MORE FROM SALZBURG-WEDNESDAY EDITION

With the bulk of the Salzburg training behind them, and with just two days left in Austria, the team held a single training session in the morning, and then took time to visit Hangar 7 and a second Red Bull Salzburg match.

The reason for the visit to Hangar 7 was twofold: first and foremost, the team received a tour of the facility. Following the tour the team posed for a team photo.

Hangar 7 was a big hit with the team. The array of planed, helicopters, Formula 1 cars, and other mechanized vehicle was astounding, especially with the knowledge that every single one of them were drivable/flyable. The facility also holds an art gallery and a restaurant. The art gallery is changed monthly, and a new international chef in the restaurant is also rotated monthly. There are also two bars and a café housed in the hangar.

The squadron of planes is collectively known as the Flying Bulls, is flown by five full-time pilots, one of which was gracious enough to give the group a tour of both Hangar 7 and Hangar 8, where all maintenance and repairs are conducted. It was surreal to see the fighter planes as well as the passenger planes up close, and to see the mechanics working diligently to maintain them. The restored DC-6, one of only a handful left in the world that are still flight-ready, was the highlight of the tour, as both the exterior, spotless, and the interior plush, had many of the players commenting on its luxury.

The only disappointment of the day was that the planned flight on the DC-6 was canceled due to weather conditions.

Following the tour, the team posed for a stylized team photo. The team looked both impressive and imposing in the photo, and the team enjoyed the special treatment from the photographer, who has worked with a variety of high profile clients, including Heidi Klum (unfortunately Heidi wasn’t present).



Once the photo was completed to the photographer’s satisfaction, the team departed for Red Bull Arena for the rescheduled Red Bull Salzburg/FC Wacker Innsbruck match. Once again, the power of Red Bull New York exerted its international force, as RBS posted a second clean sheet, taking a 2-0 win to move to the top of the Austrian table.

Tomorrow, the team is slated to play a friendly against the RBS First Team players that did not appear in tonight’s match. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 pm at Red Bull Arena, with a combined team photo taking place before the match. That will conclude the schedule of events for the club’s time in Salzburg, with the team slated to depart for the U.S. Friday morning.

A NEW TRIALIST?

Fernando Fiore, host of Univision's Republica Deportiva, worked out with the Red Bulls yesterday as part of a feature that will air on his show. In the above photo, he certainly looks in great company, going through a warmup session with Claudio Reyna and Juan Pablo Angel.

No word yet on whether Juan Carlos Osorio will put in a Discovery claim on the multiple-emmy winner, or if he actually survived working out with Claudio and Juan Pablo.

Be sure to check out the full report on his trial with the club on Republica Deportiva.

TRAINING, CASTLES, SNOW, AND BOWLING; NOT A TYPICAL DAY IN SALZBURG

Tuesday was a busy day for Red Bulls Reader.

The day was the coldest since we have arrived in Salzburg, as the tempatures never went above the high 30's.

Training was the event of the morning, as the club went though its paces at the training grounds.

Following training, Red Bulls Reader accompanied the Madison Square Garden Network (be sure to check out Red Bull features this week), Seth Stammler, and Kevin Goldthwaite to the oldest castle in Salzburg, a nearly 1000 year old fortress that overlooks the city. We were able to see the many amazing features of the castle, including the torture chamber (no training jokes to make here), and the top of the castle, which gave a gorgeous 360 degree view of the entire city.



(Stammler and Goldthwaite meet with the other famous bull of Salzburg, here is a brief summary of the legend of the "Bull Washers":

During the period of the peasant’s riots of 1525, the city of Salzburg was under a siege. Soon the city’s population was running short of food, and fear spread when only a single bull was left within the mighty city walls.

Then the commander of the defending troops is said to have had an idea: he ordered to paint the naturally brown bull with white stain and lead it up and down the city walls on display to the enemy. The next day, they would wash the bull, paint it in black and do the same thing again. The next day, they would paint the bull red, then spotted, and so on.

In the end, the enemy thought that the people of Salzburg were slaughtering a bull every day, expecting that the live stocks were still large enough to feed the troops and people in the city for a very long time. Eventually, the troops that kept Salzburg under siege withdrew, leaving Salzburg to freedom. Under cheer and laughter, the bull was lead to the Salzach river and washed until he appeared again in his natural brown. Ever since then, people from Salzburg are called “Stierwascher” – bull washers.)


Following our short sightseeing tour, we went off to afternoon training at the stadium. Amazingly, near the end of the session, a mini blizzard hit the area, coating the turf and cancelling the scheduled team photo with Red Bull New York and Red Bull Salzburg.

Tonight the team went to a local bowling alley to roll a few frames (We imagine a few Big Lebowski jokes were floated around). Red Bulls Reader could do no better than a 155, and rumor has it that Mike Magee had the high game of the evening. The bowling wound down as Champions League matches began (understandably).



(Dave van den Bergh celebrates a great roll)

On a side note, all of us at Red Bull offer our congratulation to Red Bull Salzburg hockey, which completed its series sweep of EC Vienna Capitals with a resounding, 7-1, victory on home ice. Its now on to the league finals for the team!!

Tomorrow will bring training in the morning, then a visit to Hangar 7, then a trip back to the stadium to watch Red Bull Salzburg in its rescheduled match against FC Wacker Innsbruck. Another full day, so be sure to check back for the full recap.

MEDIA OUTING AND FRIENDLY VS. RBS RESERVES

Today was another eventful day in Salzburg. In what has become somewhat in the trend of good-weather/bad weather days, today was a great day. The wind died down and the the sun was out for a good portion of the day.

Since the team was playing in the afternoon, there was no morning training. The traveling media took advantage of the free morning, meeting with the staff of Euro 2008, then taking Head Coach Osorio out to the Old Town section of Salzburg to conduct some interviews.

Red Bulls Reader shot some video of the short tour, take a look below.



Be sure to tune into MSG later in the week to see the full feature plus much more Red Bull video from Salzburg.

The afternoon saw the club FINALLY take on the Red Bull Salzburg Juniors (Reserve Team). To read more about the match, CLICK HERE. The friendly match was pretty intense with both sides playing hard. The RBNY put out a different 11 in the second half, as the team is still looking to solidify roster spots as the club gets deeper into the preseason and closer to its April 5 season opener against Columbus at Giants Stadium. Be sure to check out the photo gallery as well.

For postmatch reaction from Claudio Reyna, take a look at the video below.



For Juan Carlos Osorio's postgame comments, watch the video below.

HEAVY WINDS, A 0-0 DRAW, AND A GREAT DINNER

Today Red Bulls Reader traveled to Munich with the members of the media that joined the team in Salzburg to take in the 1860 vs. Aachen match at Allianz Arena. The trip only took about 1:30, but the extremelly strong winds did give us some white knuckles and causes for semi-concern, especially since we traveled on the Autobahn, which has no speed limit. But more on that later.

The scenery on the way to Munich was magnificent. With the Alps always looming in the distance, we passed through rolling farmland with the occassional small town breaking things up. The scenery alone made the ride worthwhile, but we still had a match to attend in an arena that was the home of several World Cup matches.

The arena was very easy to find, right off the autobahn more or less, and as we rolled up, Red Bulls Readers' initial impression was that it looked like the areana was either 1) wrapped up in a parka, or 2) covered in bubble wrap. RBR was told that the new stadium at the Meadowlands will borrow a feature of Allianz Arena, which is the home of both 1860 and Bayern, namely that the outside of the arena changes colors depending on who is playing (see image below).



The trip to Munich was arrainged through the help of the New York Times' Jack Bell and the friendly PR staff at the Bundesliga. A parking pass and credentials were left for us, and we made our way into the media lounge for a pregame meal.

The meal was very tasty, a serious spread of all kinds of food. They even offered two local beer on tap, all this at no cost!!

As we made our way to where we would be sitting, RBR took in the sights and sounds of the arena. In another example of how things in Europe are VERY different from the US, there was a kiosk selling cigarettes in the middle of the concourse (I forgot to mention earlier that smoking has not been banned in arenas, bars, and restaurants as in the US, and the locals here smoke A LOT). Before settling in for the match, we made the obligatory trip to the souveneir stand, and several members of our party are now the proud owners of 1860 t-shirts, scarfs, etc.

The match did end in a 0-0 draw, and the serious scoring changes were few and far between, but the experience was a whole was worthwhile, and the atmosphere at the arena, even on a severaly blustery day, was electric.

After the match, the media members spoke with the two Americans on 1860, Gregg Berhalter (who started at left back and played the entire 90 minutes) and Josh Wolff (who dressed but did not play). Both Berhalter and Wolff were happy to catch up with the American media and are enjoying there time in Germany.

On the trip back to Salzburg, the winds died down, which made the conditions on the Autobahn far more normal, which means that cars were flying past our mini-van like it was standing still. We estimated that many cars passed us in the neighborhood of 200 kilometers per hour, which is about 120 miles per hour. Some serious speeding.

Once we returned to Salzburg, our group went to dinner with the team and staff at M32 a Red Bull owned restaurant. The food was equally as amazing as the view, as the restaurant in located on the top of a mountain overlooking the city. Simply a breathtaking view. The team took in this view after polishing off a five-course meal. Here is a view during the day:



It was also confirmed at dinner that the team WILL be making up its match against the Red Bull Salzburg Juniors, with the match taking place Monday. Red Bulls Reader will be there to provide a report on the match.

WITH MATCH POSTPONED, TEAM PUSHES ON

With the originally scheduled matches cancelled due to the forecast of hurricane like winds, the Red Bulls made the best of the situtation and played in inter-squad scrimmage on the Taxham training grounds.

In the end, the Orange team defeated the Yellow team, 4-1.

Here are the first half formations:

Orange Team

------------Angel----------------Echeverry----

----------------------Reyna-------------------

---Mendoza---van den Berg---Stammler---Richards

-------Goldthwaite-------Parke--------Mendes

------------------Thornton-------------------

Yellow Team

---------Wolyniec-------------Laventure---

-------------------Palacios---------------

----Borman---Marmol---Upibaripovic---Sassano

-------Palguta-------Brunner-------Leitch

-------------------Conway---------------



---Early in the first of two 35 minute halves, Orange was awarded a PK after a handball in the Yellow area. Angel stepped up to take the kick, but Conway thwarted the attempt going to his right.

---Yellow struck first with a tally from Laventure from inside the 18.

---Orange scored the next two, both off crosses from Richards, the first scored by Reyna and the second by Angel.

---Orange took a 3-1 lead into the half after Reyna's cross was put home by Echeverry.

---Two subs came on in the second half, as Mike Magee replaced Palacio, and Ted Niziolek.

---The only goal of the second half came on a beautiful 30-yard lazer beam from Marmol (who switched to Orange in the second stanza), giving Orange the 4-1 win.

---With the media looking on, the team displayed good shape and form.

The team is also trying to reschedule its match with Red Bull Salzburg Reserves, possibly Monday.

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY: TODAY´S MATCHES POSTPONED

Red Bulls Reader woke up this morning to a dreary site: a wet, rainy day, which only got worse as the day progessed.

At noon Salzburg time, the weather had gotten so dismal; hail, strong winds, thunder, that today´s Red Bull New York/Red Bull Juniors and Red Bull Salzburg/FC Wacker Innsbruck matches were forced to be postponed.

No word yet on a possible reschedule, but we will give you the latest once we hear word. We assume that something can be rescheduled, as we are still here until Friday morning, and neither Salzburg team has a scheduled match until next Saturday.

Normally, an afternoon off would allow us to do a little sight seeing, but the weather might nor permit that. So is life.