Will there be snow on Saturday night at Red Bull Arena? Colorado Rapids midfielder Sam Cronin sure hopes so as it helped the club defeat the Red Bulls last season (photo credit: Corbin Elliott)
The New York Red Bulls welcome Colorado Rapids to Red Bull Arena for New York’s home opener for week two of the 2017 Major League Soccer Season.
Both teams come off opening week wins after Colorado Rapids held New England Revolution at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park 1-0 behind a scruffy goal from Dominique Badji.
New York spoiled Atlanta United FC’s MLS debut coming back from 1-0 down to score two goals late in match to claim all three points. Daniel Royer cancelled out Yamil Assad’s opening goal to level the match in the 76th minute by latching onto a Sacha Kljestan corner before Bradley Wright Phillips opened his account for 2017 by poking home a Kemar Lawrence cross to seal the win for New York.
Colorado and New York played just once in 2016 when the two sides met in Colorado and played a memorable match in the middle of a spring blizzard. The Rapids triumphed on the evening behind a goal and an assist from Jermaine Jones who was making his Rapid debut on the evening.
Red Bulls Head Coach Jesse Marsch will be without Gonzalo Veron who is out with a hamstring injury while Shkelzen Gashi remains questionable for the Rapids as the Designated Player continues to struggle with an Achilles issue that has plagued him since last season. Tim Howard has returned to full training with the Rapids and could be available for selection this weekend, but will most likely return in the coming weeks.
Sacha Kljestan will receive a lot of attention from Michael Azira and Rapids Captain Sam Cronin as the two defensive midfielders will try to limit Kljestan’s time on the ball as they attempt to prevent the creative midfielder from picking out dangerous targets like Bradley Wright-Phillips.
Axel Sjoberg will need to follow up his impressive performance last week with a similar effort against New York if the Rapids have designs on getting a result on the road (photo credit: Corbin Elliott)
Rapids center-back Axel Sjoberg was named in the MLS team of the week for the opening weekend of play after the 6’7” Swede helped Colorado to a clean sheet and kept Zac MacMath’s goal safe from New England Revolution’s crosses into the box. Playing along side Jared Watts, the two Colorado center-backs use their height to limit the threat from crosses from the wings, forcing teams to break down the Rapid defense and create goals from passes on the ground.
That recipe has worked well for Colorado over the last season and the emphasis will be on players like Sacha Kjestan to find a way through the compact Colorado defense. Against Atlanta the Red Bulls were stymied for the first 75 minutes of play and couldn’t break down Atlanta’s defense. It took a set piece for New York to level the match but Colorado will be even more difficult to get past. Jesse March’s new 4-2-2-2 formation will face a difficult test against the leagues best defense.
Colorado would be happy to come away from New York with a point. In 2016 Colorado often struggled on the road but failed to lose a match at home. Look for Pablo Mastroeni’s game plan to have Colorado sitting deep and breaking on the counter and looking to snatch a goal through the pace of Dominique Badji, Marlon Hairston and Kevin Doyle. Dillon Powers played in the creative midfield spot that Jermaine Jones made his own in 2016 but lacks the vision and skill to play as a true number 10. If Colorado can find space on the wings for Badji and Hairston to work through they’ll be able to create chances, but if New York forces Colorado to play through the center of the park the Rapids may struggle.
A scoreless draw or a 1-1 draw wouldn’t be a surprising result, especially as New York gets used to a new formation and adapts to life without Dax McCarty. If Shkelzen Gashi does get on the pitch for the Rapids a moment of individual brilliance is a possibility, but without that spark from Gashi Colorado’s main threat to New York will be the counter attack and set piece opportunities.
