddled roster.
“I had an opportunity to come here. I asked for a release there and that’s the story,” said Krupnik. “I was just trying to get back to the U.S. I was in Isreal for four years and the economic situation there has started going downhill.. And it was an opportunity for my wife and my family. I thought it was a good opportunity to come back to New York.”
Krupnik is a fairly physical player, keeps things simple in the little time I’ve seen him. Since Carlos Mendes is out, and Kevin Goldthwaite is unlikely to play Thursday, that leaves Mike Petke and Andrew Boyens as the only fit centerbacks. But don’t be surprised if Juan Carlos Osorio slides Alfredo Pacheco into the middle. *** With regards to Pacheco, he was back from Gold Cup duty with El Salvador, and winger Dane Richards is expected back from the Jamaican National Team tomorrow.
*** Striker Juan Pablo Angel, midfielder Albert Celades and attacker Mac Kandji _ all of whom missed the last game _ practiced today. Other than Mendes and right back Carlos Johnson, everybody else that was on hand today actually practiced. Shocker.
On that note, Osorio, Angel and Petke have all openly prodded Kandji to get back on the field as quickly as possible, and I’ve talked to several players in the locker room that privately say the striker needs to toughen up and play. They think the world of his ability, and know they’re going to need him.
*** Speaking of strikers, Paunovic decided to stick around this week and continue his trial. The Serb had to pull out of last week’s 11 v 11 “practice” against the academy kids, but a source said he wasn’t really hurt per se, just sore from lifting earlier. Anyway, he banged in several goals today, and looked very good.
“He’s a good player, he has experience. He’s a good quality player. You can tell he knows what to do. Overall, he’s quality and I think quality is a hard commodity to find,” Angel said. “I don’t know what the club is looking for, but I think he’s a good player. He has shown in practice and right now I think any quality player is going to be welcome in here.”
Osorio said now that the Red Bulls have enough numbers to run real practices, he can evaluate the 31-year-old forward well enough to make a decision.
**** Newly-signed keeper Bouna Coundoul may have benefitted as much as any Red Bull from the bye. He had a little procedure done on his knee last week, but he’s back 100 percent and practiced today.
“(He’s doing good),” Osorio said. “That was something else we used the time wisely last week. He needed to get a minor procedure done on one of his knees and he did it and today he trained no problem, so I think that was good.”
