NYCFC celebration post gives Red Bulls bulletin board material for #NYderby

HANOVER, N.J. – A picture taken after the last meeting of the #NYderby might be the bulletin board material that the struggling New York Red Bulls need heading into Sunday’s match against New York City FC (1 pm ET; FOX in the US, TSN in Canada).

Following NYCFC’s 2-0 win at Yankee Stadium on July 3, the squad took a now infamous photo in their locker room following their first win in the fledgling derby:

The photo showed the entire team celebrating the win, a move that was criticized on social media as being too much hype following a regular season win. But given the way NYCFC lost in the last meeting, a 7-0 dismantling by the Red Bulls at Yankee Stadium a month earlier, the win helped to exorcise that last defeat.

And now for the Red Bulls and head coach Jesse Marsch, that image will be front and center on Sunday ahead of the third and final meeting between these two New York sides.

“Listen that picture is going up, that picture of them in the locker room is going up. We’re going to take a look at that. We’re going to remind ourselves how that game was, how that felt,” Marsch said.

“And we’re going to be ready for a huge challenge. As much as it is them beating us it is also the fact that they’re a better team right now. They’re first in the East. In all ways, if we want our season to add up the way we want it to, we’ve got to take care of big games like this.”

Marsch added that “we’re going to put the game on our terms and find a way to get three points.” Sunday’s match will be the first time this year that these two sides have met at what is expected to be a sold-out Red Bull Arena.

Before the NYCFC win in July, the Red Bulls had won their first four meetings in the rivalry by a combined 14-2 scoreline. They had two shutouts during that stretch.