New York Red Bulls were frustrated in their scoreless draw against Toronto FC on Saturday, the inaugural game in the 2024 Leagues Cup. Despite getting a point, the team missed out on a second by missing three penalty shots and allowing Toronto to gain a small advantage in the short group stage. The situation now places a greater emphasis on the team’s result against Pachuca on Tuesday.
“This today was not good enough,” said head coach Sandro Schwarz about his team’s ability to finish chances. “This is what we missed today in the final third. Then the penalty shootout came and this was an unlucky night.”
Red Bulls were surprised by a switch of tactics from Toronto. Instead of playing with three center backs, Toronto coach John Herdman switched to a 4-4-2 that gave the team more stability in the midfield. While Red Bulls were able to create chances, they weren’t able to counter attack with such ferocity as they did earlier in the season when the two met previously.
The other issue was the team selection. Ryan Meara returned to goal while youngster Julian Hall got his first start with the first team. Hall put in hard work but was unable to make much of an impact. The late substitutions of Dante Vanzeir, Elias Manoel and Corey Burke were also unable to make an impact on the result.
What followed was an entertaining penalty shootout. Unfortunately, the history of Red Bulls in such a format reared its ugly head again and the team eventually surrendered the final result.
“They are a good team,” said Meara about the opposition. “The first half they had a lot of the ball, which we were okay with because I didn’t think they were too dangerous. We had a couple of moments where we could almost have caught them in transition. It didn’t quite pan out.”
Now Red Bulls enter their second, and last, Leagues Cup group stage game against a formidable opponent in Pachuca. A win will see them qualify for the knockout stage while a draw will results in the club relying on the final game between Toronto and Pachuca to decide their fate.
photo by Matt Kremkau