The New York Red Bulls are getting ready to make their trip to the West Coast as they prepare to fly to Carson, California and take on the Los Angeles Galaxy for the 2024 MLS Cup Championship, and while all the talk has been about the return of Emil Forsberg from injury in the second half of the regular season to make this playoff run happen, there is another aspect that has helped the Red Bulls get to this moment as well. The adjustment of the backline by adding a third centerback to the starting eleven as Andres Reyes has helped out both Nealis brothers to defend and help out goalkeeper Carlos Coronel to stop the opposition and get those necessary victories to reach the finale of the season.
Back on April 13th at home against the Chicago Fire, the Red Bulls were defending a set piece against their net, when Reyes was paired up against Tobias Salquist just a few yards away from their area. Just before the free kick was delivered both Reyes and Salquist entered the area and the centerbacks right hand smacked his marker in the face to knock him down. While originally booked for a yellow card, VAR called the referee to the monitor, and then the color of the card changed to a red and Reyes was sent off. Since Reyes was traded to the Red Bulls from Inter Miami in the 2021 season he has been more bad than good with his careless and reckless play.
Under head coach Gerhard Struber and interim head coach Troy Lesesne Reyes was able to have some good games defensively, but somehow they couldn’t stop him from getting sent off when he was a magnet for yellow cards, and straight reds. Now comes in Sandro Schwarz and when that moment happened at Red Bull arena against Salquist against the Fire, he quickly took care of business and told Reyes in his own way to knock it off. He can’t continue to recklessly put the team down to ten men each and every match. Since that moment Andres Reyes became a changed man. He stopped being a card magnet and played his position very well.
There were times he would be in a physical altercation, but nothing over the top that screamed handbags at five paces. In fact on the road game at Audi Field against DC United, we saw Reyes battling with Christian Benteke, that spilled toward the far side ad boards in midfield and then Reyes quickly put his hands up to say “I’m not fighting him”. Not as a sign of cowardice, but more of he doesn’t want to make the situation any worse, than it already looked like it was. Neither men received a yellow card, but to me that showed his quick maturity under Schwarz. From that point on, Reyes was a model citizen by concentrating on his defensive skills, than committing reckless challenges.
Whenever Noah Eile would depart for Sweden’s Under 21 team, Reyes would take his place, or he would join Eile as the centerback pairing if Sean Nealis was getting rest, or serving a suspension of his own. Reyes has looked like the centerback that many predicted he would be as a young prospect when he came to MLS at Inter Miami. His yellow card total from last season was twelve, now he has reduced that in 2024 by earning only three. A masterful improvement for him after that horrible moment back on April 13th getting himself sent off. When the playoffs began, Schwarz decided to go with three centerbacks by putting Reyes in between the Nealis brothers and on this run he has been spectacular.
The wins on the road at Columbus and NYCFC showed many if you can concentrate and keep yourself calm, you can be that strong defender that many scouts had you pegged for and become an important cog on the National Team for the future. But he came up even bigger when the club traveled down to Orlando to take on Orlando City at Inter & Co stadium. He delivered that big game winning goal in the opening minutes of the second half and buried a great free kick by John Tolkin by smashing it off the inside of the near post and over the line. The big celebration by Reyes and the Red Bulls was seen and screamed by all the supporters who traveled down to Central Florida and to all the watch parties in the NYC/Northern NJ area.
That man was the hero of the match and it was his goal that gave the club to stamp their ticket to the MLS Cup Final. While the fans have every right to criticize Reyes poor performances in the past, this season they can’t do it now. He finally got the talking to that he deserved by Schwarz. He finally got it through his head that he can’t create reckless challenges and continue to put his club behind the eight ball when a red card appears. He is finally showing all of us what he needs to do and how to do it on the pitch. Give credit to Sandro for finally nip it in the bud, and give credit to Reyes for finally understanding that this type of play will not be tolerated anymore. This is one of the many reasons why the Red Bulls are now in the MLS Cup Finals, because Andres Reyes finally understood he has to be better than what he showed in the past. The Colombian centerback is much better and now we can say he is no longer the yellow card magnet he once was.