New York Red Bulls have a tough test this weekend when they travel to Fort Lauderdale to play first place Inter Miami after three frustrating draws. Head coach Sandro Schwarz is aware of the situation as are the players who know that they haven’t been clinical in front of the ball and messy behind it.
“We have to keep focus at a high level,” said Schwarz after training this week. “We have to keep the dynamics towards goal, that is what we analyzed from these games.”
Red Bulls have been snake-bitten at home, suffering two red cards to defenders. First Andres Reyes against Chicago and Noah Eile this past week against Vancouver. This leaves the options thin for Schwarz who is still searching for consistency in his line-up.
Still, New York didn’t lose either of those games. The team battled and had moments where they could have taken all three points in spite of the man-advantage for the opposition. The clinical nature of chances by Elias Manoel and Lewis Morgan late in games has cost the club and they know there is more to build on from there.
“Also do not forget the good moments in the game,” said Schwarz. “So, on one side you have to be satisfied about this one point but when you see the chances at the end of the game, home game against Chicago hits the post and then LAFC, it was a high level game for both teams. Cross bar in that situation. We can sit here and have four points more but we can also sit here with only one point which is also the truth after these two red cards.”
All of this leads to a confrontation with a club that is very clinical. Currently Miami has two players in the lead for the Golden Boot race in Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. Both have taken advantage of their chances and look to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the Eastern Conference. A win over Red Bulls would do that and send the club back home asking just what changes need to be made.
At the same time, Red Bulls have the psychological advantage having defeated Miami 4-0 just one month ago. Miami didn’t have Messi for that game but New York was also missing their star man Emil Forsberg. Now, both teams will be playing much closer to 100 percent and could be previewing a playoff battle later in the year.
“This is the moment now,” said Schwarz on their preparation. “Our focus and our daily work to answer this question is to keep the level of our principles.”
photo by Matt Kremkau