On Wednesday night, the New York Red Bulls will welcome the Houston Dynamo (7-11-7, 28 pts) to Red Bull Arena, as they look to pick up their ninth win in 11 matches against Western Conference opponents this season.
Even though the Dynamo currently sit 10th in the Western Conference standings, the Red Bulls aren't overlooking their opponent, as they understand regardless of record, Houston is still a dangerous team.
"We watched a lot of them today," Sean Davis said. "You know, despite of where they stand on the table, we know they’re a very dangerous team. They’re good offensively, they’re good defensively, their goal differential is pretty solid so I think that’s indicative of the team they are."
New York knows the Dynamo have players that can hurt them on the wing, so defensively it'll be important to not give their players much space in transition.
“They’re dangerous in transitions for sure," Tim Parker said. "They have wingers and a couple guys on top that can hurt us so for its just going to have to be, be on top when we have the ball so especially for the backline kind of just keeping tabs on where those dangerous guys are.”
Captain Luis Robles, who spoke with the media after training on Tuesday, also mentioned that with the quick turnaround, the defense will have to be mentally strong in order to come away with three points.
"We know that our defense is going to have to be very good on the day and even with the guys that are turning around quickly, it’s going to be about staying mentally strong because we’re going to bio-fatigue in moments," Robles said.
Aside from the challenge of stopping the Dynamo in transition, another point of emphasis for the Red Bulls, according to Head Coach Chris Armas will be preventing the counter attacks.
“Look, they’re a good team," Armas said. "We know they’re dangerous. You know, you typically see teams maybe below the red line sometimes they’re struggling with goals against or when you see the goal differential its massive. They’re +4, I think, they’re dangerous in the counter. Their strength is sometimes our vulnerability, so they’ve always been a challenge for us. They’re a team built in transition, they have good guys in 1v1 situations attacking, they have speed up the field–whoever they put up the field, they’re organized, they’re well coached, so it’ll be a big challenge on a hot day.”
The Red Bulls will kickoff against the Houston Dynamo at 8 p.m. ET, with coverage on MSG, MSG GO and New York Red Bulls Radio in English and Spanish on TuneIn.
