New York Red Bulls: 2017 Season Preview
Here is a look at their updated roster, major story lines, and predictions for the year ahead for the New York Red Bulls ahead of the 2017 season.
Recap of 2016
2016 saw the familiar story of a solid regular season for the New York Red Bulls. Though they didn’t win any trophies, they were the winners of the Eastern Conference for the third time in four years. The season didn’t start out that well, though. The Red Bulls lost six of the first seven games of the season. Eventual golden boot winner Bradley Wright-Phillips didn’t score a goal until late April.
Record: 16-9-9
Finishing Position: 1st in Eastern Conference
Post-season: Lost to Montreal in Eastern Conference Semifinals
Eventually, New York turned their season around, only picking up three more loses and going undefeated from July 10th to the end of the season, something that not many people expected to see after watching their early season play.
The MLS Cup Playoffs ended up being a different story. After claiming first in the East, the Red Bulls automatically qualified for the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Montreal Impact after the Canadian side beat DC United in a one game playoff. The Red Bulls ended up losing to Montreal 1-3 on aggregate ending a promising playoff run earlier than most fans expected.
Transfers Out:
- Omer Damari (end of loan)
- Karl Ouimette (contract option declined)
- Ronald Zubar (contract option declined)
- Kyle Reynish (contract expired)
- Shaun Wright-Phillips (contract expired)
- Chris Duvall (Expansion Draft- Minnesota United)
- Dax McCarty (Trade-Chicago Fire)
Transfers In:
- Dan Metzger (signed- Red Bulls II)
- Evan Louro (Homegrown player)
- Rafael Díaz (signed- Red Bulls II)
- Arun Basuljevic (Homegrown player)
- Hassan Ndam (signed- Rainbow FC)
- Amir Murillo (season long loan- San Francisco FC)
- Aaron Long (signed- Red Bulls II)
- Zeiko Lewis (SuperDraft)
- Ethan Kutler (SuperDraft)
- Jordan Scarlett (SuperDraft)
Predicted Starting XI for Opening Weekend
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Because the Red Bulls played a CONCACAF Champions League match a week and a half before opening weekend, we have a pretty good idea of what to expect come March 5th.
The back five, if you include the goalkeeper, should be no surprise. Aaron Long’s inclusion might shock some people but the reigning USL Defender of the Year received a much deserved start against the Whitecaps on Wednesday and played very well next to Collin.
The biggest question that needs to be answered is who is going to replace Dax McCarty in the midfield? On Wednesday head coach Jesse Marsch went with Sean Davis who didn’t necessarily play poorly but didn’t play all that great either. What really needs to happen in order to replace Dax McCarty is everyone taking up a bit of the workload, including Felipe, Kljestan, and Royer, all of who should be starting against Atlanta.
Up top we will have Gonzalo Veron and 2016 golden boot winner Bradley Wright-Phillips, both of which had solid games against the Whitecaps.
2017 Predictions
If we are to be brutally honest, the Red Bulls are going to struggle without Dax McCarty not only on the field, but also off the field. His leadership will be extremely hard to replace. This will cause the Red Bulls to struggle early on in the season but, similarly to last season, New York will collect themselves and make a strong end of the season push.
Qualifying for the playoffs as well as making a decent push in the postseason, though they won’t be making it to the MLS Cup Final, falling just short in the Eastern Conference Final.
Finishing Position: 2nd in the Eastern Conference
Red Bull fans should be expecting another solid season from their side but sadly this one won’t lead to an MLS Cup appearance.
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