CARSON, Calif. – It's LA vs. New York, the Big Apple against Hollywood, and that ought to be enough to get the blood pumping, right?
Depends on who you're asking.
Maybe the LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls, who face off Sunday afternoon at Red Bull Arena (5 pm ET; ESPN2), don't produce the buzz of, say, Dodgers-Yankees or Lakers-Knicks – or anything approaching the bicoastal, cultural rivalry between the country's two greatest markets – but it's still quite the treat for the defending champion Galaxy.
Just don't call it a rivalry.
“It's whatever you want it to be, I guess,” said Bruce Arena, a New Yorker (and one-time Red Bulls coach) who helms the Galaxy. “I mean, I'm not completely sold on that concept, but it's good television, perhaps.”
That it is.
The Galaxy (3-2-2) are MLS' reigning dynasty, with three MLS Cup titles the past four seasons. The Red Bulls (3-0-2) are the league's hottest team, the Eastern Conference leader and atop the points-per-game table.
The showdown is the first of three nationally televised games Sunday.
“We're the start to a good Soccer Sunday, so, hopefully, we can make it a good start to the day,” LA defender Omar Gonzalez said. “There's a lot of good matchups that day. … We just hope that we start off that series with a win for the LA Galaxy.”
There is some history in the matchup, primarily from the 2011 playoff series that the Galaxy swept en route to their first MLS Cup crown under Arena, but it was certainly a marquee game a few years ago, when LA had David Beckham and Thierry Henry lined up for New York.
“Those were big games,” said defender Todd Dunivant, who played for the Red Bulls in 2006-07, during Arena's tenure. “When Henry came to town [for the first time, in May 2011], I remember the hype surrounding that game here, and there was a lot of it. I think it ended in a [1-1] draw, but he juggled the whole length of the sideline at one point. ...
“I think that game was one of the best-quality games I've ever been a part of in MLS. Just from start to finish, it was a really good game, and that was probably a product of the excitement, the hype and the energy of that stadium. I remember walking off the field, I was like, 'That was a real game.'”
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Defender Robbie Rogers says the LA/NY theme doesn't add up to anything, but he's nonetheless “really excited for this game.”
“This is one of the games I'm actually most excited about so far this season because they're such a good team and we're playing them at their stadium and they haven't lost [this year], so what a great challenge for us,” Rogers said.
Rogers is close friends with new Red Bulls midfielder Sacha Kljestan – both grew up in Huntington Beach, a few miles southeast of StubHub Center – and noted that “you don't want to lose against your friend, right?”
“Just a little extra energy just to make sure that come, like, Christmastime that I can poke him and make fun of him,” Rogers added.
The Galaxy lead the series, 19-18-6 – that includes the two playoff victories in 2011 and a 2007 U.S. Open Cup play-in win – but LA's list of true rivals doesn't include the Red Bulls.
“Probably not,” Dunivant said. “We're in different conferences, we've never played them in a Cup final. There was the [2011] playoff series, but other than there, there's been exciting games with a lot of hype around the game. But in terms of really meaningful games, there hasn't been a lot of them, so I'd say it would be a stretch to say we're rivals.”
