New York Red Bulls know that they didn’t perform up to standards last week in a 2-1 loss to, at the time, winless New England Revolution. Head coach Sandro Schwarz was adamant about his team’s performance after the game and reiterated his feelings during training. While, there still may be some hard feelings over the performance, the team is also looking to move on with a home game against the Chicago Fire in front of them.
“We were angry about the game last Saturday,” said Schwarz to the media. “Now we have to look to Saturday against Chicago and to show this on the field. To be aggressive, to be very compact and have the mentality.”
That mentality has been a pillar of what Schwarz has built of the last year with New York. The Red Bulls have become one of the more difficult teams to beat in the league. And while their record may not be as stellar as teams like Miami or LAFC, it is their ability to play teams tough that has their fixture as one of the more challenging for any team to face.
One reason for that is the team’s stout defensive shape. Only twice this season have they given up two or more goals. Only of the Columbus Crew SC and Nashville SC have given up fewer goals in 2025. This is sure to keep Red Bulls in games while they figure out how to fire properly on offense.
Goal scoring has always been a concern for New York but that has been made more apparent by the recent rash of injuries. Lewis Morgan, Cameron Harper, Dennis Gjengaar, Omar Valencia and Wiktor Bogacz have all had injury spells to start the campaign. Many are in the process of returning to action, but it has made for more roster rotation than necessary. However, the club has persevered with veteran leadership from Emil Forsberg and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
“It was one game,” said Schwarz. “Everyone knows here in this room what happened last season in New England. It was a little bit similar but now we have to show our identity, our philosophy, which we have seen in the first five games as well in the season.”
Chicago will not be as easy to conquer as in years past. New head coach Gregg Berhalter has motivated and gotten the best out of an underperforming club. A sleeping giant in many ways, the Fire are now ready to step back onto the main stage of MLS topics and win over New York would put them in that conversation.
“You can see his (Berhalter) philosophy in the first games in our regular season,” said Schwarz. “It’s a very good opponent for us but the main focus is what we need. The quality and our behavior on the field.”
photo by Matt Kremkau