HARRISON, N.J. – A convincing road win. A three-game unbeaten streak. Playing at home against a burnt-out and battered opponent.
The New York Red Bulls could look at any number of favorable factors going into Thursday night’s Eastern Conference Knockout Round match against Sporting Kansas City (match preview). But the Red Bulls know all too well how different and difficult the postseason can be.
The Red Bulls will host Sporting Kansas City on Thursday night (8 pm ET, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes in US, TSN1 in Canada) just four days after New York picked up a thorough 2-0 win at Kansas City in the regular-season finale to claim home-field advantage in this rematch.
Which team will win in the Knockout Round?
Red Bulls coach Mike Petke’s team is not overanalyzing that triumph, however, nor are the East's No. 4 seeds pounding their chests after posting a 2-0-1 record in 2014 against the reigning MLS Cup champions.
Despite Sporting's fatigue, the Red Bulls are preparing for a team that is still talented, experienced and capable enough to punish New York.
“I do believe that, obviously, when you play the amount of games they played, you’re going to be somehow tired along the way, but [this] is a playoff game and it’s do or die,” said Red Bulls captain Thierry Henry. “I have a lot of respect for Kansas City as a team. They’re a team that knows what it takes to win. Obviously they showed it last year – we haven’t done that yet – so you have to give them their respect but also know you can beat them.
“It’s another game. You can’t look at what we’ve done against them during the season. It’s going to be a different game, and you’ve seen so many games that maybe at the end of the games, since I’ve been here, you could have said, ‘How did we lose it,’ but we lost it. Let’s not have the same feeling on Thursday.”
Henry, who did not play Sunday because of Achilles injuries but is expected to suit up Thursday, also noted that beating the same opponent twice in consecutive meetings is very difficult and that Kansas City will not be traveling back from Costa Rica, as they were prior to Sunday’s game.
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That said, the Red Bulls are still in better form than Kansas City. They won three out of their four matches in October and six out of nine since September, a stark comparison to Sporting KC side that won just two of their 10 MLS games during the last two months of the regular season.
A big reason for New York’s recent success: Petke’s decision to switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation that helps make up for the club’s defensive shortcomings. That adjustment, though, is not the only thing responsible for the Red Bulls’ resurgence.
“I think we’ve made the necessary improvements in the locker room and the necessary improvements mentally as a team to put us over the hump in terms of starting games the right way, in terms of being mentally ready from the opening whistle,” said midfielder Dax McCarty. “That certainly has changed from early in the season until now. We realize that the past couple of years we’ve made the playoffs and we’ve kind of dropped a big dud every first round. It seems like we have a mental block, whatever it may be, in terms of getting out of the first round and making a deep run in the playoffs.
“We could talk all we want about how much talent we have and how we should be competing for trophies and championships, but unless we go out on the field and actually do it and prove it, it’s all BS. It doesn’t mean anything. I think mentally, we’re in the right frame of mind. We’re positive, we’re confident.”
As confident as they might be, the Red Bulls know full well that they will need another complete performance to avoid extending a somewhat perplexing stat: They are winless in playoff games (0-4) at Red Bull Arena.
“I think we can build off that performance against Kansas City defensively,” said McCarty. “Every single defender had, I thought, one of their best games of the season, and I thought the midfield did a good job helping out getting a shutout. … We know we’re going to be able to score goals, we know our attack is always going to create chances. If we can keep shutouts and keep teams from getting as many chances as they’ve been getting, I think we’re in good position to make a very deep postseason run.”
Franco Panizo covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached by email at Franco8813@gmail.com.
