CINCINNATI, OHIO – Red Bull New York (3-3-3, 12 pts) takes on FC Cincinnati (2-4-3, 9 pts) for the second time this season on Saturday. Red Bull previously won the first meeting earlier this month by a score of 4-2.
It was midweek madness all throughout Major League Soccer (MLS) back on Wednesday night. For Red Bull, a 4-4 draw against their rivals D.C. United brought more sadness than anything and the players understood that they have to rebound quickly.
Speaking with the media on Friday, forward Julian Zakrzewski Hall touched on how the squad would rebound from a disappointing result.
“We demand much better from ourselves and it’s a team effort in training and especially the games, to bring good results,” Hall said. “And we thought we did well in terms of pushing the game forward and creating a lot of chances, but you know, how can we be better in terms of as a team, not conceding as many goals? So, you know, I think that’s a big focus in training. And I’m very positive that we’ll apply that tomorrow.”
Going back to the madness that ensued on Wednesday throughout the league, Cincinnati’s identical 4-4 draw vs New York City FC was a fun contest. Down 4-2 entering stoppage time, Cincinnati scored two goals in the final minutes of the contest. Superstar midfielder Evander’s late penalty goal saved Cincinnati from losing and enabled them to earn a point.
https://x.com/fccincinnati/status/2047131612790292614?s=20
With the equalizer, Evander became the MLS record holder for goals scored by a Brazilian-born player with 44. (https://www.fccincinnati.com/news/bruised-but-not-broken-fc-cincinnati-grind-out-a-historic-4-4-draw-with-two-stoppage-time-goals)
In what is a strange scheduling quirk, New York and Cincinnati will meet for the second time this month. It will also be the last meeting of the season between the two sides.
Back on April 4 at Sports Illustrated Stadium, New York, off the international break, looked lively in the attack. Whether it was Hall, Mohammed Sofo or captain Emil Forsberg scoring, it was a fantastic display of attacking soccer. It was the opposite of what transpired throughout March on the offensive side of things.
Head coach Michael Bradley detailed his thoughts in regards to facing Cincinnati for a second time this month in his pre-match press conference.
“It’s certainly one of the unique parts of Major League Soccer that sometimes the scheduling means you can play the same team twice within a few weeks and then be done with them for the entire year,” Bradley said on Friday. “Obviously, we’ve had that with Montreal and now Cincinnati. We for sure, tried to look back at the first game with them and understand a little bit of what went into that, how they played on the night, how they tried to set themselves up to deal with us, and then you compare that with how they’ve played over the last few games. And are there things that have changed? Are there new things that are there? Are there new players? Are there different other little tweaks that they’ve made to what they’re trying to do? And so we take all of that into account as we prepare the group to step on the field tomorrow night.”
So far this season, Red Bull possess a 1-2-2 record on the road. Their only win away from home came in the first match of the season vs Orlando City SC.
Kickoff for Saturday’s match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Apple TV.
