HANOVER, N.J. – Must-win territory means all hands on deck for the New York Red Bulls. Well, almost all.
The Red Bulls are temporarily shifting their focus away from league play as they get set to visit El Salvador for Wednesday’s CONCACAF Champions League meeting with CD FAS. New York have to emerge victorious to prevent elimination from Group 3, and that is why head coach Mike Petke is leaning toward fielding a few more regulars than he did last week when a reserve-laden team fell to the group-leading Montreal Impact, 1-0, at Stade Saputo.
“Ninety percent of the roster, maybe even a little more, will be traveling tomorrow,” said Petke after Monday’s light practice at Red Bulls Training Facility. “There’s very few exceptions, but I’m going to put out the best team that I can and it’s not going to be the same as Montreal.
“… We must win this game, so we’re taking it as that. Obviously, there’s still players that we need to be intelligent with and we’re going to do that, but at the end of the day, the Montreal game gave me a great taste in my mouth for a lot of those [reserve] players. But we need to get some experience in there as well, absolutely.”
The veterans Petke is considering to sprinkle into the lineup are unknown, but New York could start the likes of Tim Cahill and Peguy Luyindula after they saw little and no action, respectively, in Saturday’s 4-1 dismantling of the Seattle Sounders.
In any case, the Red Bulls know they will have to come out sharp from the first minute against a CD FAS team that will be looking to give New York a taste of their own medicine after being prematurely eliminated from the competition in last month’s 2-0 defeat at Red Bull Arena.
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It might be tempting for the MLS club to draw a lot of conclusions from that match given how they dominated from the run of play. Petke, however, is not putting much stock into that game, especially since CD FAS will be playing with nothing to lose in front of their home crowd.
“I know they had players that didn’t travel with them, their coach didn’t even get into the country,” said Petke. “I don’t take much from that. I take that we get a good victory, 2-0. Having said that, I don’t expect the same type of team. I expect a better team, and it’s on us to be up for that game.”
Franco Panizo covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached by email at Franco8813@gmail.com.
