Generally speaking, I am not a fan of labeling specific games “must win” for teams as realistically in the course of a 30+ game season, there shouldn’t be one game in particular a team needs to win in order to make or break their season, with the obvious exception of final day dramatics where a team can literally make or break their season with one game. That being said though, as the Red Bulls return home this weekend after another disappointing road performance, the game on Saturday against the Fire really should be a win. And frankly, the Red Bulls need to start picking up three points from games if they are to avoid a disastrous campaign which could see them not even make the playoffs.
Having said that, its important to take each game as they come and not look ahead to or view things through too large a perspective. The reality is the Red Bulls are playing at home in a very winnable game against the Chicago Fire. No disrespect to their squad, but they are last place in the weaker Eastern Conference and, like the Red Bulls, have only won away from home once all season. Despite the injuries to Rodgers, Rost and Tainio, the Red Bulls, though overall lacking depth, have solid replacements for these positions. Coundoul should be set to start in goal and personally I still have confidence in him and felt he was hard done by when he lost his starting spot earlier in the season when Sutton returned from his concussion. Obviously Agudelo can start up top along side Henry and although he is quite a different player than Luke Rodgers, he still is quality and could probably start for many other MLS sides. Finally, Tainio is the hardest to replace in the midfield, although he may be set to return this weekend, which would certainly help the team.
The last time these two teams met, they played to a very average, uninspired 1-1 draw. We have seen at times this year the magic the Red Bulls can produce on their night. Specifically the Red Bulls came off a bad loss to DC and followed this game up with a home game against TFC roughly a month ago. On that night, they put forth perhaps their best performance all season with a 5-0 drubbing of TFC. A bottom of the table team travels to Red Bull Arena to play a Red Bulls team that needs to pick up three points – there are some similarities between the two games, so hopefully the Red Bulls will again be able to find their top gear in a strong performance against the Fire. We will see on Saturday night as the game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 Eastern Time from Red Bull Arena.
(image courtesy of Getty Images)
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