The second installment of this year’s Atlantic Cup takes place Sunday evening at Red Bull Arena in the penultimate game of the regular season. The visitors, D.C. United, will arrive in New Jersey with three consecutive victories and three consecutive shutouts, breathing life back into what looked like a motionless season. While the home side, New York Red Bulls, have stitched together two straight wins and two straight shutouts against a pair of quality opponents: the Portland Timbers and the Philadelphia Union.
It’s rather fitting, then, that two teams so close in the standings — they’re separated by 1 point — and with such parallel storylines for the final month of the season should meet with playoff scenarios to decide. The winner of Sunday’s match becomes the overwhelming favorite to earn a home game in the first round of the MLS playoffs.
“The New York game always has a little punch to it, but now it has even a little bit more zip with both teams looking to keep that momentum and shoot for that home game in the playoffs,” coach Ben Olsen said. “This would be a big step to getting that game that we want here at Audi Field. It doesn’t lock it up, but it certainly would help us keep on moving forward.”
Here’s what you need to know before kickoff:
Opponent: New York Red Bulls
Record: 14 wins, 13 losses, 5 draws
Standings: Fifth place in the Eastern Conference
Last match: Win, 2-0, vs. Philadelphia Union
Head coach: Chris Armas; first full season; overall record of 29 wins, 21 losses, 8 draws
Armas was named head coach of the Red Bulls on July 6, 2018, following three and a half seasons as an assistant for the club during which he worked primarily with the attacking players. His prior coaching experience included stints as an assistant with the Chicago Fire, in 2008, and as the head coach of the women’s soccer team at his alma mater, Adelphi University, from 2011-14. Armas enjoyed a storied playing career in Major League Soccer as a standout for the Fire. He started 260 of his 264 career games and finished with 12 goals and 48 assists. He served as the Fire’s captain from 2003-07 and was named to the MLS All-Star team six times. Armas also made 66 appearances for the U.S. men’s national team and scored two goals.
Theme to watch: Physicality of the Red Bulls
When the Red Bulls snagged a 2-1 victory over United at Audi Field last month, Olsen was critical of his team during the first 15 or 20 minutes of the game, during which time the visitors took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Alejandro Romero. Olsen believed the Black-and-Red failed to match the physicality and intensity of the Red Bulls in the opening stanza, and the result was exactly the kind of early deficit that plagued United during its summer skid.
Among the hallmarks of New York’s style is a relentless defensive press designed to force turnovers in the opposition’s half of the field. Their goal is to harass teams into making mistakes in dangerous areas to generate easy scoring opportunities.
Predictably, the Red Bulls lead the league in possessions won in the final third with 199 and are tied for third in fouls draw in that same area with 100. They also rank second in the league in interceptions with 393. Perhaps most impressively, New York sits atop Major League Soccer in total duels with 3,928 and leads that category by a whopping 404 over second-place Los Angeles FC.
“It helps to have played them once,” Olsen said. “Every time you play them for the first time, they’re unique in what they do and how high they press and how little time you have on the ball. So it’s always a little bit of a shock to the system, the first 20 minutes when you play them each year because there’s new guys coming in and seeing it for the first time.
“The fact that we saw it helps, but the concepts of how to go about it are still the same and you still have to be sharp, still have to be physical in the duels. But you also have to understand when to play, and play quickly, and get to the other side as quick as possible. Punish them for some of the aggression if you’re stretching them at the right times and good with the ball in some tight spaces. So it’s a balance.”
How well United handles New York’s pressure, and then escapes from it, will go a long way toward deciding Sunday’s game. Finding ways to combat that style of play was a central theme of training during the week.
Stat to know: United among league leaders in clean sheets
The backbone of the Black-and-Red’s three-game winning streak has been sublime defensive performances rooted in structure, discipline, communication and aerial dominance. And suddenly, after a stretch in which United allowed 12 goals in the preceding five games, there is genuine security in front of goalkeeper Bill Hamid, who is enjoying arguably the best season of his career.
United now ranks second in the league in clean sheets with 12, trailing only Atlanta United, who have 14.
“We have momentum, and that’s a good thing,” midfielder Paul Arriola said, “especially after our midseason form. These last three games have been great. Obviously they put us into a playoff spot, and it’s nice to be in the type of form that we are now.
“But I said it before: The more important thing is kind of finding our form and our identity. And I think right now our identity is — we’re not quite there yet, but we’re pretty dang close, especially compared to three games back when we were questioning what type of team we were. So I’m really happy with that, I’m really happy with all the players. You see the energy and the fight that everyone has, the will and the determination, whether it’s offensively or defensively, it’s been great. We’re looking forward to finishing off the season strong.”
The ability to string together strong defensive performances has placed United in the upper echelon of MLS this season. There are only four teams who have kept at least three consecutive clean sheets in 2019 — Atlanta, the Chicago Fire, LAFC and United — but the Black-and-Red are one of only two squads to accomplish that feat twice, with LAFC being the other.
The first trio of shutouts came in the opening three matches of the season: a 2-0 win over Atlanta; a 0-0 draw with New York City FC; and a 5-0 romp over Real Salt Lake. While the most recent trio is what’s launching United toward the playoffs with a renewed sense of confidence.
“Everyone is showing up on the defensive end and everyone is giving max concentration, max effort when we don’t have the ball, and that’s a good start,” Olsen said. “We’ve defended the box very, very well. Our understanding of who we are defensively has been much better over the last couple weeks. We’ve also made a lot of little plays: blocks and tackles and all these little things (that) add up, these extra effort plays, helping the next guy, doubling down in isolations. It’s effort, it’s focus and it’s just doing a little bit more without the ball. If we can continue that, it’s a good foundation to have for success.
“We also still have to find that balance. Over the course of the game, there’s still stretches where we’re bending a little bit too much. And now just finding that balance of still making those other teams work, being a little bit more dangerous on the counter when we are in that low block structure, I think, can improve. Taking care of the ball when we do win it back. And some of these teams that are pushing and the numbers are very aggressive, it’s about punishing them on the other side. That part, I think, can get much better.”
From April 27 to May 15, Atlanta posted five consecutive shutouts in wins over the Colorado Rapids, Sporting Kansas City, Toronto FC, Orlando City and the Vancouver Whitecaps. It’s the longest streak in MLS this season and the only streak in excess of three games.
But with two matches remaining in the regular season, United has a chance to match Atlanta’s early defensive dominance.
“A tough team to beat, a defensively committed group that looks after each other,” Olsen said. “And then we have some guys that can make plays on the offensive end. Once we establish our structure and how we want to go about the game without the ball, now it’s been — over the last two weeks — about how we get better with the ball.
“Again, I know it’s a little strange to still be solidifying who you are as a team this late in the season, but with the injuries and adjustments tactically over the course of the year, and then adding some new pieces into the mix, it’s been that type of season. And now we find ourselves in the postseason, which is the first goal to holding any silverware. And I’m proud of these guys that they put themselves in this situation, but I think there’s more. I think there was an expectation that we would be in the postseason and that this team is hopefully ready for more.”
Player to watch: Daniel Royer, winger
So long the tormentor of Black-and-Red fans everywhere, striker Bradley Wright-Phillips is fading into the background for the Red Bulls at 34 years old. Wright-Phillips, who entered the season having scored 10 goals in his last 11 games against United, is playing the role of super sub and averaging 33.5 minutes per game since returning from injury June 28. He’s started only two matches during that stretch and has but one goal and three assists to his name.
Supplanting Wright-Phillips as the primary talisman is winger Daniel Royer, who is enjoying the best season of his career. The 2019 campaign marks the third consecutive year in which Royer has reached double-digit goals — 11 so far in ’19, 11 in ’18 and 12 in ’17 — and he has nearly doubled his assist tally from the last two years combined, with 8 this season and five total in ’17 and ’18. He also ranks tied for fifth in the league in shots on target with 37 and scored the winning goal against United last month, beating goalkeeper Bill Hamid from the penalty spot.
Royer enters Sunday’s game on a bit of hot streak, having scored in each of his last two matches to break a three-game scoreless streak. He tapped home a pass from Wright-Phillips in the 95th-minute against the Union last weekend and, four days earlier, scored from the penalty spot in stoppage time after coming on as a substitute.
In total, Royer has now tallied a goal or an assist in each of the last three games.
