The return of the New York Red Bulls after their week off from MLS action was something the club probably never needed to interrupt their flow. Regardless of this, they had to take it and return to action in midweek against Charlotte FC. And after the opening whistle blew they looked sluggish, and not in full gear. You saw the opening forty five minutes look slow, sloppy, and barely moving around to make Charlotte FC look strong and a confident bunch. Even though you saw the Charlotte City Terror Elias Manoel crash into Kristijan Kahlina, and stir the pot to hopefully wake up the club, and when the referee blew his whistle for halftime, that’s when Schwarz had to let the boys know that what he saw wasn’t acceptable.
Now what helped out the Red Bulls wasn’t just the halftime talk from Schwarz, and I would guess Captain Emil Forsberg had some choice words as well, but the Thunderstorms that were coming across the area put a halt to restarting the match and maybe that was all they needed. After over an hour and a half of delay, the Red Bulls finally got back on the pitch and kicked it into high gear. Boy did they ever. They turned it on and started to create chances.
But the Arena exploded when Emil Forsberg finally converted his opening chance in the free kick department. Nearly at the final fifteen minutes of the match, Forsberg and John Tolkin were looking at the ball and you wondered which one would take the kick. Tolkin dummied, and Forsberg splashed it inside the near post for the lead, but then two minutes later, Lewis Morgan took advantage of a poor pass by Charlotte FC and found a way to give a wide-open Forsberg to smash it inside the far post for his first two goal game in MLS.
While Andres Reyes did convert their third and final goal of the match, it felt really good to see the Red Bulls get back into the win column and hopefully make another run for either an unbeaten streak or a winning streak. In their next several games, they will be home to Orlando City, on the road at New England, home against Nashville, on the road at Montreal, then back to back home games against Toronto, and the return of Troy Lesesne and DC United. This is the hope that they can turn it on and stay on as they continue to march toward a playoff spot, and with at least two games in hand, the hope is that they can try to climb back to the top of the Eastern Conference.