The New York Red Bulls lost just their second game of the preseason after falling to Phoenix Rising, 2-1, on Wednesday afternoon.
Tom Barlow scored the Red Bulls’ only goal of the day after finding a good cross sent from Rece Buckmaster.
“Getting an assist is good, but I mean we want to win,” Buckmaster said, who got his second assist of the preseason. “I knew Tom and Brian [White] would be in there, so I just played it across, and Tom was there to finish.”
Minutes before Barlow’s goal, Jared Stroud struck a right-footed shot that hit the post. New York headed into halftime tied 1-1.
For the second half, Head Coach Chris Armas started to make changes to the starting line-up, and players such as Cristian Cásseres Jr., Omir Fernandez, Kaku, Roy Boateng, Kyle Zajec, Mathias Jørgensen, Kyle Duncan and Patrick Seagrist saw playing time.
After a good cross from Cásseres Jr., Seagrist almost scored the goal that could have leveled the game at 2-2. The young left back is finding these first weeks with the Red Bulls very helpful as he adapts to the team’s demands.
“The longer that time comes, every little detail matters,” Seagrist said. “Just being able to learn from what coaches are telling you, veteran players are telling you, and just being able to apply that in the field, each and every day. Also, being able to think quicker with the details you’re given.”
One of the main takeaways from the defeat is that the team will have to master the idea of going from 100% to 70% in order to calm the game down. Seagrist took note of it as the game against Phoenix neared its end.
“Chris [Armas] mentions calming down is going 100 to 70,” Seagrist said. “As bad as we want to go quickly and score, sometimes we lose quality. It’s important to bring that high pace down to 70%, being able to play calmly and then have better quality, whether it’s two, three, four touches to connect and draw the opponents out of place.”
New York’s next game in Arizona will be against the Houston Dynamo on February 15.
Scrimmage vs. Phoenix Rising by New York Red Bulls on Exposure
