Goodbye, Angel: How the New York Red Bulls' greatest scorer became expendable
Juan Pablo Angel. Via joscarfa's flickr stream
8:57 am Oct. 15, 2010
Standing before a group of reporters following Thursday’s training session at Montclair State University, Juan Pablo Angel, the season’s top scorer for the New York Red Bulls and by far the most prolific scorer in MLS since his arrival, discussed his future with the first-place, unprecedentedly relevant team.
“I know that I won’t be part of this next season, for a fact,” Angel, the affable Columbian striker, told us.
So why exactly did Angel confirm that he would not be returning next year, a decision clearly made by a franchise without room for him?
The answer is a complicated one, and has made the unexpected run of the Red Bulls toward a possible first league championship into a farewell tour for the man who has accomplished more than anyone in the team’s history.
The Red Bulls couldn’t possibly be unhappy with his play, and in the words of Angel himself: “This has been the best year we have enjoyed since I came here, and there have been so many things that have made it special.”
If it seems strange that they should be getting rid of him, consider the economics of the MLS. Angel—who was a star and a fan favorite with Aston Villa, a big, storied, not-quite-top club in the English league—signed with New York in April 2007 as a "designated player," meaning that the team was allowed to pay him what it could afford, with only a small portion of his salary counting against the league’s hard salary cap.
Unlike other expensive imports by the Red Bulls (formerly the Metrostars) over the years, like Lothar Matthaus and Roberto Donadoni, Angel immediately fit in with New York, scoring in his first match and adding another 57 goals in 100 games with the club. No other MLS player has come close to that total since Angel joined the league, with Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle and other top league scorers well off Angel’s mark.
But the players around Angel have not been nearly the class they are now. A run to the MLS Cup finals in 2008 followed a season in which New York struggled to make the playoffs. And during the 2009 season, Angel’s Red Bulls won just five times all season.
Really, this makes Angel’s scoring even more impressive—after all, the greatest scorers still require adequate service, whereas he put forth inspired efforts with a subpar supporting cast in front of listless Giants Stadium crowds.
“We’ve been a lot more consistent this year,” Angel said. “We feel that we have the stronger squad. If you look at the team that went to the MLS Cup that year, we won some games, but we never felt this game is winnable, we’re going to win it right now. We managed to get results, some great momentum in the playoffs, but no one expected us to be in the playoffs. But this team, this is who we are. All around, a very solid and consistent team this year.”
2010 promised to be different right from the start, with the spectacular Red Bull Arena offering a home field advantage never before experienced by the New York club. And long before the arrival of either Thierry Henry or Rafael Marquez, the two international stars signed by New York from Barcelona around halfway through the season, Angel and the Red Bulls were winning consistently.
Under new coach Hans Backe, returning players like midfielder Dane Richards and goaltender Bouna Coundoul developed, while intelligent acquisitions like rookie defender Tim Ream and midfielder Joel Lindpere provided stability to both the back line and the passing game. Angel particularly thrived with Lindpere, repeatedly scoring from his setups.
In July, the Red Bulls, in playoff position, announced the long-rumored Henry acquisition, and Marquez followed a few weeks later. Backe made no secret of his desire for an attacking “number 10” to play behind and service Henry, and has consistently maintained that his third designated player would be such a contributor.
The math was simple, and brutal: If the two other designated players are signed for four more years, and Angel’s contract is up, suddenly he is expendable. The very supporting cast that has given Angel his greatest season as a Red Bull has made it impossible for him to return.
“I know what I want next year, to make this team stronger,” Backe told reporters following practice Thursday. “I think we will be very hard to beat. We’ll have a fresh roster next year, with the players we want in, we will be very hard to beat.”
Backe did not wish to discuss Angel’s status with the team, however, saying, “After the season, I will discuss it.”
Certainly, an on-form Henry is one of the game’s most electrifying strikers, in MLS or any league in the world. But so far, Henry has not been the player who routinely created Youtube sensations while with Arsenal. Backe pointed out, rightly, that Henry did not have a full preseason, either with the Red Bulls or, due to injury, with Barcelona
But a 2011 Red Bulls squad relying on the scoring prowess of Henry and Dane Richards—who has been a revelation with four goals in his past five games, but struggled mightily to harness his speed prior to that—could find difficulties replacing Angel’s scoring.
In the meantime, Angel aims to conclude his tenure with the Red Bulls with the one thing he hasn’t come close to so far—a title.
“I have enjoyed every moment here,” Angel said. “Hopefully, we’ll end on a good note at the end of the season.”
