New York Red Bulls head coach Sandro Schwarz lauded his team’s performance on Saturday night, a scoreless draw against the Chicago Fire FC at Red Bull Arena. The game was marred by a 40th minute red card by Andres Reyes that forced the team into emergency mode tactically. Despite the missed chances, coach Schwarz was impressed by his team’s grit and tactical accumen.
“The second half was great,” said Schwarz. “Great performance tactically. Especially in our defensive structure. Also to have these situations with four center midfield players, we changed the structure and approximations. Pete (Stroud), Wiki (Carmona), Frankie Amaya were great.”
New York took a gamble by removing striker Dante Vanzeir from the game for Sean Nealis to stay compact defensively. Still, the team managed to produce significant opportunities to win the game, including an effort from Lewis Morgan that hit both posts before rebounding back out onto the field.
To their credit, the defensive structure also stood tall as Chicago weren’t able to create as many dangerous chances as one would expect given how long they had the one-man advantage.
“We said this in halftime, we had to defend seriously,” said Schwarz. “Also we had to focus on our transitions, and we had the moments. A little bit disappointed about the chances, but it’s small. To have this feeling with this great tactical performance and also with this mentality was very good.”
The draw kept New York tied for first place in the Eastern Conference. They surrendered the top spot to Inter Miami on goal difference, who won their game against Sporting KC later on in the night. The Red Bulls also have a game in hand on Miami, meaning that they have the ability to go ahead of them once the schedules equalize.
Next will be yet another challenge, this time in a west coast trip to LAFC. The California trip will be another proving ground moment for a New York team that still looks to remain on top of the East and cementing their ability to vie for the Supporters Shield.
photo by Matt Kremkau