Crooks: MLS' Only Authentic Derby Will Be Born When NYCFC Takes On Red Bulls

By Glenn Crooks
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Derby is a city in England and the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.  It is also the name of a horse race founded by the 12th Earl of Derby in 1780. The word, derby, evolved in England to define any sporting contest, while a "local derby" indicated a sporting match between two local teams, especially in "football" or soccer.

In soccer, these derbies have great passion and often have their own moniker.

In the county of Merseyside, Anfield -- the home of Liverpool FC -- and Goodison Park, the Everton FC stadium, are separated by a 0.8 mile jaunt through Stanley Park.  Hence, the Merseyside Derby, with over 220 matches contested.  Since the inception of the Premier League, there have been more red cards administered in the Liverpool-Everton derby than any other pairing – and this matchup is commonly known as the "friendly derby" since families often have supporters from both sides and in a unique display, those that wear red (Liverpool) are not separated from the blue (Everton) at either park.

Then there's the Old Firm.  Glasgow, Scotland is the home to both Celtic and Rangers, with venom generated from their heated affairs for both political and religious reasons -- the Protestants (Rangers) against the Catholics (Celtic). They have met over 400 times and unlike the Merseyside cooperation among families, one must prepare to take off anything blue (Rangers) if you want to enter the abode of a Celtic (green) family member, and visa versa.

I have fond memories of meeting up with my assistant at Rutgers, Michael O'Neill, on Sunday mornings at the Celtic supporters' Irish club in his home town of Kearny to watch the closed-circuit telecasts of Celtic-Rangers.  On one occasion, unbeknownst to anyone but the owner, Rod Stewart snuck in to view the first half and then escaped recognition before the lights went on in the smoke-filled room before halftime.  Stewart, a huge Celtic supporter (he shed tears of joy after Celtic defeated Barcelona in a 2012 Champions League match), had performed a concert in the area the night prior.  I recollect that striker Henrik Larson led his boys at Celtic Park to a 6-2 thrashing over the Rangers that day.  I still have a T-shirt commemorating the moment.

Back to England, there is the North London Derby (180 matches between Tottenham and Arsenal with 131 goals scored in the last 46 meetings) and the Manchester Derby, where Manchester United and Manchester City have met on 170 occasions. United's Roy Keane admitted after a 2001 derby match that he intended to injure City's Alf-Inge Haland with a high tackle in retaliation from an incident three years earlier.

Derbies have fervor, obsession, hatred, vitriol and volatility.

On Sunday, Major League Soccer's only authentic derby will be born.  Manchester City's brothers from across the pond, New York City FC, will play the New York Red Bulls in Harrison, N.J.  Red Bull Arena and Yankee Stadium, the quarters for NYCFC, are less than 20 miles apart. They are separated not by a park, but by the Hudson River.

While there are fierce rivals in MLS (Seattle-Portland, Red Bulls-D.C. United, FC Dallas-Houston, Seattle-LA), none can be referenced as a "local derby."  For 10 seasons, there was the LA Galaxy-Chivas USA encounter – they shared the same stadium and their clashes were called the "SuperClasico or LA Derby." That ended with the demise of Chivas following the 2014 season.

Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch played midfield for Chivas from 2006-09.

"My second game with Chivas was against LA," said Marsch, who also played for D.C. United and Chicago in MLS. "It was different than anything else I had experienced in the league, and it was my 12th season."

"When I was at Chivas, that's the first thing you would circle on the schedule when it came out," he continued. "That whole week leading up to it is awesome."

Now on the coaching side, the approach has not altered for Marsch.

"When the (2015) schedule came out, this (match vs. NYCFC) is the first game I looked at," said Marsch, who put a stamp on his expectation after training on Tuesday. "It has the potential to be nasty."

That's the prospect and anticipation of a derby.

"Having played in a lot of derbies, I know they mean a little bit more to the players, and they mean a lot more to the fans as well," said Red Bulls maestro Sacha Kljesten, who played in Chivas-LA rivalry matches plus 100-year-old Clasicos for Anderlecht in Belgium against Club Brugge and Standard Liege. "Every game against LA was the most fun of the season. I know the history of these games and it's cool to be in the first one in New York, so that will be very special."

Red Bulls striker Bradley Wright Phillips played for Manchester City and understands the nature of these matches.

"Both teams in the first 15 minutes will ignore the soccer side of the game. It's just a fight," he said. "I think whoever wins that battle will probably win the game."

"There's no bad blood really yet," continued BWP. "I'm sure after the first 90 minutes, we'll hate them more and they'll hate us more."

A bulk of the loathing and detestation will emanate from the supporters.  Hashtags have been created, including #NYCSoccerWarz. After reviewing many of the comments, most were harmless; sodden with sarcasm but without revulsions:

Or this tweet that pictures NYCFC's Sebastian Velasquez drinking a Red Bull during a match:

Or these two items that appeared earlier in the week:

These are harmless renderings, all in good fun, although Nick Chavez of Soccer Newsday received one of the nastier tweets of the week:

Now we need a name for this derby.  I was mildly threatened on Twitter to refrain from using "New York" in anything I created.  As a lifelong Jersey boy, I will be compliant and sensitive to the fact that the New York Red Bulls or Red Bull New York (RBNY) train and play in New Jersey.  I have a profound disdain for professional teams that play in N.J. but call themselves N.Y., but that is for another column.

Heretofore, I will personally refer to this enmity as The Hudson River Derby. It is appropriate and has a nice flow to it. I do not get the naming rights, as this was a created as a lead-in to the skirmish.

"It's going to be hectic, it's going to be crazy, it's going to be electric, it's going to be fun," said Kljesten.

"I think the biggest thing that has to be managed is the energy level," said New York City head coach Jason Kreis, who has played and coached in these emotionally charged rivalry games. "When you allow the anxiety level to reach too high, the soccer suffers, the performance suffers."

Kreis' counterpart anticipates that it may be impossible to channel the energy in a way that results in a rhythmic, connected attacking night.

"It's going to be an edgy match, a lot of fouls. It's not about talent, it's about who's willing to fight for every inch," warned Marsch. "If fans are looking for a pass around, they're coming to the wrong game."

Throw-Ins

- NYCFC enters the match winless in its last seven matches, and 1-5-3 overall. Red Bull (3-1-4), at the top of the table in the Eastern Conference less than three weeks ago, has secured but two points from its last three matches and trails leaders D.C. United and New England by four points.

- Prediction: With David Villa expected to start and Khiry Shelton on the verge of a breakout game, I sense that NYCFC will ultimately finish just enough of the their opportunities.  NYC keeper Josh Saunders will come up big to quell an equalizer and NYCFC will enter the record books with a 2-1 road win in the initial Hudson River Derby.

Glenn Crooks is the color commentator for New York City FC on WFAN and the former head soccer coach at Rutgers University. You can follow him on Twitter at @GlennCrooks and glenncrooks.sportsblog.com.