In front of a roaring crowd of 40-50 people, New York dramatically won the preseason Mickey Mouse Cup*, defeating Toronto 4-0 and asserting themselves as the best team in the league that happened to be playing Toronto FC on the night of February 27th.  Yes, the victory was meaningless, but it was actually less hollow than it could have been.

Another solid addition to a well stocked trophy case, the Mickey Mouse Cup is right up there in historic team victories with the La Manga Cup and the 2008 Western Conference Championship.  When the cupboard is as bare as Metro's, it is hard for fans to stick their nose up at anything.

More important than the winning of the tournament was New York's play throughout.  In games against Houston and Toronto, the Red Bulls didn't give up any regulation goals.  The first game, against the Dynamo, was a bit of a boring 0-0 draw, although new York did hold possession well and managed to create some solid chances at the end of the match.  When the game went to penalties, New York came out on top, with rookie Austin da Luz scoring the winning PK.

In the championship game against Toronto, New York continued their dominance of their northern neighbors, nearly matching the scoreline of their emphatic 5-0 victory against Toronto in the last game of the season that prevented them from reaching the playoffs.  New York won 4-0, dominating possession and creating multiple chances.  Juan Pablo Angel, who left the match with an injury after a thuggish tackle from Julian DeGuzman, looked like his baller best and scored a hat trick.

Although Angel was superb, the entire team played well.  Passing was focused and well executed, and the team kept good shape.  The rookies played exceptionally well, with Tim Ream looking composed in the back and Tchani, Garcia, and da Luz combining to assist on a late goal by Chinn.  Roy Miller, the Costa Rican left back, had a good game and successfully got the ball forward quite often.  Although the roster is a little big right now, and the team is rumored to be attempting to bring in a few more players (an attacking midfielder, a striker, and possibly a right back).  It is unlikely for all of these rookies to make the squad, but it is good to see all of them contributing.

It is important not to take too much stock in a meaningless preseason tournament named after a fictional cartoon character**, but it is hard to deny the fact that the team played well.  If I had to recommend an outlook for Red Bull fans, I would probably go with cautious optimism.  Or maybe grim determination, which applies less but sounds a lot cooler.  Hans Backe and Erik Soler aren't done building there team, but it is still looking much better than it did last year.  With the regular season only a few weeks away, we will know soon enough just how well this team can do in real games against MLS opponents.

* The tournament was actually called the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic, but that is pretty long and unwieldy.

** Sorry about this, but the tournament was still actually not named after a fictional cartoon character.

Dave Braneck is a blogger and an all around soccer fan who represents North Jersey to the fullest and contributes to Dailyharrison.com