From the stakes to the location, they certainly saved the best New York Red Bulls-New York City FC derby match of 2016 for last.
After back-to-back away legs at Yankee Stadium, the 2016 New York Derby will come to an end at Red Bull Arena just like it did in 2015. But unlike last year, the Red Bulls won’t be hunting to sweep the series; after suffering their first series loss earlier this month, New York will be looking to win it. And though the Red Bulls still lead the New York Derby all-time with four wins to NYCFC’s one, and with a goal difference of 10 in their favor, this year’s currently split series brings a new feeling to this Sunday’s match.
“For the first derby [last year] it was, well, the first derby, and for the third, you had the ‘coming in for the kill’ mentality of the Red Bulls sweeping the series,” Daniel Pecoraro recalls of last year’s two home legs. But this time around, between the series and, “with a bit of a race for first in the conference, there might be even more tension than last year.”
It is perhaps an even more heightened tension than the supporters felt before every previous game – although this new tension can be soothed a little in remembering that the Red Bulls haven’t lost at home since the beginning of April and haven’t conceded there since April 24.
Much of this home field advantage has come down to the supporters, like a South Ward that is known for singing all game, nonstop, no matter what. And if the Red Bulls supporters could be heard on television so clearly back at the away match May, or if Ravi Cattry can describe “the guy behind [her as] louder than anything [she] heard from [the NYCFC] supporters’ section,” then this home game will be just that much more advantageous – especially with the South Ward’s game-specific expansion.
For this game, the South Ward’s Empire Supporters’ Club, “purchased 200-plus seats in the back of section 201, which is being treated as a sort of South Ward annex for this game,” according to ESC president Steven Ferrezza.
However, the South Ward won’t wait until they get there to start chanting; after tailgating in the parking lots, Ferrezza says that the ESC members will, “most likely group up with [the Viking Army and the Garden State Ultras] and head to the stadium in one voice, letting everyone know what color New York truly is,” long before the game has begun.
Last year’s two home derbies can also serve as good litmus tests for what the Red Bulls boys can expect to hear on Sunday. As Paul Vernick remembers, “[both] games the South Ward was packed with people. Everyone knew the songs, and it seemed like other sections were chanting too.”
“My favorite part of both of last year’s [derbies] was the atmosphere that came with the big crowd,” Pecoraro agrees. “You had Red Bull Arena sold out, a packed visitors support section, and” – of course – “the big tifo[s] from the South Ward supporters.”
It was because of those “big tifos” that even Major League Soccer declared the Red Bulls supporters had, “won the tifo battle,” in 2015. Having two home games gave the supporters a lot of versatility; they could take their own jabs, like with “City Retirement Home” and “20 Years Late and a Stadium Short,” or they could respond to the Third Rail with an upside-down “Third Fail” and the admission that although “We May Be Jersey Boys,” NYCFC is “awful all four season.” This year the big tifos need to be rolled all into one, despite there being plenty more than just one thing to talk about.
For one, Pecoraro wonders if the South Ward, “will run off this whole calling City ‘The Pigeons’ thing.” Dan Covello, on the other hand, guesses that it’ll be “either a reference to [NYCFC] playing on a baseball field” or something about that result.
Cattry, too, “hope[s] it references 7-0.”
“Their lack of a stadium has been mocked, as have their aging DPs, so I think 7-0 is the one to go for.”
Some of those guesses might not be too far off. While Ferrezza, “can’t reveal what the tifo will be,” he does hint that the group has been “working on it since the 7-0 win.”
“Ideas [were] kicked around,” Ferezza continued. “But we think our final choice best represents the current state of the New York soccer scene.”
And then it’ll just be up to the boys in red to back that up once more.
