Goal.Commentary: Why Rafael Marquez Is The Perfect Signing For The Red Bulls (Goal.com)

HomeNFLMLBNBANHLNCAAFNCAA Football NCAA Football Recruiting NCAA Football Video Rivals.com HomeNCAABNCAA Men's Basketball NCAA Women's Basketball NCAA Basketball Recruiting NCAA Basketball Video Rivals.com HomeNASCARGolfUFCBoxingSoccerTennisAction SportsGrindTV Home Skate Surf Snow Wake BMX MotocrossMoreAussie Football (AU) High School CFL Horse Racing Cycling IRL Cricket (IN) MLS Formula One(UK) NCAA Baseball Rugby(UK) Olympics World Cup Skiing WNBA All SportsVideoBlogs College Broadcast NewsMy Sports News Expert Analysis RumorsMost Emailed PhotosTransactionsShopFantasyWorld Soccer HomeWorld CupEnglandItalyGermanySpainNetherlandsFranceMLSPhotosBlog Sports Search Trending Now:Ozzie Guillen Stuart Appleby Dennis Rodman Marty Turco Elliott SadlerGoal.Commentary: Why Rafael Marquez Is The Perfect Signing For The Red BullsGoal.com 13 minutes ago

The transgressions of Rafa Marquez - the headbutt to Cobi Jones in Jeonju and the midair stomping of Tim Howard in Columbus - will forever be ingrained in the minds of U.S. supporters.

These moments, along with his 13-year tenure as the face of the Mexican national team have both Red Bull fans and MLS enthusiasts apprehensive towards his signing in New York. This quandary of allegiances is specific to lovers of our sport, where club hostilities overlap with national pride and vice versa.

How does a fan react when a player who has long been their national team’s prime enemy sign with their club? Red Bull fans, long tortured, should receive a player once considered a villain as the fabulous player that he is.

Those aforementioned moments aside, Marquez is simply a perfect signing for Major League Soccer. At the age of 31, the captain of El Tri has the chance to change the fortunes of a club, both on and off the field, immediately and in the future.

With 163 appearances for Barcelona and 94 caps for Mexico, Marquez’s resume speaks for itself. He has had the most illustrious career of any CONCACAF player during this young century, or ever if you neglect his former manager Hugo Sanchez. Rarely does a player of this pedigree arrive in MLS, let alone at the age of 31.

But the above only acknowledges the past and not how El Kaiser can affect the resurgent Red Bulls on the pitch. With the signing of Thierry Henry, Hans Backe and Erik Soler looked poised to satiate Red Bulls supporters’ crave for a playmaker with the signing of a classic No. 10.