The Red Bulls come into Sunday’s game at New York City FC (noon, ESPN) on a three-game winless skid, blowing late leads in every one. The hosts come into Yankee Stadium having gone winless in four games against their rivals, including the most humbling beating in the history of MLS.
Rest assured, it will be feisty.
Back in May, the Red Bulls emasculated NYCFC, 7-0, tying the most lopsided rout in league annals and making international soccer infamy. But since then, NYCFC has won two straight behind Frank Lampard and rookie Jack Harrison, while the Red Bulls have coughed up leads and been knocked out of the U.S. Open Cup.
“I know we’re not seven goals worse than them. We’re a team that can beat them, it’s as simple as that. But we need to show it on the pitch,” said Lampard, whose team is 0-4 vs. the Red Bulls and 0-6 in local rivalry games including the Cosmos.
“Like I’m going to mention to the players, that was a one-off game,” NYCFC coach Patrick Vieira said. “What I want, of course, is that result to be somewhere in our mind, but the main focus will be on ourselves … We’re going to concentrate on ourselves and how we can hurt them.”
The Red Bulls are hurting already. They coughed up an 88th minute equalizer in a 1-1 tie at Real Salt Lake on June 22, conceded in the third minute of stoppage time in a 2-1 loss to Columbus three days later and blew a second-half lead in Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to rival Philadelphia in the fifth round of the U.S. Open Cup.
“This is the type of thing we may need to turn around current form,” said goalkeeper Luis Robles, who added there is a lot of “rage” over their Cup failure.
Jesse Marsch.Bill Kostroun“Guys are angry right now. They’re angry that we’re out of the Cup, they’re angry we let points slip on the road. We’re all angry, and I think that’ll be reflected in our performance. I think we’re going to have a real edge. We know what these games are, and we’ll be ready,” said Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch, admitting they’ve been galled by all the hype NYCFC has received.
“We’ve taken it personally. There’s been a lot talk over the year-and-a-half about some of their superstar players, and rightfully so. They have some incredibly talented and legendary players on their team. They have a legendary coach. They’ve spent a lot of money. They’ve come into the market with a big splash. We’ve taken that personally. We have. We’ve taken that personally and we will again on Sunday.”
