It will be "all hands on deck" for the New York Red Bulls as they hit the stretch run toward the playoffs and play in the 2017 U.S. Open Cup Final over the next week, according to Head Coach Jesse Marsch.
New York hosts Philadelphia Union at home on Sunday, plays in their second Open Cup Final on Wednesday in Kansas City and have an away day in Columbus Crew SC on Saturday.
"We’ll definitely have a strategy," Marsch said on Tuesday on how he's preparing his team for two MLS games and a chance for hardware. "This week is going to involve partly preparing for Kansas City and partly preparing for Philadelphia. They won’t be two different groups – there will be overlap – but we’ll come up where exactly guys are at physically and determine who can regenerate and go again, and again, and again."
Marsch said the team will mix and match players as needed.
"We have to think about how we rotate," Marsch said. "I’m trying to figure out how to compliment the right players on the field at the right time."
Midfielder Felipe said that this game has been on the team's mind since preseason started in January.
"We’ve talked about this game since January," Felipe said. "This is our goal. To get the U.S. Open Cup. To get the MLS Cup. It’s a great opportunity for our fans, for our team and for our club."
"It’s a very, very good opportunity to bring home a Cup," he said.
