The small cones located three yards inside both touchlines for nearly the entire length of Red Bull Arena made for an interesting training session on Friday. The reduced pitch, approximately 68 yards wide, forced the Red Bulls to alter their game a bit as they adjusted to the size of the soccer dimensions at Yankee Stadium.
That was just one of a number of issues the Red Bulls were preparing for when they take on New York City FC today in Part 2 of the New York derby. If you enjoyed the first one May 10 at Red Bull Arena, this one shouldn’t be missed.
“We tried to make it as realistic as possible on a small field,” midfielder Sacha Kljestan said of the training session. “Things are hectic and very crammed and so we have to do a good job of not being frustrated because in those games there seem to be a lot of turnovers and not a lot of real soccer being played as far as moving through the lines and then nice passing.
“Plus, it’s a rivalry game, so it kind of maximizes all of that. It will be a difficult game and we’re getting ready for it. … It’s not ideal, but both teams play on it and we’ll give it a go.”
Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch played on some of those bowling alley fields in the early days of Major League Soccer. He remembers it being a different game.
“The game’s fast, and you can’t take much time trying to decide what you’re going to do,” he said. “You have to think ahead of the game and you have to know that losing balls in bad spots can cost you, so you have to play direct at times and you have to play in their end. And then the last part is that set pieces are a big part. You can put balls in the box from almost anywhere on the field, and that includes throw-ins.
“We’re ready for that, we understand it. We all watched New York City play a lot this year on their field, so it’s just a matter of preparing the right way to be ready.”
Seven weeks ago, the Red Bulls were 3-1-4 and battling for first place in the Eastern Conference, while NYCFC was winless in six games (0-5-1) after a 1-0-2 start and had quickly fallen out of contention in the East. The Red Bulls won, 2-1, that day, but NYCFC (4-7-5) has won three in a row while the Red Bulls (5-5-5) had taken just one point from five games until Wednesday’s 1-0 win over a nine-man Real Salt Lake team.
“They’ve started to move themselves up the ladder a little bit and we’ve moved down the ladder, so it means that, yeah, it’s a big game points-wise, the derby, and every way,” Marsch said. “This is now a meaningful match and we’re going to be ready for it.”
‘Meaningful’ may be understating things a bit. A victory by NYCFC would tie them with the Red Bulls with 20 points apiece, something that didn’t seem possible a short time ago.
“Now it’s a big divisional game,” Kljestan said. “They’ve got to be feeling good about themselves, they’ve had a few victories in a row. We went through a tough spell but I think we learned a lot about ourselves, so we come into this game a bit stronger than we did last week. I’m back on the field, and I’m happy to be back, and to have Lloyd Sam back, too. He looked good in training, he looked very sharp. Hopefully we create more distance between ourselves and them in the standings.”
NYCFC is also making moves. Aside from the expected bump in play and excitement midfielder Frank Lampard will bring, the team signed defenders Andoni Iraola from Athletic Bilbao and 18-year-old Jose Angel Tasende (known as Angelino) on a season-long loan from Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad. All three will be available once the transfer window opens July 8.
For the Red Bulls, central defender Ronald Zubar sat out the match against RSL but will be fully fit for this match. However, there is some discrepancy about midfielder Lloyd Sam, who injured his groin June 16 in the Open Cup victory over the Atlanta Silverbacks. Sam hasn’t played since and didn’t seem like he’d be ready for today.
“I’m still in the recovery process,” Sam said. “I’m out there training but I don’t feel myself yet, entirely. With regards to Sunday, we’re still talking about it. It’s just something that’s just lingering still. It’s not yet making me feel like myself. There’s something constantly saying that it’s there. Whether it’s pain or soreness, a bit of both, but it’s how I react the next day that will tell us the most.
“I thought I was ready to go, no doubt, but the way it is it’s still a bit questionable. We’ll see. Hopefully I can go, but if I can’t go we’ll look to the next one.”
Marsch painted a different picture.
“I’m chalking him in as ready to go,” the coach said.
A crowd of nearly 50,000 is expected, twice the attendance of the first derby match. But while other teams may be awed by the mystique of Yankee Stadium, don’t expect it from the Red Bulls.
“When you watch it on TV (the field is) a little awkward how it fits into the stands, so I think that a good portion of the fans will be 50 to 70 yards away from the field,” Marsch said. “So I’m not really sure how it’s all going to play out yet, but they will be loud and it will be passionate and there will be energy. I thought that (Red Bull Arena) was absolutely electric and I don’t know if they’ll match that, but it will be full and it will be a lot of energy.”
Kljestan said the surroundings won’t affect him a bit. He just cares about what happens between the white lines, no matter how close they may be.
“It’s a baseball stadium and I’m not really a baseball fan,” he said. “And it’s not even the old Yankee Stadium. I’ve been to the old Yankee Stadium to watch a game, but I’d rather play soccer in a soccer stadium any day.”
