The New York Red Bulls are coming off another home win after beating the Impact 3-1. The win itself is not as much of a story as the timing of it.
The New York Red Bulls are out of the CCL. The entire 2018 MLS so far this season has seen the Red Bulls juggle between in-league competition and the CCL. Quite honestly, they performed rather admirably in both. However, the game vs Montreal on Saturday shows us all something.
The Red Bulls shifting their entire focus to the MLS can be dangerous for everyone in the league.
It is really unique and special that soccer is one of the only sports in the world where teams play meaningful games outside of their own league. It is what makes it part of the beautiful game. The CCL run was huge for the MLS and the Red Bulls team but its end comes with a silver lining.
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The New York Red Bulls went into Saturday’s match already with the home pitch advantage. They are fantastic in Harrison and the gap is not typically close at all. That is at least true for their MLS matches.
That is how the Red Bulls only focusing on MLS matches for the next little while is better in the long-run. The Red Bulls have been saving their energy and focus on the CCL. By doing so they had to keep their top guys as fresh as possible, which in action, sometimes weakened the MLS lineups.
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Now, that is something they will not have to worry about. The Red Bulls can go back to having all their top guys on matchday. Their designated players BWP and Kaku both contributed in the win vs Montreal in big ways. This is something they are going to be doing all season long now.
The rest of the squad can shuffle more normally now and Jesse Marsch can try to be more consistent. With all focus only on the MLS, RBNY will be able to overcome their road woes.
Hopefully, this will also allow BWP to keep pursuing the MLS goal record. Kaku can also keep integrating into the line up getting full reps.
It’s not a given that New York still won’t change things up or gives guys rest. But is it a given that it is time for them to heat up in their MLS match play.
The summer is coming fast and they are going to need to start further emerging themselves as a contender in a very deep Eastern conference.
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The Red Bulls are not ready to win the CCL as awesome as that was the full-blown MLS focus is a great thing for the club right now. Watch out for the Red Bulls; they are all in now.