RASENBALLSPORT LEIPZIG (Red Bull Arena)

2.BUNDESLIGA, RB LEIPZIG 1-1 SC FREIBURG, ATTENDANCE: 25,869

A Thursday night live TV game afforded the chance to visit one of the most contentious German clubs of recent times and, in the process complete a hat-trick for myself.

In 2009 Austrian energy drinks manufacturer Red Bull bought the licence of  fifth division side SSV Markranstädt and changed the team's name, crest and kit colours to that of Red Bull, becoming the fourth club in the world to do so following Red Bull Salzburg, New York Red Bulls (these are the two clubs I had visited previously) and Red Bull Brasil.

The German Football Association would not allow the corporate name Red Bull to be part of the team name so, in order to comply with these regulations, the club adopted the name RasenBallsport Leipzig, which literally translates as "Leipzig Lawn Ballsports" it is a meaningless name as such, but the club now have the initials 'RB' in their name.

In 2010 RB moved to the 44,300 capacity Zentralstadium in Leipzig, which had been rebuilt for the 2006 World Cup but wasn't in regular use by any team. The ground was actually built on the footprint of the old ground, so the pitch is in the same position. The old terraces are now grass banks but you still enter via the same steps. It is a hugely impressive stadium.

Since Red Bull took over in 2009, Leipzig have moved from the fifth tier in to the second tier, winning promotion three times in five seasons. I will not bet against them being in the Bundesliga top flight before too long. The club are putting money where their mouth is. For example, this season they signed German youth international Davie Selke from Werder Bremen, a multi million Euro contract encouraging him to drop down a division.

It has been used as another stick in which to beat the club. RB Leipzig has been met with hostility and protests throughout it's short history but the flip side of this coin is that since the fall of the wall no East German side has met with any long term success, maybe RB Leipzig could be a club to break the Western stranglehold. The club are managed by a man with plenty of Bundesliga experience, ex-Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick

Visitors to Leipzig tonight were SC Freiburg, who were making another ridiculously long journey for the 'Englishce Week' with their fans being subjected to a 1,200km round trip. A fair few made the journey north to support their team.

RB Leipzig were fourth at the start of play, with Freiburg in second place. On paper it looked a tight game and so it proved.

Nils Petersen (29) gave Freiburg the lead in the first half before Red Bulls levelled through Davie Selke (47) soon after the restart. Freiburg's Alexander Schwolow was the busier of the two goalkeepers as the home side took control in the second period, but the game ended all square.

The legendary Jurgen sinks a few ales whilst watching the game!

NEW YORK RED BULLS (Red Bull Arena)

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER, NEW YORK RED BULLS 4-3 REAL SALT LAKE CITY, ATTENDANCE: 18,604

Season 2013/14 began competitively with a game 3,000 miles away from home. The seeds of this trip were sown last Christmas when, after watching Everton succumb to a goal from Fat Frank, resulting in a home defeat by Chelsea, my friend and I sat in the pub discussing potential January reinforcements.

She questioned the possibility of Tim Cahill, who had recently left, returning on loan for 10 games like Landon Donovan did a couple of years back. I thought it very unlikely and said the only way we would ever see Tim Cahill play again is if we went and watched him play for the New York Red Bulls.

There was a pause, we looked at each other and you could see the respective cartoon light bulbs begin to flash. Game on.

The Major League Soccer announced their fixtures in January so flights and hotel were booked and it was off to the 'Big Apple'

Since the World Cup in 1994, football, sorry soccer, has grown in popularity but is still lacks behind the major American sports, though a recent ESPN survey did rank soccer as the 2nd most popular sport with 12-24 year olds. This could possibly down to the influx of Latin American migrants, where Soccer obviously rules.

The MLS began in 1996 and currently has 19 teams and the average attendance is around the 18,000 mark indeed the crowd tonight was just over that figure but if you compare that to the Baseball, where we were last night, that crowd was around 44,000.

I remember watching soccer in the USA in it's early days when I was a student, staggering in around 3am in the morning, and used to find it funny at some of the names I was watching, such as Mo Johnston and Preki, both ex-Everton, both not the best players ever to pull on a blue shirt.

However things took a turn for the better with the arrival of David Beckham in 2007 and since then, coupled with the USA national teams having some great runs in the World Cup, the MLS is no longer the footballers graveyard it was once perceived as. Big names such as Thierry Henry, Robbie Keane and the aforementioned Cahill now ply their trade in the USA.

So it was Tim that effectively brought us to the purpose built Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. It was a 20 minute or so train journey out of Manhattan to Newark, which was $5 each way, and a free bus was laid on to take you from Newark station to the ground.

The ground is a typical new build stadium, built in the middle of nowhere, and there is very little in the surrounding area. Our pre-match drinking took place in a bar on Newark station, where the barmaid was impressed by my selection of 80's indie music on the jukebox. She particularly enjoyed The Smiths, so there!!

Tim Cahill

It took just 11 minutes to see what we had seen him do on numerous occasions for Everton, when Tim Cahill ghosted in to score a trademark header, from a Thierry Henry cross.

Fabian Espindola scored a cheeky penalty when he chipped the ball over the diving 'keeper to give the Red Bulls a 2-0 lead.

The Red Bulls really should have extended their lead with a few other decent chances but on the stroke of half time they conceded a penalty, duly converted by Alvaro Saborio (right).

It was Saborio who then took the game by the scruff of it's neck by scoring two further goals in the second half to complete his hat-trick and give Salt Lake a 3-2 lead with just 8 minutes to go.

However the homesters were not to be denied and Espindola scored his second penalty in the 89th minute to level things up. A draw seemed a fair result but The Red Bulls were not finished and Dax McCarty scored a diving header in the fourth minute of stoppage time to take all three points in dramatic fashion.

Espindola scores with a
cheeky chip

My first (and probably last) taste of MLS 'soccer' was an enjoyable experience. Although the pace and intensity was not there, the standard of play was surprisingly good. It was great to see Tim Cahill play again and even better to see him bag a goal.

Cahill was always superb in a royal blue Everton shirt and gave nothing less than 100% every game. Time waits for no man, but It was a genuinely sad day when he left last summer. He will always be one of my all time favourite Everton players.

After a visit to Salzburg and now New York, I think the "Red Bull hat-trick" will be completed at Leipzig at some future point. I think their clubs in Ghana and Brazil may be somewhat out of the question for now!!!

                         

                

RED BULL SALZBURG (Red Bull Arena)

BUNDESLIGA, RED BULL SALZBURG 2-2 SV RIED, ATTENDANCE: 5,870

After a few late night drinks in Munich, Saturday morning arrived with surprisingly clear heads. Today was supposed to be a cheeky double header, but we decided to ditch the 1st game, which was Rosenheim v Ismaning (the homesters won 1-0 for the record) and head straight to Salzburg.

Salzburg is a world renowned cultural city being a UNESCO heritage site, the birthplace of Mozart and home to stunning baroque architecture. Naturally, we eschewed this and headed straight to a sports bar to watch Everton beat Manchester City (why couldn't the Blues perform like that against Wigan seven days earlier?) before having a stroll along the river Salzach.

This was to catch a bus to The Red Bull Arena, which is out of town, and the bus is laid on free. On this bus a local questioned our sanity and said we are rather sad coming all this way to watch Salzburg. He said to be prepared for a rather low standard game. I smiled to myself as if only he knew some of the low standard crap we've watched over the years!

Founded in 1933, SV Austria Salzburg were bought by Red Bull in 2005 who renamed the club and changed their colours to red and white, from their traditional violet and white. They also claimed this was a new club with no history, despite the club being around for 72 years and winning Bundesliga titles!

This obviously upset quite a lot of fans who then set up their own SV Austria Salzburg club. When we went to bar post-match these events were pointed out to us in no certain terms by some fans of the breakaway club. They were making comparisons to Wimbledon/Milton Keynes but whatever the rights and wrongs, it, sadly, all boils down to cold hard cash and if the clubs hierarchy were willing to sell their soul, then you pays your money....

Anyhow, the game wasn't bad and it was an entertaining draw, with Die Roten Bullen coming from behind twice. Marco Melliner (22) gave Ried the lead before Jonathan Soriano Casas (42) equalised.

Melliner (52) bagged his second before Martin Hinteregger (81) grabbed a point for the hosts.

The Wals-Siezenheim is a fine example of a modern stadium, having been upgraded for the 2008 Euros which were hosted jointly by Austria and Switzerland.

Post match it was off to the Augustiner Brauerei Mülln where their strong ale helped numb the pain after a rather theatrical dive in the car park by my good self, the row of local polizei seeming rather non-plussed and my pals laughing their heads off!