Claudio Reyna: "We were just trying to get a game out of it and they were trying to play it was like a World Cup game." Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images
By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor
Salzburg, Austria -- You never would have thought that Monday afternoon's exbibition game was played by two teams from the same organization.
Afterwards, the Red Bulls of New York claimed that the Red Bulls Salzburg reserves entered the match trying to injure them Salzburg recorded a 1-0 win at its training center.
"It got kind of chippy," said goalkeeper Jon Conway, who played the first half. "It was kind of crap in my opinion. Their intention, in my opinion, was come out to try and hurt one of our guys. It was crap.
"From the get-go, there were some cheeky, chippy fouls. I think they wanted to hit somebody and they did. They got Dane. Now Dane's injured."
Conway was referring to midfielder Dane Richards, who suffered a knee injury and was forced to leave the game in the 14th minute.
"I guess coming in and we're guys from the states and they want to prove something," Conway said.
What transpired did not surprise Red Bulls captain and midfielder Claudio Reyna, who played in Germany for several seasons.
"I played in Germany and this is how it is always with Germans and Austrians, diving and cheats," he said. "It's how they are. That's how they always play. It's a shame.
"The referee had no control. It turned into an exercise of just trying not to get injured. It got heated. It was unfortunate. We were just trying to get a game out of it and they were trying to play it was like a World Cup game."
About five minutes into the match Reyna said he asked the referee to "try to control this game. It's going to get out of hand, in German and in English. He said, 'yes, yes.' And it didn't. And that let to a game with no rhythm, especially in the first half. They came out first 15-20 minutes. It was like a league game.
"It was unfortunate because we wanted to get a little more out of this game. When you play 45 minutes . . . we could never get into a rhythm because it was constantly, just stop, start. A lot of guys were disappointed. Dave (van den Bergh, midfielder) got a bad knock. It was a bit unfortunate, especially with a club that you share with. It's a bit strange."
After Reyna fouled Christoph Mattes, the Salzburg midfielder had some words for him in the 28th minute.
"Little punks, that's what they were," Reyna said with a laugh.
Reyna wasn't finished.
"It's a scrimmage game," he said. "Thinking it was going to be in-house against Red Bull, it was going to be little more relaxed. I don't mean that we wouldn't get into tackles and do the normal stuff. It was dirty and chippy from the beginning.
"You have young guys trying to prove a point, probably trying to get to the first team. We're just getting going a little bit. It's our pre-season. We're at different stages of the season than they are. You just thought it would be played under a more friendly atmosphere than what it was.
