The New York Red Bulls are finishing up a three-match road swing where they almost grabbed a comeback point from New England, Got a point to stay unbeaten in Atlanta, and now will try to earn three points as they take on Orlando City at their purple palace on Church Street.
Before the international break came back around the end of May, the Red Bulls took down a red hot Orlando City side that was without Daryl Dike who was at the time on loan with English side Barnsley and was without Nani as he was serving a two-game suspension for touching the referee in a road match at Audi Field against DC United. But this time it won’t be the case as Nani will be ready for the game, but since Daryl Dike has been called into the CONCACAF Gold Cup squad by US Men’s National Team head coach Gregg Berhalter.
“I think that’s t’s going to be a tough game on Saturday. The roster from Orlando is very good tactically, and technically. They have some outstanding key players like Nani, and with Dike, he showed in the last few months in the championships in England,” said Gerhart Struber, “His abilities with and without the ball speak very loudly and it will be a tough game.
“But we have a plan and we have the right attitude and the right focus, we hope we can pick up the points down in Orlando and make it a very strong game against them down at their home.”
The Red Bulls are happy that they didn’t lose any players for the upcoming Gold Cup tournament coming within a week as Frankie Amaya, Kyle Duncan, and Caden Clark were picked on the provisional roster, but never made the permanent squad, but the one player I know that the Red Bulls are happy to get back is Venezuelan International Midfielder Cristian Casserers Jr. who has returned from Copa America Duty.
When he transferred to the Red Bulls Casserers was showing his abilities as a strong defensive midfielder, being paired up with Sean Davis, since he has been moved up into an offensive role as a winger in the midfield, Casserers Jr, has scored three times and his last goal was a stunner with a free-kick smash in their home match against Orlando City. His game was missed when he went into international duty.
“I think Cristian is special in the defense structure with a high discipline, his personal behavior in the pressing and counter-pressing moments are on another level, and he’s a hard worker from the opening second to the last second.” Said Struber, “The other philosophy that we see is his attitude of never giving up, and your principles are very, very important. His play is very, very important and gives confidence to our team.
“He can win balls in very difficult moments back in our team, and also in situations when there is chaos, especially in the last two games when he was with us in our belief in football. He’s cleaner and played in the last third how he helps creates chances. Free kicks as well. He’s not just an important player for us, but he is a fantastic human being as well.”
Ever since John Tolkin was given an opportunity o play as a wingback on the backline, he looks like he hasn’t fallen out of place, nor favor as his defensive prowess has really been strong, and fluid. In his last match down at Mercedes Benz Stadium, Toilkin played a solid left-back by stopping Atlanta United from crossing the ball into the area with some solid defensive play. So far it looks like the future for Tolkin is looking better and better for the New Jersey homegrown product.
“Everybody did a great job in the last game against Atlanta, everyone did a great job. That 3-5-2 gave us a little wiggle room in the back, It gives us a little more defensive help.” said John Tolkin, “But every game the principles stay the same, and the aggression stays the same.” said John Tolkin, You can see we are improving the game in and game out, from the New England game to the Atlanta game, we had a lot of positives on the road, so we hope to bring that into the next game at Orlando.
“It’s pretty crazy Nani and those guys. You have to stay focused at all times, It’s really going to be tough, I think we can handle it and we have to go out there to get some points.”
we all know that Orlando City will be looking for revenge after earning their first defeat of the season back on May 29th, as they fell to the Red Bulls by a final of two goals to one, but let’s see if the kids can continue to spoil the party for the purple & gold, then they can really start a positive streak on the road, and earn plenty of points on the road.