The Red Bulls returned to training Friday afternoon after a much-needed break in the schedule; a break that allowed players to rest up and heal for the final stretch run. We caught up with Kenny Cooper after the training session to see what he had to say about the tempo in practice and the final matches of the season.
What’s the tempo like in training as you guys come back from a little break?
It feels great to get back and see the guys again and hopefully everyone enjoyed their break. I’m sure everyone was itching to get back out there today. It’s good to see everyone and get back out on the field with them.
It’s back to crunch time now and the Eastern Conference remains a really tight race. Have you looked at the standings? Does it not matter at this point?
I have looked at the table. It’s tight and with seven games left, five of them being home games, hopefully we can finish this last part of the season off strong. We’ve had a little bit of a break and hopefully everyone’s feeling good and healthy. We’ve obviously been unfortunate with some injury problems, but hopefully in that time off guys that were hurt were able to heal up and come back feeling refreshed for this part of the season.
A lot of matches coming up against some of the Eastern Conference sides too like Columbus on Sept. 15, Kansas City two times and Chicago of course in October.
Yeah, and when you’re close in the table to teams and you go against them they’re six-point games. Because there’s a possibility of not only getting points but also taking points off of the other team and hopefully we can do that in these last couple of games. Like you said, we have KC twice, we have Columbus and teams that are in our conference. It’d be great if we can get maximum points and keep them from getting points.
So overall, it sounds like the team is rested and ready to come firing out of the gate against Columbus next weekend.
Well you know, we have a week before the next game. We were back at it Friday and I’m sure the guys were taking good care of themselves whether it was needed rest or sessions in if they felt they wanted or needed it. So, hopefully everyone is feeling good and refreshed. I’m sure everyone is eager to get back out there and put the work in to prepare for our next home game.
