Coming off a loss, the New York Red Bulls have another tough challenge ahead, when they square off against a Sporting KC team they know very well.
“We know them well,” Head Coach Chris Armas said. “We got to face off a couple times last year and of course the Open Cup final, so we have a lot of respect for them. Clearly you see week in and week out why they’re arguably the best team in the league.”
Defender Kemar Lawrence echoed the same sentiments by Armas, but mentioned how if the Red Bulls play their game Saturday night, they’ll be in a good spot to come away with three points at home.
“Always a good team. Whether we play them there or they come here they’re always good,” Lawrence said. “They’re good on the ball, they have good outside players that really can run at you and cause problems, so we’re just going to try to force turnovers, play our game, try to counterpress, and see if we can get some early goals. If we do that at Red Bull Arena then we put ourselves in the right place to win the game.”
Although Sporting KC hasn’t won a game since June 23, Danny Royer isn’t taking this matchup lightly.
“We know that we’re expecting a really good team coming to Red Bull Arena,” Royer said. “Kansas City is a really good team, even though right now they are struggling a little bit. Put them game on our terms and I think then we have a good chance.”
The Red Bulls will look to rebound from the loss, in order to keep up in the Eastern Conference standings, as they now sit in third place, and just two points ahead of fourth place Columbus Crew.
“We’ll be prepared to battle with them, and on our home field we always like our chances,” Armas said. “We push games, we’re aggressive, and we’re going to go for it at home. Big three points is in our plans."
