The New York Red Bulls did nearly everything right in their 2024 Major League Soccer season-opening 0-0 draw at Nashville on Sunday night except score.
It was an eerily similar issue compared to last season — New York was one of the worst goal-scoring teams in the Eastern Conference — but first-year head coach Sandro Schwarz is not here to talk about last year. He was incredibly pleased with his team’s showing. They held nearly 56% of the possession and outshot Nashville 16-5. Expected goals were in New York’s favor 1.5-0.2.
“I’m very satisfied with the performance, about the control… we created chances,” Schwarz, the German gaffer formerly of Mainz and Hertha Berlin, said. “Believe me, I’m not frustrated about that…. We have to develop this, we had so many situations in the last third so this is what we have to continue to do.”
Satisfaction would have been even stronger had some bounces gone the Red Bulls’ way.
But they were dashed by the woodwork on three separate occasions. Striker Dante Vanzeir’s acrobatic chip after being played in on goal from a brilliant over-the-top pass from New York’s half by defender Noah Eile hit the post in the 22nd minute.
Midfielder Frankie Amaya’s sweet strike from 25 yards out beat Nashville keeper Joe Willis but struck off the crossbar. Superstar Swedish winger Emil Forsberg, making his MLS debut and captain’s debut after a decade in Germany, also found that very same crossbar from nearly the same spot on a free kick 11 minutes later.
Schwarz described the chances as “unlucky,” while Forsberg appears to be preparing for the scoring floodgates — or that stubborn, full glass bottle of ketchup where nothing is coming out — to flow soon given how his team played. He deserves much of the credit given his orchestrating abilities in the midfield which built a menacing-looking attack.
“We played a really good game. We were controlling the game, we played fast… we wanted to move them, we created chances,” Forsberg said. “As long as you do that, in the end, you’re going to score. The guys are going to score and then we’re going to have what we call ‘a ketchup effect.’ It’s like a domino release. It’s going to come, the goals are going to come.
“Keep pushing, keep believing. We need to be happy about the game we had.”
A lot of the onus is going to fall on the shoulders of Vanzeir and Elias Manoel, the two forwards who will attempt to fill the void of a true “No. 9” striker that the club has lacked in recent years.
More polish will be necessary, but given how the Red Bulls managed to dissect a Nashville defense that allowed the fewest goals in MLS last season, the chances will be there.
“We have to work on our finishing to get that better,” Forsberg said. “Of course, we’re disappointed about the 0-0 because we had a lot more in us but in the end, [the goals are] going to come, I’m sure of it.”
