HANOVER, N.J. – The New York Red Bulls have nothing to lose and everything to gain, but that does not mean they will be overly gung-ho in their approach to their regular season finale.
New York are entering their road matchup Sunday with Eastern Conference rival Sporting Kansas City (8:30 pm ET; ESPN2) with the luxury of knowing they can only help, not hurt, their place in the standings.
The Red Bulls currently sit in fifth and can only move up the table following this weekend’s final round of games, but do not expect head coach Mike Petke to deviate from his usual tactics. Especially not when a chance to move into third or fourth place is at stake.
“There’s a lot on the line. We could possibly jump to third place,” Petke said after practice on Friday. “Are we going to go out and be aggressive? Well, we’re going to be aggressive in the spots that we feel that we should be. We’re not going to go into Kansas City and try to high press them and bully them.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s the first game of the season or the last. Things like that don’t usually translate. There’ll be times when we have to press them, but our game plan is what’s gotten us success on the road for two years.”
Sticking to their usual strategy seems like a good idea for the Red Bulls given that they have yet to lose to Sporting KC this season. New York played Kansas City to a 1-1 draw in their first meeting this season at Sporting Park in May and then defeated Peter Vermes’ men 2-1 at Red Bull Arena last month.
Plenty has changed for both sides since those games were played, but one factor that should benefit the Red Bulls is that Sporting will be on shorter rest. They had a CONCACAF Champions League fixture in Costa Rica on Wednesday and suffered a 2-0 loss to Deportivo Saprissa that eliminated the MLS club from the competition.
“I’m assuming they’re going to be a little tired, but they’re a very good team at home,” said Petke. “The status on [injured Benny Feilhaber] is unknown. I know they said he has an ankle sprain, and I don’t wish him to be hurt. But little things like that we’re paying attention to.
“Listen, Kansas City is very good at what they do. They’re a high-tempo team. They’re good with the ball, and they push numbers forward. We need to be aware of that. … We’re anticipating a huge fight, and it’s going to be a battle.”
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One position where there is a bit of uncertainty is at center back. Starter Ibrahim Sekagya has recovered from his groin injury and trained in full on Friday. He might not be game fit after spending much of the past two weeks doing individual work.
Armando would normally fill in for him but is suspended due to yellow card accumulation. That leaves Damien Perrinelle, Matt Miazga and Roy Miller as options that could fill in centrally if Sekagya is not deemed ready enough by Saturday.
“Ibra has a little bit of an issue, but he made it through the practice. We need to look at a 90-minute scenario, though,” said Petke. “If we don’t feel like he can go 90 minutes, then we’re going to have to make an adjustment.”
Franco Panizo covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached by email at Franco8813@gmail.com.
