Red Bull New York returns to action after a two-week break in the hope of improving on their eighth-place standing in the Eastern Conference.
The Red Bulls have seen mixed results early into the Michael Bradley Era. Encouraging victories against Orlando City and the New England Revolution were followed by a surprising 3-0 home defeat to CF Montreal.
A 98th-minute last-gasp equalizer from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting earned New York an away point in Toronto and seemed to push the Red Bulls in the right direction, but it was followed by a lopsided 6-1 loss in Charlotte a week later.
On Saturday, the Red Bulls will square off against FC Cincinnati at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time at Sports Illustrated Stadium.
The match will be carried on Apple TV. Longtime play-by-play announcer Steve Cangialosi will be on the call, and he joined South Ward Central to preview all the key matchups and trends.
“There’s a lot of fact-finding going on with this team right now,” Cangialosi said of Red Bull New York’s early returns. “I think all of us should have expected that. When you have a team that’s implementing a new system with a new head coach with seven new starters, we’re in the very early stages of the process. I don’t think it’s as good as the first two games indicated, and I don’t think it’s as poor as the last three games indicated. It’s somewhere probably in the middle.
“We’re looking at a team that’s treading water at .500 at two wins, two losses and one draw,” They’ve been able to say we’re there without any real contribution yet from the guys on the wings and pretty much everybody capable of putting the ball in the back of the net not named Julian Hall – that onto itself is something of a positive sign but we’ll see. There are a lot of chapters here still to be written.”
Key Players and Tactical Trends
Bradley has ushered in front-footed, attacking football. New York’s 61.4 percent possession ranks second among all MLS clubs heading into the weekend and represents a tremendous leap from the club’s 51.4 possession last season during Sandro Schwarz’s final season in Harrison.
“I look at this team and how they’re playing and to see them coming into this weekend as the club with the second most possession in MLS, I’m still beside myself digesting this metamorphosis of what they’ve become in this first season under Bradley,” Cangialosi said.
A big question early into the season is the adaptation of Jorge Ruvalcaba and Cade Cowell after the pair arrived with high expectations.
“I don’t look at them collectively, I look at them individually,” Cangialosi explained. “I got to see Jorge Ruvalcaba a little bit before he came to MLS. I called a couple of his games in the Leagues Cup last year. I think he has that finishing element. It’s just a question of whether or not this improves. Certainly, that has not been the case in the few looks he’s had at goal so far, but I think the best for him is yet to come.
“As far as Cade Cowell goes, I think the Red Bulls know what they’ve got. I think Cowell is somebody who wasn’t brought in specifically for the finishing product. I think if he gives them presence on the wing, that is enough. By the end of the year, you’d like to see Cowell with five goals and a number of goal contributions.”
Why FC Cincinnati’s Early Season Form Is Misleading
Ninth-place FC Cincinnati will travel to Harrison one place below the Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference standings, having collected six points through five matches.
“I wouldn’t read too much into Cincinnati’s lukewarm start to this season,” Cangialosi said. “There’s real data that suggests that these teams that balance Concacaf Champions Cup this early in the season, they don’t have the rightful place in the table that they otherwise would have.”
Cincinnati has given the Red Bulls all kinds of problems in recent memory. Key duo Evander and Kévin Denkey can create all kinds of havoc, but they’re not the only attackers whom New York must keep quiet on Saturday.
“It’s been an interesting uphill climb for the Red Bulls every time that Cincinnati comes into this stadium,” Cangialosi recalled. “You are talking about something that’s a little more than a light trend here. Cincinnati has only lost once in their last nine visits to Sports Illustrated Stadium, including a couple of playoff matches between these sides.
“Everything good for Cincinnati will flow through Evander and Denkey at the top of the attack, but it’s more than that because their width will be a test for the Red Bulls’ young full-backs,” Cangialosi said. “This will be a true test for them with the way that Cincinnati likes to play. Ender Echenique is one of the real danger men on the right side of the field.”
Presumably, Matthew Dos Santos and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty will line up as full-backs for New York and will be tasked with slowing down the visitors’ wing play.
With Evander and Kévin Denkey leading the charge for Cincinnati and creative midfielder Emil Forsberg at the controls for the Red Bulls, with Julian Hall off to a flying start with four goals in five games, Saturday’s clash in Harrison should be an entertaining affair.
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