The social media sniping began early. Shots fired between supporters groups, insults, photo-shopped images (does Henrying exist anymore?) as well embarrassing memes back and forth.
Hey, this could develop into something fun.
The first-ever meeting between the Red Bulls and New York City FC – ‘clasicos or derbies,’ as the boys around the world call them – will be played Sunday night in Red Bull Arena, and while it’s far from the hatred of a match between Celtics and Rangers, or Boca Juniors and River Plate, or Barcelona and Real Madrid, Major League Soccer is hoping it becomes that intense a rivalry in the very near future.
Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch and many of his players aren’t sure what to expect when game time rolls around, but they spent the majority of their media session Tuesday throwing around words like “fight” and “battle.” So should we expect a game like Saturday night, when the Red Bulls lost a nasty match to the New England Revolution, in which scuffling broke out after the game, or something a little more tame?
“There’s no bad blood,” forward Bradley Wright-Phillips said. “It’s obviously a rivalry because we’re in the same city, but there’s no blood yet. I’m sure after the first 90 minutes they’ll hate us more.”
Wright-Phillips should know. He played in a number of these games in England and has been looking forward to this one for some time.
“On a derby game day like Sunday, it just comes out naturally,” he said. “Both teams, kind of the first 15 minutes, ignore the soccer side of the game and it’s just a fight. I think whoever wins that battle will probably win the game.
“(The rivalry is) needed. I’m so happy they’re in this league with us now. Every great league has great rivalries. Man City-Man United, Liverpool-Everton, all the big cities have those kinds of rivalries. For New York to have one, it’s going to be really good. The old enemy, D.C. that’ a nice one, we actually have a history with them, but I’m sure this one will be big for years to come.”
Marsch and midfielder Sacha Kljestan have experienced the Chivas USA-Galaxy derby, although with Chivas disbanded a year ago this will be the only one in MLS until expansion returns to California.
”My second game with Chivas was against L.A.,” Marsch recalled. “It was a Chivas home game in the same stadium and it was different than anything I’d experienced in the league before, and that had been my 12th season. I know a little bit what derby games are like and I’m expecting a lot of energy in the stadium for this one and a lot of energy on the field.
“That’s the first thing you look for on the schedule when it comes out. That whole week is awesome. Getting ready the day of the game, you get the jitters, you get excited, and then once the whistle starts you’re glad it’s finally there and you’re ready to pour everything you have into it.”
And it was no different in the role of a coach.
“When the schedule came out (this year) this is the first game I looked at,” Marsch admitted. “I’m glad it’s in our stadium. I think we can set the tone right way in Red Bull Arena and make sure to put our stamp on this for years to come. This game will be good for the league and it will be good for years to come for the city.”
Kljestan also fondly remembers his Galaxy-Chivas derby. He then played for Anderlecht and took part in a number of Belgian rivalries that were the highlight of the season for his team’s loyal fan base.
“When I played for Chivas, every game I played against the Galaxy was the (most fun) game of the season,” Kljestan said. “It was really cool. We ended up playing them in the playoffs one year. Those games are always big. When I was at Anderlecht we played big games four times a season, against Club Brugge and Standard Liege, huge rivalries that go back 100 years. I know the history of these games and it’s pretty cool to be in the first one in New York, so that will be very special.
“From a fans’ sense, I know these are huge games. I know that when I played for Chivas, winning against the Galaxy meant the most all season. I played in Belgium, winning against Brugge and Standard Liege, that meant the most all season. It’s still early in the season so the game isn’t going to mean much whether we go into first place or make the playoffs, but every game matters and we want to prove to the fans that this game is a huge game for us and we want to win it for them.”
New York City FC garnered much of the off-season headlines, signing big-name players such as David Villa, Mix Diskerud and Frank Lampard. Getting off to a 1-0-2 start turned some heads and made some fans wonder if they can take over the town after just one season, but the club has gone 0-5-1 since and they’ve scored just six goals all season.
Now that the dust has settled, NYCFC looks just like what they are, an expansion team. That’s not a bad thing, because it’s a process to build a winning team, but they’ve quickly hit a point in the season where things have to turn around.
And what better game to do so than this one?
“The mood in the camp is that it’s just another game,” midfielder Dax McCarty said. “We haven’t played them before . They’re an expansion team. Obviously it’s going to be a little extra fire to the rivalry because they’re in New York, but the talk is just to focus on getting better from our last game out because it wasn’t good enough. Let’s make sure that we get three points in front of our home fans.
“It’s an important game whenever you’re playing a game in close proximity as New York City FC is. It’s definitely for bragging rights for the whole city, for the whole state, for the whole region. We feel like it’s going to be a huge game. We definitely aren’t overlooking it. We know that they’ve struggled lately and they’re not in the best form right now, but that makes them even more dangerous. … They’ve not had the best start to the season. They’re very dangerous coming into Red Bull Arena, but we’ll be prepared and be ready for a fight.”
Frank Giase has covered Major League Soccer since the league's inception in 1996. Follow him on twitter at @Frank Giase. He can also be reached at fgiase@gmail.com.
