Ryan Meara Readies for Renewed MLS Season

On July 11, the New York Red Bulls open up their MLS tournament slate against Atlanta United, this after a layoff dating back to March 7 due to Covid-19.

The Red Bulls started the season back on March 1 and went 1-0-1 before the shutdown, which came without goalie Ryan Meara, who had tweaked his hamstring in the final preseason game.

Meara, who is joined on the goalkeeping roster by new addition David Jensen, is expected to start the tournament games for the Red Bulls.

The MLS tournament opens up today, July 8, in Orlando, Florida at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports facility. Players will be in a bubble for six weeks, until the end of the tournament on August 11.

This season is the first time since 2011 that the Red Bulls are without stars Bradley Wright Phillips, Luis Robles, and Connor Lade, making Meara the longest tenured player on the roster. This helps him lead his team.

“It is a responsibility as one of the older guys on the team, longest tenured guys on the team to just show the young guys, to show them the Red Bull culture,” says Meara, who is 29 so still young for a goalkeeper.

He is not worried about being in the bubble because of his not having children, but understands others’ concerns.

“I think as a whole we are excited, but I feel bad for the guys with young kids and stuff that will be a challenge for their families,” he said.

As the MLS regular season got only two games into the season before the season was put on pause, Meara says that it was difficult to get started and then pause, but that it was understood there were bigger problems going on in the world than the season being put on hold.

He says that the excitement to restart has replaced the excitement to start up in the first place and the ensuing disappointment of being paused.

“I think now, everyone’s just so happy to get back out to training, and once we get down to Orlando, the whole league is excited to get the games back on and get the season started.”

Meara, who says he would have started the third game of the regular season had the season not been paused, is sharing in the excitement over the starting up.

“Now I’m hoping to be the starter in Orlando,” he said.

In between the almost four month break as COVID-19 ravaged the world, Meara said that he viewed the break as an offseason more than an international break.

“In the offseason you’re just trying to stay sharp, stay fit, and just be ready for when the season resumes.”

As athletes around the world are dealing with trying to stay in shape during the quarantines, the Red Bulls are in the same boat.

For example, the strength and conditioning coaches sent Meara and his teammates workouts to accomplish every day and have been keeping track of the players’ run mileage.

Meara says that some of his teammates had to improvise the weightlifting portions of the workout saying, “guys were putting heavy stuff into suitcases that they had so they could lift it.”

Meara also said that he worked with two local goaltenders to train, University of Albany junior goalie Micheal Kennedy, and New York Red Bulls academy goalie, Kieran Dalton.

One advantage that could make some MLS teams more comfortable at the ESPN Wide World of Sports is the familiarity with the facilities. The New York Red Bulls, Columbus Crew, Montreal Impact, Orlando City, Philadelphia Union, Sporting Kansas City, and Toronto FC all participated in the “2014 Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic” there. About this, Meara spoke positively of the facilities saying that they are great.

As the ever evolving situation continues, Ryan Meara shed light on some of the advice that he has given teammates in the wake of the news that the Orlando Pride didn’t go to Utah for the National Women’s Soccer League tournament, which started on June 27, because of players for the Pride being infected with Covid as a result of going to bars and nightclubs.

Meara advised: “as bars and restaurants are opening up here in New York and New Jersey, try to be safe, don’t take any unnecessary risks and, you know, take every precaution you can take because that’s just how things are right now.”

In talking about the Orlando Pride story, Meara warned that if five or six players got sick the entire team would be punished and kicked out of the tournament, which has come to fruition in recent days as, on July 6, FC Dallas was removed from the MLS tournament and forced to leave Orlando. FC Dallas was removed as a result of positive tests for ten players and one coach.

While Orange County, Florida, has 14,677 confirmed Covid cases as of July 6, the MLS has still entered the bubble at the Walt Disney World properties, with Meara being confident that the league is properly protecting its players.

“I think we’re in good hands. We trust the league and the players association will make the right decision in terms of our safety,” he says.

Meara also says the he believes all of his teammates have decided to go down to Orlando and participate in the tournament.

The New York Red Bulls have been placed in group E, alongside Atlanta United, FC Cincinnati, and the Columbus Crew.

https://www.irishecho.com/2020/07/ryan-meara-readies-for-renewed-mls-season/

Meara giving Red Bulls a tinge of Green:

by Max O’Neill

The New York Red Bulls have an Irish ace up their collective sleeve.

Goalkeeper Ryan Meara is indeed very connected to his Irish roots, happily recalling a trip to Ireland as a kid with his youth soccer team, Yonkers United, and winning the Dublin Cup there.

He has family in County Mayo and got a call up to the Ireland U-21 squad during his rookie year, but the Red Bulls wouldn’t let him go.

Meara is one of the few athletes in any sport who might get to stay in his home area for his entire career.

He is from Westchester County, New York, went to college at Fordham University in the Bronx and was drafted by the New York Red Bulls in 2012.

Meara was sent out on loan with the hopes of getting playing time in 2015 – but only as far as New York City FC for that club’s inaugural season.

NYCFC, of course, plays its home games at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

Meara discussed playing locally saying, “I feel very fortunate to have been able to play, this is my 6th season now and to be able to play in New York, the whole time is something I don’t take for granted at all.”

He talked fondly about being a young kid and going to MetroStars games at the old Giants Stadium, watching guys like Tim Howard play.

The Hudson River Derby is quickly becoming one of the biggest rivalries in Major League Soccer and Meara is one of only three players to play for both New York City FC and the New York Red Bulls at some point in their careers.

The other players who hold this honor are Jason Hernandez, who played for the MetroStars in 2005 and NYCFC from 2015 to 2016, and Mehdi Ballouchy who played for the Red Bulls from 2010 to 2012 and NYC from 2015 to 2016.

With regards to the blossoming rivalry, Meara said: “As just a pure soccer fan, I think it’s one of the best things to ever happen to soccer in New York, you know even, as you said I’m one of the few guys that’s been on both sides of it.

“But I think you see every time we play each other, it’s always a huge game it’s at Red Bull Arena or Yankee Stadium, it’s always close to sold out if not sold out and for the most part the games have been good.”

The last time the New York Red Bulls made the U.S. Open Cup Final was 2003 and they lost with Jonny Walker in net and they were playing against Jesse Marsch and his Chicago Fire squad.

This time around the Red Bulls were coached by Marsch when they played Sporting Kansas City for the cup.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for Meara, who started in goal, and his team. They lost a tight game 2-1.

But there’s always next time.

Meara, now 26 so still very young for a keeper, talked about the run that the Red Bulls had in this season’s cup tournament, which included a home win against NYCFC saying, “It’s been great, I mean, I think anytime you have a chance to win a cup, it’s something you are always excited for.

“So, we approached the Open Cup this year as a big opportunity to win something and for me personally it was great to get a run of games and just do my part within the team.”

The New York Red Bulls are the only original MLS franchise to be without an MLS Cup.

Last season, the Red Bulls USL team Red Bulls II had a successful season, finishing the regular season 21-3-6, which was good for the first in the league and the USL Supporter’s Shield.

In the playoffs, Meara’s heroics in a penalty kick shootout in the USL Eastern Conference championships vs Louisville City FC saved the day.

And then at Red Bull Arena in front of the New York Red Bull first team – who came back from Philadelphia in time to watch the game – the young bucks defeated Swope Park Rangers to win the USL championship.

Meara talked about that team and the desire to replicate the trophy win with an MLS Cup at home saying, “I think last season playing with Red Bull II was great for me, it was a great way for me to get a full season of games.

“Obviously, we had a great team, we set a bunch of USL records and then to lift that cup in the way we did, winning the final 5-1 at Red Bull Arena, it was great, it was something I’ll never forget, I think it has motivated a lot of guys to want to take the next step now and have that be whether it is an Open Cup, or an MLS Cup, take the next step and lift one of those cups.”

As the Red Bulls take to the field in various campaigns over the next few years it looks as if they will do so with Ryan Meara guarding the net.

Not bad at all for a local boy made good.

https://www.irishecho.com/2017/10/meara-giving-red-bulls-a-tinge-of-green/

Tommy Smyth offers a bag full of stories:

by Max O’Neill

Tommy Smyth is a man that has done what he loves for the last 50 plus years and doesn’t care what any of the trolls have to say about it.

Better than that, he is a man who is famous in Pakistan – purely by accident.

Not too many people from Louth, from Ireland, or just about anywhere, can lay claim that.

Smyth is also a pretty busy guy and with a new English Premier League season getting underway this weekend, things are about to get busier still.

“In a year I have announced three hundred games. Often in a weekend I have announced eight games. We were doing them off the monitor.”

Smyth is referring to his job as a soccer commentator and analyst for ESPN.

Smyth started in the field of broadcasting thanks to a weekly radio show that he put on in Mount Kisco in Westchester County, New York, with his brother.

The Smyth brothers would provide scores and results from sporting events in Ireland and their sister would provide the news.

He first got a job at ESPN because of the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States.

Smyth called ESPN asking for a job doing something involved in the World Cup and was told they would call him when ESPN International was launched.

“But I met the woman who was the head of ESPN International and she said you sound like you would be ideal for us but we are not on the air yet.

“That was in October I think and in December I got a call from them. They said they wanted me to do a game in the Brazilian Championship in January.”

The first game he did was between Santos and Guarani and to prepare he went home and broadcast a game over Christmas break for his nieces and nephews to get their seal of approval.

Smyth explains that he came up with his famous catchphrase out of necessity because he was seeing that other commentators had catchphrases – like Marv Albert’s ‘YES!’

He explained the process of coming up with a “bulge in the auld onion bag” thus: “I had kicked around the idea of this onion bag. I got together with a friend of mine, Barry McCormack, and had a chat about it.

“We tried many versions of it and we refined it down to actually, a bulge in the auld onion bag. That was how it came around.”

According to Tommy, ESPN used to get letters ripping him for using the phrase multiple times in one match, but in actuality he would only use it once.

“I mean, some of the letters ESPN used to get about the onion bag were unbelievable. You wouldn’t imagine it could affect people’s lives as much.

Contrary to what they all say I only ever used it once in a game. People would say he said the onion bag all night long. I only said it for one goal, I never used it for a second goal.

“You can go back over all the tapes I’ve done of games and you will never find a bulge in the auld onion bag used twice. It wasn’t necessary the first goal. I might have waited for a really good goal, so that was how it came about, and it stuck.”

Smyth has broadcast every UEFA Champions League Final since 1998 – that being a 3-1 win by Borussia Dortmund over Juventus in Munich.

One of the more memorable Champions League finals that he broadcast was the 1999 final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

This was the epic in which United scored two goals in the last two minutes to win with super subs Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

“One of the proudest things I did was I did two Champions League finals at Wembley. I wanted to be an Irish guy who left Ireland as an immigrant and to go back to Wembley and say hey, I made it, I broadcast a Champions League final at Wembley.

“The last game life I did for ESPN I’m also very proud of. It’s funny how life plays you a hand. The last game was Celtic and Barcelona in Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

“I mean, could you write a better script, Celtic and Barcelona in Dublin. It was awesome.”

Smyth also looks back fondly on doing twenty minutes of the second half of the 1997 Champions League final between Borussia Dortmund and Juventus with none other than Sir Alex Ferguson.

And then there is the never to be forgotten 1994 World Cup game between Ireland and Italy at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.

Most at the time gave Ireland little or no chance to beat the 1990 World Cup 3rd place finishers.

However, thanks to an 11th minute goal by Ray Houghton, the Irish pulled the upset of the tournament and won the game.

“There’s a few of them but certainly the one that got my blood flowing was the goal against Italy at Giants Stadium.”

“Ray Houghton put it in the back of the net and Ireland win one nil. It’s just one of those things you just never believed would happen, that Ireland would beat Italy at Giants Stadium.”

Smyth’s call of the goal was “Onto it comes Houghton, Houghton with the shot, and it’s in!”

Smyth recalls the New York City being abuzz after the game and every pub filled with Irish fans.

During the 1994 World Cup, Smyth was also working as a house painter on Long Island and he tells a story concerning the Argentina versus Nigeria game in Foxboro.

This happened to be Diego Maradona’s last ever game for Argentina – before he tested positive for drugs and was forced to retire from the national team.

The day before the game, Smyth told the client whose house he was painting to watch the game the next day because he would be broadcasting it.

So the lady watched the game and…..“Monday morning I came back and I couldn’t paint the house, she wouldn’t let me paint the house. She called my boss and said he is not a house painter, he is a soccer commentator. My boss had to send somebody else to paint the house.”

Smyth today has a radio show on Sirius XM with former Tampa Bay Rowdies and Manchester City player, Rodney Marsh.

The show is called “Grumpy Pundits.”

“I love it,” Smyth says of the show.

“He’s straight forward,” he says of his co-presenter.

The sports media landscape is changing with the internet becoming an ever bigger part of the way that fans get their news.

“The world is changing,” says Smyth.

“I remember when it cost five dollars to make a phone call to Ireland, now it’s free.’

Sports, however, is always going to be with us one way or another, he adds.

And sports will always spring its surprises, soccer no less than any other game.

In the 2015-16 English Premier League season, the team that was almost relegated the year before, Leicester City, won the title and this past premier league season they finished 12th out of 20 teams.

Many have credited this to the play of central midfielder N’Golo Kanté which was followed by his departure to current champions Chelsea.

In regards to the twelve place drop by the Foxes, Smyth opines: “To me, the Leicester victory was a case of they got everything right on the year. I am in awe of what their scouting did, the fact that they could come up with somebody like Kanté, and a few other players, (such as) Mahrez. Unfortunately it generally only happens, once in life.”

When talking about the U.S. Men’s National Team and Christian Pulisic, who many have anointed as the new savior of U.S. soccer, Smyth is quick to hit the brakes when it comes anointing the teenager saying, “The U.S. has now come up with a player who could be the best young player in the world.

“He has potential to be something really great, but again the jury is still out. I’ve seen a lot of young players with a lot of attention. There was one guy who comes to my mind, Quaresma.

“This guy was to be the next Pele, the next Maradona. He didn’t turn out to be any of those things. He had a few good years so you have to be careful.”

We also discussed another U.S. wonder kid, Freddy Adu, who was drafted by DC United in the MLS in 2004, as a 14-year-old and later that year made his debut and scored a goal being the youngest player to do both of those in MLS history.

But while Adu’s career took off like a rocket at its start, he never truly soared and what followed was a career moving from one tem to another in Europe and the U.S.

Many see in Adu a classic case of fame and attention at too early an age.

That said, Smyth does have high hopes for Pulisic.

Tommy Smyth is a man who tailors his love of soccer to his own beat.

He loves the game and is always ready to tell stories and pass on the wisdom he has gained to anybody who wants to listen.

He will also deliver his trademark onion bag line if you politely ask.

But only once.

And as for being famous in Pakistan?

Tommy is accidentally famous in Pakistan by no doing of his own.

On a local Pakistan news channel, the anchor was talking about Tommy Smith, the former Liverpool FC defender.

While taking about Smith, the channel put up a graphic on the screen of Tommy Smyth, the man from Knockbridge, County Louth, which, suffice it to say, is a long, long way from Kashmir.

 https://www.irishecho.com/2017/08/tommy-smyth-offers-a-bag-full-of-stories/