New York Red Bulls are getting some essential players back before the end of the season as head coach Sandro Schwarz hopes to continue his team’s push for a home playoff game. This weekend the club will travel to Chicago to play a Fire team that has played spoiler in recent weeks, despite being one of the poorer sides in the entire league. A draw against NYCFC kept Red Bulls’ hopes of holding on to fourth place but the team knows that they’ll need every one of the returning players to keep the momentum going.
“It’s very good to have more options,” said Schwarz when asked about his returning roster members. “We have to be careful on the other side as well, because when players are coming back from long-term injury, that doesn’t mean that now because they are two weeks or one week or 10 days in the team training that they have reached the same level before the injury.”
Two players specifically have been marked for fleshing out the roster late in the season. Serge Ngoma and Peter Stroud were options that could have been heavily relied upon early in the campaign. Injuries took both of them out for long periods but both have shown signs of returning to full strength. Stroud started the last game, a 1-1 effort against Sporting KC, and Ngoma has featured of the bench twice in an effort to inject life into the offense.
Another player who can add something to the club won’t be in the lineup and that’s captain Emil Forsberg. Coach Schwarz hopes to have him back in time for the Hudson River Derby in two weeks but in the meantime the club will have to continue to push forward with the midfield options at their disposal. This includes newcomer Felipe Carballo who may feature heavily in the game on Saturday.
“We have seen this in our game (against Chicago), in our stadium that they have quaility,” said Schwarz on his weekend opponents. “They are able to score if we don’t defend and if we don’t defend strong enough in our duels. That is also a team with a lot of good players and also with a good tactical idea of how they want to play.”
While the Red Bulls have been a difficult team to beat in 2024 they also have had issues solidifying wins. Their lack of a potent and consistent goal scoring threat has left them with far more draws than they would prefer. However, the proof of concept that they are one of the more defensively sound teams in the league can’t be denied. Chicago have allowed two or more goals in each of their last four games but they also haven’t been shut out either. They still pose a threat that could see the frustrating number of draws continue to grow.
Saturday’s game at Soldier Field won’t be easy but a win can help New York come that much closer to solidifying a playoff spot and hold the keys to a game at Red Bull Area which they have only lost at once in 2024 league play.
photo by Matt Kremkau