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The New York Red Bulls are back at Red Bull Arena this week for the second of a three-game home stand that started rather badly: RBNY lost to LA Galaxy, 3-1, back on May 14. The loss to the Galaxy was the first at Red Bull Arena in a regular-season game for over a year for the Red Bulls. It was also the team's third consecutive loss of the current league campaign.
All told, a first-half flop, described as a "beatdown" by 'keeper Luis Robles, seems to have shaken RBNY a little. The team had been struggling on the road so far this season, but so do a lot of teams in MLS. Not a lot of teams in MLS stay unbeaten at home in league games for more than a year, and that record allowed the Red Bulls to tell themselves they were a good side dealing with some early-season inconsistency.
But the Galaxy delivered a wake-up call: RBNY is vulnerable at home too. This game is therefore doubly important to the team: stop the losing skid and restore confidence in the ability to play the sort of fast and fluid football the Red Bulls want to play.
Complicating this objective is the fact Toronto FC is currently the undisputed hottest team in MLS. It has won six straight. Home, away; on short rest, with key players injured or absent: circumstances haven't much mattered to TFC recently - the team turns up for kick-off and finds a way to win on the day.
So RBNY can be justly pleased with itself if it gets back to winning ways against this particular opponent. But it is also surely aware that - for the first time in a long time - it is the underdog in a regular-season game at Red Bull Arena.
Per livesoccertv.com, here's where to find the game if watching from the USA (it's on TSN in Canada):