CARSON, Calif. -- The New York Red Bulls certainly appeared to enjoy their first southern California training session leading up to Sunday's MLS Cup Final. Of course it helps that the weather was significantly warmer than it was when they trained back home at Montclair State University on Thursday.
"It beats 27 degrees and windy. I like that we're here," Dave van den Bergh said. "It just emphasizes the fact that we have a final on Sunday. All this comes with it. I like what I saw today because we seemed to be very loose, which is key at this point. There's no point in being uptight. We'll get there on Sunday around noontime."
While the venue might have changed, the Red Bulls' approach hasn't.
"We've been doing the same thing we've been doing all year," Carlos Mendes said. "We haven't changed, our routine has been the same. Obviously this is what you play for, it's exciting. But it's another 90 minutes and hopefully we'll come back out on top."
While Kevin Goldthwaite is the lone Red Bulls player to compete in an MLS Cup Final, this is far from the first championship game for many of the club's veteran players.
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SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Van den Bergh said the last final he played in was the Charity Shield in Holland.
"The experience helps," he said. "The first five, 10, 15 minutes of my first two or three finals I was shaking a little bit. You can tell in your touches that you're a little tight. You'll shake it off within 10 minutes. They have a lot of guys who haven't played in a lot of finals either. I think it will even itself out in the end."
Angel has also played in his share of big matches during his lengthy career, the last, he said, was in the Intertoto Cup with Aston Villa.
"Right now there's not much that you can do," Angel said. "We know each other very well. We played them three times during the year. You're not going to improve your fitness, your ability to play the game in the last game of the season. It's just about to make as (few) mistakes as you can and try and take your opportunities."
Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio said his last time in a game of this magnitude was when Manchester City gained promotion in the English Premier League in 2001.
"It was a great atmosphere, my family was there, it was electric," he said. "I think on Sunday it will be the same thing."
Dane Richards, who joined the team last night, practiced for the first time since playing for Jamaica in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday night in Kingston and the Venezuelan duo of Jorge Rojas and Gabriel Cichero was scheduled to join the team at the hotel Friday night.
After a hamstring injury forced him off the field in the first half of the Western Conference Championship on Saturday, Sinisa Ubiparipovic trained for the first time this week on Friday.
"I feel pretty good," Ubiparipovic said. "After a few days of rest I had a pool workout a couple of day ago and felt good, today it felt good. I think I'm close to 100 percent. We have another day tomorrow and a whole day today to rest so hopefully I'll be ready to play."
It's been a tough week for Angel, though, who rolled his ankle on Monday at Montclair and needed treatment after a collision with goalkeeper Danny Cepero on a cross in front of the goal late in Friday's 90-minute session at The Home Depot Center.
"This is the biggest game of the year and probably the biggest game of this franchise in the last 13 years," said Angel, who had an ice pack on his left forearm. "I'm not going to miss it. Regardless of what happens, I'm going to be there fighting with everyone."
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