CHICAGO – The New York Red Bulls (9-9-6) resume regular season competition as they head to the “Windy City” to take on Chicago Fire FC (9-9-5). Saturday’s match against Chicago will be their second meeting this season after New York won 2-1 at home on April 5.
Coming off a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Inter Miami last Saturday, New York is facing the heat as August draws near. Even with a few months of regular season play remaining, this is a must-win for New York and Chicago. As of Friday, New York is only one point ahead of Chicago in the Eastern Conference with 33 points, good enough for ninth place.
A loss for the Red Bulls would take them out of a playoff spot, which no fan wants to envision. With more time to practice this week, thanks to Wednesday’s All-Star Game, the Red Bulls were able to prepare more for Saturday’s match.
A significant emphasis of training this week may have been what defender Alexander Hack brought up post-match vs Miami, improving their intensity and mentality.
“We have to play with a high intensity, we have to play with the right mentality,” Hack addressed the media last Saturday. “These are two big things that we have to improve.”
Hack also mentioned they have to play as a team, support one another and fight together as one unit. This follows in the footsteps of what manager Sandro Schwarz vocalized following the Philadelphia match and before they took on New England.
One key question for the Red Bulls is how they will jump out to a strong start vs Chicago? Fans, analysts, and everyone in between covering New York have been wondering what needs to change for them to secure wins early in matches.
Schwarz discussed it in his pre-match press conference on Thursday, and there have been a few challenges to his team getting off to a great start early. He pointed to his players’ concentration needing to be better, their defensive behavior and as he previously stated, they have to start and play all together.
Another topic brought up on Thursday was whether new signee Gustav Berggren would be available for Saturday’s match. Schwarz told the press that, due to Berggren’s visa process, he would be unavailable, and his timetable remains unknown.
Looking more at their opponent, Chicago is performing well above their recent standard this season. Since their last playoff appearance in 2017, Chicago has found themselves consistently in the bottom half of the league’s standings. But with former United States men’s national team (USMNT) head coach Gregg Berhalter roaming the touchline, Chicago’s play has been better.
Much of their great play can be attributed to a few players, including forward Hugo Cuypers, midfielder Philip Zinckernagel, and midfielder Brian Gutierrez. Cuypers is in the top 10 in Major League Soccer (MLS) in goals with 13, and Zinckernagel leads Chicago with 20 goal contributions. Zinckernagel also participated in the league’s All-Star Game, earning an assist on MLS All-Stars’ third goal of the match.
While it will be crucial for the Red Bulls’ backline to deny Chicago’s attacking threat, New York will also have to play well in the attacking third. Forward Eric Choupo-Moting has been a top 10 goalscorer this season, and scoring another goal against Chicago, as he did in April, would be great.
To put it simply, New York needs to start the first 15 to 20 minutes of the match off right. Saturday’s match will also be the last regular-season game for New York until August 10 due to the upcoming Leagues Cup. The pressure of this weekend’s contest may be intense, but it cannot stress New York out.
“We know we have a big game but I think we have to calm down a little bit,” Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel said on Thursday.
Kickoff for Saturday’s match is set for 8:30 p.m. on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.
