HARRISON, NJ — Matches do not get much bigger for the New York Red Bulls than Saturday night.
Entering Matchday 35, the team was clinging to fourth place in the Eastern Conference with just three points separating it from its rivals, NYCFC, which was seventh. Three points in the Hudson River Derby would have provided some vital breathing room in hopes of clinching home-field advantage for the first round of the MLS playoffs.
Such hopes unraveled almost instantaneously at the start of the Hudson River Derby at Red Bull Arena.
Within 10 minutes, the Red Bulls trailed NYCFC 2-0 behind two heinous mistakes at the back — one from goalkeeper Carlos Coronel who passed the ball in his own box to New York City’s Maxi Moralez in the fifth minute and another two minutes later when Daniel Edelman’s backpass played Alonso Martinez in alone on goal.
The Red Bulls never recovered, losing 5-1. With just one win in their last 11 matches, they have now sunk to sixth in the East, though they got some help elsewhere with Chicago’s draw of Toronto FC clinching a 15th straight playoff appearance for New York.
“That was a tough result, especially after seven, eight minutes with those individual mistakes,” head coach Sandro Schwarz said. “It was a tough, tough game today.”
Perhaps the only other saving grace outside of backing into the playoffs for the struggling Red Bulls, which has not won an MLS game since July 20, is that they will be able to burn the tape of losing so handily to their geographic rival. They travel to Toronto on Wednesday for a quick turnaround.
“It’s a good point that we have the next game in four days instead of seven or eight days,” Schwarz said. “That’s what we have to analyze, the situation… how we can solve it and then get the reaction on the field that we need in Toronto.”
Perhaps the biggest issue that is plaguing the club is what is happening away from Red Bull Arena. Schwarz alluded to difficulties getting in the correct mindset leading up to big games.
“For me, it’s more about how we handle the situation and the pressure: How we feel in some moments now before the game, maybe big games like this,” Schwarz said. “This is what we have to analyze and develop for our next game.”
Part of it has to do with the Red Bulls’ overall inexperience. They have the youngest roster in MLS alongside NYCFC, with an average age of 23.9—though that number would significantly drop when you take out the likes of 32-year-old star midfielder Emil Forsberg, who returned to the field for the first time in three months on Saturday after dealing with a lower-leg injury.
“I don’t want to talk about the reasons… this is a new situation for us,” Schwarz said. “This is a young team that has to handle it… Too many draws and then also to lose this game… we missed these points. When you see the big picture now, you see these points you missed.”
This recent run of form has certainly created an abundance of uncertainty for the Red Bulls despite their getting into the playoffs once again—and rightfully so. Through their first 16 games of the season, they accumulated 29 points. In the last 15 games, they’ve mustered just 15.
So when Red Bulls supporters held up a banner in the 65th minute of Saturday night’s blowout loss that read “NOT GOOD ENOUGH,” Schwarz empathized with them.
“We’re very disappointed about the result, about the mistakes, about the behavior because it’s a derby,” he said. “…We are very angry about that… I can understand the supporters. We lost a big game and a derby but we didn’t lose the whole season. This is very important for us as a team [to remember].”
Time is running out for things to be salvaged, though. Just three games remain in the regular season before potentially having to hit the road for the playoffs.
