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Jean Philippe Peguero becoming New York Red Bulls fan favorite ?Are You down with J-P-P? Yeah you know me.?

June 3, 2006

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ? Had it been against an MLS team, Jean Philippe Peguero could have already picked up his award for Goal of the Year. In a friendly against German Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich, he took Joe Vide?s pass at his feet, chipped the ball over a Bayern defender with the outside of his foot and then beat the goalkeeper to his right.

It?s that type of unpredictability, that creativity and flair that Mo Johnston saw two years ago when Peguero was a rookie with the Colorado Rapids.

?The kid?s 6-foot-3, he?s strong, he?s quick and he?s very good at attacking the ball, which a lot of strikers in this country are not good at,? Johnston said. ?You don?t have [another] Brian McBride in this country, Brian Ching does it a little bit but Pedro does it a lot.?

Peguero?s talent is unquestionable, his work ethic, both over the course of 90 minutes and the long MLS season, is though.

But that hasn?t been a problem since arriving in New York in a trade for Thiago Martins and a first round draft pick in April. He has quickly formed a friendship and an on-field partnership with Buddle and he?s already a fan favorite for his scoring touch and his ability on the ball.

?You rarely find you click with someone right away,? Buddle said. ?That?s what has happened.?

Peguero, whose quiet demeanor off the field does not match his on-field persona, is from Port-de-Paix, Haiti and has 10 national team caps and nine on the U-23 level. The 25-year-old played with Haitian First Division side Don Bosco and initially drew interest from the Miami Fusion, but was brought over to MLS by Fernando Clavijo, who was his coach on the Haitian National Team.

?He played against us and he was a handful,? Johnston recalls. ?That night, I saw something special there. Throughout the process of watching him closely, I didn?t understand why he was getting taken from the game. It might be injuries, it might be confidence, there were a whole lot of things there.?

Johnston made the push for Peguero in the off-season, as one of three strikers he wanted to bring in. Buddle and Eddie Johnson were the other two.

Whether it is the change of atmosphere or being closer to his large extended family that he helps support with his MLS paycheck ? that earns him a reported $70,000 a year ? or that he is in the last year of his contract, Peguero is showing the form that Johnston saw two years ago.

?I think sitting him down, giving him confidence, meeting with him and telling him, ?look, we believe in your, we fought hard to get you here and you?re in the last year of your contract. This is now an opportunity to make more money for your family,?? Johnston said. ?The rewards are there for both of us.?

He scored his first goal in a Red Bulls uniform May 13 in a 1-1 draw with the Chicago Fire and then tallied a hat trick against Chivas in the Red Bulls first win of the year a week later.

But Peguero isn?t satisfied with his early performances.

?I?m just warming up right now,? he said. ?There?s more coming.?

Need proof Peguero has finally arrived in New York? The Empire Supporters? Club already has a song for him, a variation of Newark-based rappers Naughty By Nature?s smash hit ?O-P-P.?

?Are You down with J-P-P? Yeah you know me.?

?I?m waiting to hear that song,? Peguero said with a smile.