The New York Red Bulls head up to Foxborough to take on the New England Revolution in a game between a team fighting for playoff position and a team with players fighting for their 2013 starting positions. Despite their loss to Sporting KC this past Wednesday, New York is still in the hunt for the playoffs and MLS Cup, though the Supporter’s Shield is probably beyond reach. New England, on the other hand, is already eliminated from playoff contention but their players are fighting to show Jay Heaps who belongs with the club for future seasons.
The Red Bulls will be playing on field turf that head coach Hans Backe had less than pleasant things to say about. They will also be playing without their captain in Thierry Henry. Henry, while having an aversion to turf more than people did of rats in the dark ages, has been suspended one game for his apparent head butt of Sporting KC’s Kei Kamara. Henry has traveled with the team for support but he will not be suiting up in the visitors’ locker room. Shockingly, however, is the fact that Rafa Marquez has traveled and is expected to play in Saturday’s match. Marquez is recovering from multiple injuries suffered this season and has only sat for 30 minutes of the two matches this past week. The combination of the turf and injury recovery caused questions as to whether or not the Mexican would play in fear of aggravating his calf injury. Backe, speaking to reporters on Friday, also said that Lloyd Sam could go 45-60 minutes but would probably not start the match. Sam made his home debut against SKC ad impressed with his ability to take players on and deliver multiple pinpoint crosses into the box.
Where does that leave Backe with his starting XI? Surely he can’t play McCarty out wide again while Tainio and Marquez play in the defensive portion of midfield. Also, the back four has become stagnant, slow, and tired over this harrowing week and is due for a bit of fresh legs (hello Brandon Barklage). Seeing as New York are on the road, Backe will likely revert to his Sir Alex Ferguson European tactics and play a 4-5-1, with any combination of midfielders and strikers out of position. With only five matches remaining before playoffs, now is when Backe needs to show that he is not going to be crazy and start putting players in positions they are uncomfortable in. No longer can I sit back and pick what Backe’s starting XI will be for he has become unpredictable in every facet of his lineup. There are still too many unanswered questions about the Red Bulls lineup this late in the season. Ultimately it could doom them down the stretch run but right now they should be worried about taking points from the Revs at Gillette.
The Revolution are no longer in playoff contention and that makes them a very dangerous team, especially playing at home against New York who has not pulled a full three points out of Gillette since 2002. In 18 matches now, New York is a mind boggling 0-13-5. I may have said the Red Bulls have not pulled 3 points from New England since 2002 but that’s a lie; the Red Bulls did not exist as a franchise back in 2002, they were still the Metrostars. Jay Heaps roster selection, which hasn’t been as bad as Backe, has still had fans scratching their heads. Benny Feilhaber, who has played in World Cup matches for the USMNT, has lately been riding the pine more than stepping onto the pitch. Same is the case for Lee Ngueyn, who though has played a bit more than Benny, it has been as a sub role or to come off early in matches. New England will be without Saer Sene (injury) who stretched the backline of New York in both meetings so far this season as well as midfielder Ryan Guy (international duty). New England still has too explosive forwards in Jerry Bengston and Diego Fagundez. Bengston made his MLS debut against NY in early July and opened his scoring account and Fagundez can be a beast of speed and skill when he is having an on night. That is a scary combination if you are a Red Bull fan looking at how tired our backline looks. Lastly, Bill Gaudette is looking lost at times on his line and New England can easily exploit that. Ryan Meara’s last game this season was in New England and he hesitated many times to come off his line due to his hip injury slowing him down. After Wednesday night’s performance on set pieces, it’s safe to say everyone on the Red Bulls needs to do better, especially Gaudette. Controlling his box against the long-range efforts of Nguyen and Feilhaber will go a long way in keeping New England off the score sheet.
No Henry, the curse of Gillette, coupled with the performance this past Wednesday gives little hope to New York fans that their team can pull a result Saturday night. This squad has showed that they can, however, surprise you from time to time. Hopefully against New England, Hans Backe and his team have such a surprise ready. If not for the fans, they need it to keep pace in the east’s tight playoff race.
(image courtesy of newyorkredbulls.com)
