Red Bulls 2011 in Review

Raging Rafa

Mexican star Rafa Marquez got benched one game for ripping his teammates on Sept. 21 — boycotting the English-speaking media since — and threw a ball at Landon Donovan in the home playoff loss vs. LA to get suspended for the season-ending loss in the road leg. He played much better as a midfielder, but if the petulant Marquez returns, will his play and temperament improve?

De Ro debacle

The Red Bulls traded 2010 No. 2 overall pick Tony Tchani, a first-round pick and Danleigh Borman for Dwayne De Rosario, who had just two goals and four assists in 13 games for them. After a Monday practice, they called him and told him he’d been dealt to arch-rival D.C., for whom he had 13 goals and seven assists in 18 games to win the league MVP.

Dog days of summer

This team’s thin bench got stretched past the breaking point this summer. De Rosario, Marquez, Juan Agudelo, Dane Richards and Tim Ream were all gone for the Gold Cup — which coach Hans Backe claims he’d been unaware of — while Luke Rodgers and Roy Miller were hurt. They suffered through a six-game winless skid, followed by a 10-game winless slump that nearly cost them the playoffs.