HANOVER, N.J. – It's a consensus: the New York Red Bulls are facing their toughest match of the year Saturday night against the Seattle Sounders (7:30 pm ET; NBCSN, live stream on NBCSports.com).
The star-studded Sounders come to Red Bull Arena for an interconference showdown featuring two of the more talented teams in MLS. Seattle enter the game not only with the best record in the league, but also fresh off a win in the US Open Cup final that has them confident and thinking of accomplishing bigger things this season.
In their way stands a Red Bulls side that looks to be figuring things out as they attempt to solidify a postseason berth. New York are currently in fourth place in the tight Eastern Conference after going 2-0-1 in their last three matches, but they know a near-complete performance will likely be needed to see off a Sounders squad that includes the likes of Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins and DeAndre Yedlin.
"Every single player there could play pretty much in Europe," said midfielder Tim Cahill, who has been deemed healthy enough to play Saturday. "… I'm very impressed by the team, but I always have been since I've come to [MLS]. They've got a strike force with Oba, even Kenny [Cooper], and Dempsey, and then you see how attacking Yedlin is, but [Gonzalo] Pineda and [Osvaldo] Alonso are hard working midfielders that keep the ball and also break the play up.
"They're going to be difficult, but overall, it's going to be a great test for us. Hopefully it'll be a full house tomorrow and our fans have been buzzing the last few months. If we can get a win at home against these guys, it'll be a real statement in the league."
Any team facing the Sounders these days knows that stopping the dynamic forward partnership of Martins and Dempsey is key to have a shot at winning. Petke and his players spoke at length about how important it will be for their improving but still suspect defense to keep track of the two veterans, who combined have 24 goals and 16 assists in league play this season.
While trying to limit Martins’ and Dempsey’s impact is vital, New York also know that they have to keep tabs of Seattle’s other players. The Sounders have talented players all over the field, as was evidenced by Seattle’s 3-1 US Open Cup final victory over the Philadelphia Union on Tuesday in which Martins and Dempsey goals were preceded by a Chad Barrett strike that tied the game at 1-1.
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“I think they should call it the Seattle Cup they've won it so many times,” said captain Thierry Henry. “But it's going to be a difficult game for us. … [Martins] is a guy that will move the defense for anyone, so as soon as he came on against Philadelphia, the game changed. No disrespect to anyone, I'm just saying when he came on against Philadelphia you can see that it was a different game and we have to be aware of that.
“Clint Dempsey is a hell of a player, Alonso, [Brad] Evans, [Marco] Pappa, I can name the whole squad. They have a hell of a team.”
The Red Bulls are not short on talent themselves. Cahill, Henry and league-leading scorer Bradley Wright-Phillips have all been deemed healthy enough to partake in the match, which is expected to be played in front of a sold-out crowd, giving New York a full arsenal of weapons.
“Very good team, talent everywhere, their movements very, very good, the relationship between Dempsey and Martins is phenomenal, and they have a strong backline,” said Petke. “It's going to be our toughest game this year and it's going to be, perhaps, one of our most important games.”
Franco Panizo covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached by email at Franco8813@gmail.com.
