NEW YORK – The run of dominance is no more.
In their fifth-ever meeting, New York City FC managed their first win over the New York Red Bulls, notching a 2-0 win at Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The all-time record now stands at 4-1-0 in favor of the Red Bulls.
Here are my three takeaways from the holiday weekend showdown in the Bronx.
No Excuses
The grueling stretch of road games has been well documented, but the team isn’t looking to use that crutch.
With Sunday’s match marking their sixth game in 19 days, the Red Bulls have certainly been carrying their share of knocks and heavy legs. Coupled with a midweek game and high noon kickoff, the circumstances were far from ideal.
Nevertheless, the resounding message from the squad was one of accountability.
“It wasn’t easy, but that’s an excuse,” head coach Jesse Marsch said of the team’s unfavorable schedule in recent weeks. “We’re not going to use the heavy legs as an excuse. They just outcompeted us and wanted it more. We tried to make a couple of different changes to try to get some fresh legs out on the field.
“Credit to New York City; they wanted it bad. They weren’t happy about the way this series has gone and they knew it was going to require a big competitive effort, so they put a lot into it. Their whole team poured their hearts out on the field and they earned it more than us.”
On the heels of consecutive road trips to Salt Lake City, Columbus and Philadelphia in a short span of days, Marsch employed a fair deal of squad rotation to help cope with the steadily rising amount of minutes each player had begun to accumulate.
Regardless, the Red Bulls insisted their competitive intensity was what let them down on the day.
“Other teams throughout the league are dealing with the same thing, so I don’t think any of us are going to chalk it up to that,” goalkeeper Luis Robles said. “They didn’t have a cup match midweek so they had fresh legs, but in order to compete in this league, you have to understand that you’re going to have to deal with midweek games. Now we have Champions League so it’s not like our schedule is going to get any lighter. At the end of the day, they just outcompeted us. They deserved the three points.”
Set Piece Slipup
In their first meeting of 2016, the Red Bulls dominated dead ball situations, scoring four of their seven goals from set piece scenarios.
On Sunday afternoon, that same clinical nature was conspicuously absent. Instead, it was their crosstown rivals who managed to make the most of their restarts.
Bagging the game’s first goal in the 8th minute, Jack Harrison opened the scoring after collecting the ball from an Andrea Pirlo corner kick, slotting it past Luis Robles for the game-winning goal.
“You go to last game where in set pieces we managed to get an edge, today we didn’t,” Marsch said. “They got their first goal on a set piece that we knew was coming but we didn’t do well enough.”
A team that prides itself on set piece sophistication, the Red Bulls missed their mark on Sunday afternoon, leaving the team to lament what could have been.
“They started well on a set piece that we knew what they were going to do, so disappointed for us because it was a preventable goal,” midfielder Mike Grella said. “Once they go ahead they’re a very good team so it was hard from there. It was a lot different from the 7-0 game but we knew it would be hard here.”
Added midfielder Sacha Kljestan: “We’re shooting ourselves in the foot like we did earlier in the season. We’re giving up goals on tactical things and not being alert, but definitely preventable.”
Home At Long Last
Notching just one win on the road in 2016, the Red Bulls will certainly be glad to return to Red Bull Arena a week from today to take on the Portland Timbers.
Returning to league play on July 10 will also give the team a chance to rest up some tired legs and hit the ground running as they look to charge back up the league table.
“We have to take our chance now to really get our legs back under us this week. We play at home where we have to get three points and physically get back to top shape.”
Sporting a 6-2-0 record in Harrison, the Red Bulls have simply been a different team when playing at their friendly confines.
“It’s easy to play at home,” Kljestan stated. “When we’re at Red Bull Arena on that big field with the fans behind us, we can spread the field, play fast, and put the game on our terms.”
Starting in his first New York derby, Manhattan native Alex Muyl echoed a similar sentiment.
“We have to make sure we refocus and make sure we go on a run again. “That all starts at home.”
