[ad_1]
If Gerhard Struber’s press conference last Wednesday served to temper expectations, then the Red Bulls’ opening day performance will have been a pleasant surprise to fans.
New York outplayed the San Jose Earthquakes, outshooting the hosts 18-12 en route to a 3-1 road victory.
The performance didn’t seem wholly reminiscent of the team Struber described days prior, when he highlighted his hopes for further transfer incomings and played down the chances of an MLS Cup run.
“I’m a realistic man. I’m not a dreamer,” he told the media that day.
At the very least, a playoff berth is realistic for Struber’s young team — which travels to Toronto on Saturday — and he acknowledged during that presser that the team still had “big goals.”
Saturday’s win highlighted both the excitement and caution that should surround this team. Aaron Long returned from a long injury layoff (as captain) at the heart of the defense, the attacking midfield duo of Cristian Casseres Jr. and Omir Fernandez impressed and Lewis Morgan notched a debut assist for the club. At the same time, two of the club’s bench reinforcements in a one-score game were 18-year-old Daniel Edelman and 16-year-old Serge Ngoma — both debutants — and another sub was 18-year-old Caden Clark. The 29-year-old Long was the oldest player in the starting lineup.
Even after Tom Edwards (23 years old) and new signing Luquinhas (25) arrive to provide a tad more experience, Struber will still have an extremely young squad on his hands. Maybe he’s not wrong to lower expectations for this group, and he wouldn’t be the first coach to do so for their squad.
Across town, NYCFC coach Ronny Deila did the same not that long before lifting the MLS Cup in 2021.
“We have a very young squad, the depth in this squad is not good enough to do something in MLS,” Deila told reporters during the 2021 preseason. “We need more quality players.”
Of course, Deila soon got some of that depth, and later changed his tune on the state of the squad. The same could very well happen for Struber, and it’s worth pondering whether his statements on the squad come from genuine pessimism, or are a call to action to the club’s higher ups to get more deals done.
Either way, Saturday’s result was a positive contrast to his somewhat bleak assessment of the squad.
Title hangover for NYCFC
After going unbeaten in five preseason matches and sweeping Santos de Guapiles in the CONCACAF Champions League round of 16, NYCFC looked surprisingly undercooked last weekend.
At the Galaxy, the reigning champs registered just one shot on target, losing 1-0 to a late Chicharito goal.
Perhaps being away from home (they played the second “home” leg of the CCL in Los Angeles before playing the Galaxy) caught up with the team, but it wasn’t a performance you’d expect of a group this talented.
New York City won’t play at Yankee Stadium until March 12, but they’ll at least be hopeful that Keaton Parks (who played 28 minutes last weekend) will be able to return to the starting XI soon.
Otherwise, this was one for NYCFC to forget and move on from. Deila said after the game that his team needs to be better with the ball, and for all of the half-chances the Galaxy did create, their goal came off an error from Parks.
It’s far from panic time for the champs. They visit Vancouver on Saturday.
[ad_2]