With Sporting KC wrapping up a two-game East coast road trip on Saturday at New York, I caught up with Red Bulls beat writer for MLSsoccer.com Franco Panizo, to preview the match. The match will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturda with live coverage available on the NBC Sports Network, Sports Radio 810 WHB, and La Gran D 1340 AM.
Jonathon Feyerherm:
What is the Red Bulls form heading into
Saturday’s
match?
Franco Panizo:
The New York Red Bulls are heading into this match vs. Sporting Kansas City in the same inconsistent manner that has them on the outside of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference right now. The Red Bulls went 2-2 in August, and once again struggled to avoid the kind of self-inflicted errors that have cost them so many precious points this season.
New York tends to play very well inside of Red Bull Arena, but even that has not proven to produce a recipe for success this year. The club has not been able to win at home with the same frequency of seasons past, but Mike Petke still has the side determined to pick up three points on Saturday night.
JF:
This match features two of the top goalscorers in MLS in Sporting KC’s Dom Dwyer and New York’s Bradley Wright-Phillips. What do you expect to see from both players in this match?
FP:
I expect to see a very hungry Dom Dwyer. Not only is the competitive forward returning from a one-game suspension, but he is going up against a Red Bulls team that boasts league-leading scorer Bradley Wright-Phillips and could close the gap on the Golden Boot race with a big performance.
I'd expect Wright-Phillips to have a number of chances in this match. That is, if he plays. The Englishman suffered an undisclosed knock in training on Wednesday and was held out of practice on Thursday. Petke has said that Wright-Phillips will be available to start against Sporting KC, but it remains to be seen if the striker is actually deemed healthy enough to give it a go from the opening whistle.
JF:
Are there any injury concerns for New York ahead of this match?
FP:
Aside from the aforementioned Wright-Phillips injury, the Red Bulls are without Bobby Convey (deviated septum) and Kosuke Kimura (hamstring) is a question mark. That would normally not be too much of a problem given that they are depth players, but New York's roster is thin right now due to a number of international call-ups. Tim Cahill, Ambroise Oyongo and Matt Miazga are all with respective national teams, and that has left the club low on available bodies for this one.
JF:
What are you expecting to be the key match-ups and factors for the match?
FP:
The midfield is often talked about as the area where games are decided and I expect that to hold true in this one. While both sides have talented strikers capable of punishing defenses for even the smallest hiccups, it is the midfielders who will likely determine who wins. The key for both clubs will be to try and have their midfield cut off the service to the opposition's frontmen while also protecting defenses that have not been all that convincing in recent weeks.
JF:
Finally, what are you looking forward to seeing from
Saturday’s
match?
FP:
Potentially seeing two top goal-scorers in Wright-Phillips and Dwyer try and lead their team's against one another is intriguing, but I'm looking forward to more of the responses from each of the two clubs. New York needs to win in order to climb back into a postseason spot, and Kansas City has to put a stop to their slight freefall in order to prevent further frustration from settling in at a crucial point in the season.
The clubs tend to battle when they meet, and this one will be especially hard-fought given their current situations.
