looking at sunday's playoff game

Image via Wikipediathe red bulls are heading down texas way this weekend to face the houston dynamo in the second leg of their playoff series. after a heart-breaking late goal tied the game at giants stadium, the red bulls go into houston needing to win outright to advance to the next round. here's what i think they need to do:

1. play aggressively. the new york red bulls have been a bit schizo all year, playing one game offensively, playing another game defensively. as we saw at the end of last week's game, settling back into a defensive posture is not always the answer, especially when your attack is working and keeping the other team in their end of the field. they can't score on you if they don't get to your half of the field. osorio needs to push his team forward all game. we've got the talent to do this up top, as well as enough good players in the back to save any counterattacks.
   
2. play the players that will play. sounds obvious, but it's not. a lot of young players we have are hungry and haven't been used in the stretch run. take advantage of their energy and their desire to make a mark. look at last week - ubi and sassano played excellent game. put kandji in up top. let rojas prove himself and put him where he belongs: smack dab in the middle of the park and pushed forward. put sassano back in. have ubi and mbutu ready on the bench to enter in the second half and give you that needed energy to keep houston on their heels.
   
3. don't leave angel alone up top. put kandji up top with him so that defenders don't triple-team angel. give him someone to play off of. and as a bonus, kandji is pretty good at scoring too.
   
4. use our wings. we have 2 of the best outside midfielders in the league. dvb has been the unsung hero all year, constantly pushing up that left side and sending in dangerous crosses. richards is fast and likes to take on defenses - which leads to fouls, which leads to set pieces. put the ball wide and stretch the field.
   
5. keep the same back line. our back line performed admirably last game. reward them by keeping them in the same line-up and let them stop houston.
   
6. keep possession. i like long balls that lead to goals as much as the next guy. but putting up long balls every time we have the ball is just giving the ball away. build up the attack from the back, through the middle, and push houston back and let them make mistakes. also - and i'm just spitballing here - if we keep the ball, houston doesn't have it.
   

this is it. we win or go home. even though i've given our boys some criticism for how they ended the season, our club is capable of beating houston on the road. it's time for the new york red bulls to stop being a middlng team, and demonstrate to the league that we want to be champions.

Related articles by Zemanta

• limping in (like usual)
• Red Bulls 1, Dynamo 1: Scoreboard Says Tie; Red Bulls Ponder What Was Lost
• Kamara's late goal leads to Dynamo-Red Bulls tie
• a heartbreaking win