Can the Red Bulls handle the pressure?
By BRIAN LEWIS
The Red Bulls go into tomorrow’s game at Real Salt Lake with three starters missing and the pressure mounting. Coach Juan Carlos Osorio has said some of his players are cracking under the weight of their three-game losing streak, so he’s obvioiusly trying to take some of that weight off their shoulders and put it on his own.
“I just told them there’s no pressure on them. None of them are going to lose their jobs. If anybody here, it’s going to be me as a head coach and I’m prepared for that,” Osorio said. “Whatever happens in football happens. I’ve been around long enough to know this is about results.
“I keep telling the players their responsibility is just to come and compete. Nobody is under pressure here. If there is it’s on my shoulders, not anybody else’s. Hopefully they understand that. This is what they train football, so play. Believe in yourself and bring your strength to the game. Just play futbol.”
He insists he hasn’t seen any Red Bull higher-ups sharpening their mechetes _ Mets fans will get the Willie Randolph reference _ but with the hair-trigger way this organization has sacked coaches, his words are ominous. His Red Bulls (9-10-8, 35 points) are fourth in the Eastern Conference and despite their slump are somehow still clinging to the top wild card spot by a single point over Colorado and Dallas, with the Rapids getting the final spot on a head-to-head tiebreaker. Kansas City and D.C. have 33.
“Everybody reacts differently under pressure; some guys shone, other guys shut down,” Dave van den Bergh said. “Just go out and treat it like the first game of the year; just remember why we all started playing the game _ because we liked it.
“Everybody needs to understand the implications of this game, but not cave in under the pressure. But that’s different for everybody.
Pressure is a funny thing.”
That presure is even worse now, almost needing to get a point at Real Salt Lake, third in the West with 35 points and opening Rio Tinto Stadium. They’re 7-1-5 at home, while the Red Bulls have been a sorry 1-7-5 on the roads, a league-low single road victory all season.
