The New York Red Bulls faced their second preseason test on Wednesday against the New England Revolution, a two-part exhibition which resulted in a loss, 4-3.
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Head Coach Jesse Marsch acknowledged the team, “ultimately let it slip away,” but compared these preseason friendlies to “mini-pop quizzes,” which the team will examine and learn from.
“The first [game] against USF was an easy pop quiz and we passed that one really well, and then this one is a tougher test and we didn’t come away with quite as good grades,” Marsch said. “That’s normal, but it’s important that we learn from it and come away better and make sure that we have urgency to improve every day.”
For Daniel Royer, facing their first MLS opponent was a good test for the club, but acknowledged, “there are still many things to work on.”
“I think we looked sharp, but we still can be sharper,” Royer said. “Fitness-wise it was good to have an opponent who is actually in our league, we’re asking for a lot of those games, so I think it was good.”
With three days remaining in the club’s first preseason trip, Marsch and the Red Bulls look to end on a high before returning home on Saturday.
“Always in these two-week trips you’ve got to end them on a high,” Marsch said. “It’s easy to think there’s only three days left, it’s been a grind, but we have to make sure we continue to push every day and we finish strong so that going into Arizona we feel good about the work that was done here.
“That’ll be an emphasis going forward so we’ll make sure that we get a lot out of our last three days.”
