HARRISON, N.J. – For New York Red Bulls head coach Mike Petke, the time for talking is over.
The Red Bulls will begin their busy September schedule on Saturday with the first of seven games across all competitions in a 23-day span. Five of those matches are MLS fixtures – the two others are CONCACAF Champions League bouts – that could very well determine whether New York reach the playoffs for the fifth straight year or disappointingly start their offseason early.
Currently, the Red Bulls are on the outside looking in after falling to seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They will also be quite shorthanded due to a combination of injuries and international call-ups, but none of that will be an excuse if they fail to deliver down a stretch run that begins with Saturday’s visit from slumping Sporting Kansas City (7:30 pm ET; NBCSN, stream at NBCSports.com).
“We’re at a situation that there’s no more [expletive],” said Red Bulls head coach Mike Petke. “There’s no more talking. We all realize that we need to pick up points. We had a great talk the over the last couple days, everybody’s on board, everybody knows what’s at stake, everybody knows we’re better than what we’ve shown.
“It all comes down to 90 minutes at 7:30 on Saturday night. We can talk all we want about it, but it all comes down to when that whistle blows, what are we going to do with our opportunities?”
Petke’s businesslike attitude toward the club’s final nine regular season matches has seemed to trickle down into the squad. The players are not dwelling on the laundry list of wrongs that has seen them compile a frustrating 7-8-10 record a season after winning the Supporters’ Shield with much of the same roster, and they say they’re very focused going into Saturday’s match at Red Bull Arena
They also know they can make a serious push up the standings this month, especially given that their next three opponents are all from the East.
“We don’t have to feel too sorry for ourselves, and there is a kind of an urgency here,” said New York captain Thierry Henry. “Only nine games to go, and we have to perform against teams like C, D.C., Seattle at home, [Philadelphia], and LA away, and it won’t be easy. But that’s the situation we have right now and we put ourselves in that situation, so we have to deal with it.”
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With the roster freeze date of Sept. 15 fast approaching, the Red Bulls do not seem likely to make any more moves given their tight salary situation. And both Petke and his players are fully confident in the ability of their current group to get the job done.
“It’s not tough to turn it on at all,” said Petke. “We could win three games the rest of the year and be in the playoffs. Traditionally, that’s what happens in MLS. We’re not looking at it that way, but that’s a fact.
“If we want to take things into our own hands we have to take care of our games and get points. We don’t want to rely on other teams to lose and other teams to tie. That’s not where we’re at. We have home games, and we should be able to take advantage of that.”
Franco Panizo covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached by email at Franco8813@gmail.com.
