Midfielder Felipe takes on the Philadelphia Union in their first meeting of 2017. (Photo Credit: New York Red Bulls)
EAST HANOVER, N.J —— Wednesday night will be deja-vu for the New York Red Bulls — only this time, they hope the result will be different.
Nearly a year to the day, the club faces regional rival Philadelphia Union in the Round of 16 of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup — the same round the Union knocked the Red Bulls out of the competition 364 days prior.
“Of course because we remember what happened and how we lost,” said midfielder Felipe when asked if last year’s result adds energy to the match. “It’s very important that tomorrow we show up with attitude and with the game plan we have that we’re working on this week is very good and I think we can be very successful.”
The two clubs faced off for the second time in as many months 10 days ago, the Red Bulls coming out of Chester, Pennsylvania, 2-0 winners over the Union. It was revenge for a 3-0 defeat at the same venue a month prior, one of the heaviest defeats of the season and up until last weekend, the most disappointing.
That changed last Saturday, when the Red Bulls’ newest rivals New York City FC came to Red Bull Arena and thoroughly outplayed the hosts for the first time in the three-year rivalry. For as much possession as the Red Bulls had, that was the only positive part of the performance in which they got off a single shot on goal and were completely dominated in a 2-0 loss to the Boys in Blue.
Marsch came under fire from the media in his post-match press conference for his absence in training throughout the week due to his obligations in Poland for his UEFA Pro License course.
The head coach adamantly denied that absence in the preparation had anything to do with the disappointing performance. Marsch is back in training this week, working to get the team ready to avoid late slips that turns into the avalanche that 3-0 loss was, where all three goals were scored in the final 15 minutes.
“I think what you see is a game that’s very combative — a lot of fouls, lot of pauses, set pieces, physical — and it means that the game often doesn’t settle down,” Marsch said after training Tuesday. “Both those games could’ve easily ended 0-0, but I think that now we’re playing at home and there’ll be a different flow to the game that will be able to dictate things more but it also makes them more dangerous because they’re good on the counter. So we have to just be up for a big challenge and make sure we understand what the game is going to look like.”
The 2-0 victory over the Union on June 18 looks convincing on paper but it was far from comfortable. The Red Bulls had to scratch and claw their way to the victory, with two goals in the final five minutes from Bradley Wright-Phillips snatching the three points at the death and masking what was, for long stretches of time, a poor performance. Even Wright-Phillips admitted that he had been “dreadful.”
Despite playing with an extra man following Derrick Jones’ red card in the 53rd minute, the Red Bulls were still unable to move the ball in midfield and connect efficiently in the final third until a crucial tactical change from Marsch — pushing Sacha Kljestan deep in midfield to retrieve the ball from his central defenders and spray out passes to spread out the field and allowing Felipe to move up the pitch in his place.
Not immediately effective, it paid dividends in the final segment of the game, allowing another smart decision from Marsch — the substitution of Gonzalo Veron into the match — to work.
Veron would get two assists — one official, one hockey style — in his six minutes of action, earning him 30 minutes in Saturday’s Hudson River Derby. The Argentine didn’t impress, but considering Wednesday’s match is New York’s fourth in 14 days, he may have another opportunity to replicate his magic from 10 days prior.
Marsch hinted at some changes — some due to obligation from players on international duty, some to add some freshness to the side.
“We’ll make some changes, you know, to have some fresh legs on the field,” Marsch said. “We’re also limited from the international perspective, so you have to include that into how you put the team together. They have some decisions as well so it means there’ll be some question marks on what they’ll field but we know each other well. I don’t think there’ll be any big surprises and we’ll be ready for a big game.”
The Union have knocked the Red Bulls out of the competition for the past two seasons, so a third matchup is set up to be the big game Marsch is preparing his team for. When it comes to facing Philadelphia — be it in the Open Cup this decade or in Major League Soccer play this season — New York hopes the third time is the charm.
“This is an important game for us especially because in the last two years, they put us out of the cup and it’s a really important game for us to build more confidence going forward,” Felipe said. “It’s important for us, the club, to win the U.S. Open Cup and it won’t be different tomorrow that we have to put a very good shift in order for us to win.”
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New York Red Bulls
Philadelphia Union
