Red Bulls visiting Atlanta United for the East

The international breaks is over and that means the New York Red Bulls are getting ready to prepare for their big Eastern Conference Finals, against their opponents whom they battled for the Supporters Shield and won, in Atlanta United.

The short window for this series will be played with two games in a span of five days, but when you have two sides that showed plenty of power, speed and guile, you have a great feeling that this series is going to be very epic.

But at the moment the scales are tilted towards the New York Red Bulls as they have a regular season edge with a 3-0-1 record as they have been able to shut down for the majority of these games Josef Martinez, Miguel Almiron and Hector Villalba. The task will still be the same, but the pressure of it has gotten bigger now that both sides are two matches away from the Final.

“We did well in those two games in the regular season, but in both games we were aggressive and we played our way,” said Chris Armas. “Which is what we want to take away from it going into this next game.

“We are wise enough to not get ahead of ourselves understand on how explosive Atlanta is at home, we will have our hands full, but we need to reset for sure. We hope to get some away goals, but we can’t rush it, or else we can get behind quickly.”

So far we know about the new single season goal kick in Josef Martinez as he proved to New York City FC how dangerous he is on the field during open play to his penalty spot taking, as he faked out Sean Johnson before he struck the ball.

You saw how important Miguel Almiron is to Atlanta United as he is one of the main cogs that helps them become so dangerous. When he is out there for the full ninety, Almiron can take you down all by himself if he wants to. But that’s why Kaku is his teammate on the Paraguayan National Team, as they played away in South Africa.

“It was a lot of fun. We were making jokes with each other, about who’s team is going to win, but he’s a great guy and it’s fun to play with him.” said Kaku “We are going to follow the game plan. Coach wanted to press and we are always pressing.

“It caused them trouble, but because its the playoffs now, it’s a whole different game. Its much different and we have to prepare to win over there. The stakes are higher now that we are in the playoffs.”

Daniel Royer is the leading goalscorer against Atlanta United with three goals, two of them being converted from the penalty spot. We all know how important he is to convert these chances, but he’s been on fire during the playoffs, as well scoring that brace against the Columbus Crew at home.

Well I did score twice from the penalty spot,” said Royer “You never know when you will get the chance to convert from the spot, but I just like to play against them in general. two separate teams with two separate philosophies and that sets up for a great game against them.

“I think they will play the way they always play and that is thru us, we will be ready for the long balls if they kick it and they won’t be that confident when we press them, so I think nothing changes at that point.”

So as the international break has come to an end, and the Thanksgiving holiday will be coming to a close this Sunday, that means the Red Bulls will be ready to face Atlanta United for their big first leg Eastern Conference Final.