The first loss of 2018 will be a "building block" for the New York Red Bulls.
New York dropped their first game of the year, 1-0, in Utah on Saturday night. Real Salt Lake was awarded a penalty kick in the fourth minute and converted.
“Overall, not a great performance," Head Coach Jesse Marsch said. "It’s partly the altitude, the adding up of a lot of games that has led to us not really performing the way we wanted. Those are excuses though and we have to make sure we learn from this. A little bit of a step backward, but I told the team this is normal in the process of a season.”
Despite going 4-1-1 across Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (3-0-1) and Major League Soccer (1-1-0), defender Aaron Long said the team wasn't pleased with their performance.
“I think we’re all pretty disappointed that we didn’t take three points -- or at least a point from tonight’s game," Long said. "I think we dominated possession and we dominated the ball a lot at their house. That’s not good enough, we were not good enough in dangerous chances and I think we need to stick better to the game plan.”
The quick score didn't dissuade the club, as they battled throughout the rest of the match -- controlling possession and pressuring Nick Rimando into making multiple diving saves.
"Clearly, not what we wanted, but that being said we didn’t give that much away, the game was still there for us to find a chance and maybe get out of here with a draw," Marsch said.
The loss will still be something to build on, though.
“I think football always evens you out so we’ve been riding high lately and this brings us down and keeps us level headed," Long said. "Definitely a building block.”
