Following the red card to Kaku at the end of the match at Sporting Kansas City, the New York Red Bulls knew they would need to replace him in the lineup for Saturday's game against the New England Revolution.
Vincent Bezecourt, Omir Fernandez, Marc Rzatkowski could all be called upon to play centrally against the Revs at Gillette Stadium.
"We have other weapons," Head Coach Chris Armas said. "We have other guys that have proven that they can make plays and fill in with a real understanding of what we expect with and without the ball, so we've thought hard about it and we will look over it next couple days."
Whomever gets the nod will likely be playing ahead of Sean Davis and Cristian Casseres Jr. in the midfield. Keeping the momentum going following the draw in KC will be important for New York, according to Davis.
"We're happy with the performance against Kansas City, I think it's a step in the right direction," Davis said. "But now we're going to a tough place to play and it's going to be difficult, especially with their style. They have a lot on the line, they're playing at home. We know they're looking for three points. We're going to have to be prepared to match their mentality.”
The Red Bulls haven't seen a lot of success, historically, playing on the Revs' home turf. New England holds a 22-6-7 advantage when playing New York at home.
"We have a lot of good guys in the center, a lot of guys that are motivated, that have different qualities and we're not going to be able to replace Kaku with another Kaku," Davis said. "But we do have several other options in the middle of the field that I think are more than capable of stepping in and having a big game."
Recently, though, the Red Bulls have had some decent league success at Gillette Stadium, owning a 2-4-0 mark in the last six matches.
"We'll be ready to throw everything at New England," Armas said.
