Red Bulls preparing for the Sounders

After a tough ninety minutes at the Columbus Crew and getting out of dodge with a point, the Red Bulls are heading back home and are getting ready for some mid-week action as they host the Seattle Sounders as they are the second of the three Cascadia sides they will face.

At the moment the Sounders are in tenth place with eleven points, but don’t let the stats and Western Conference placement fool you, they are still capeable to take you down and show some fight with Clint Dempsey on the squad and the Roldan Brothers are a tough side to crack.

“Well, it is a team full of talented players so we know they have had a slow start, but that’s not uncommon for them. They have had slow starts the last three years and the previous two years they have managed to finish really strong and find a way to get to the final.” said Jesse Marsch.

“I think for us to expect anything less than their best would be foolish. They got a big win against D.C. at home and I think they want to use that to build momentum and turn the corner like they have the previous two years.

Our job on the day is to make sure the game is difficult, the game is hard that we lock in to some of their key players and make sure they don’t have freedom to get the game going for their team and to still play our way, to be aggressive at home to be confident and really go after the game.”

Knowing what this team has done in the past is the right way of thinking by Jesse Marsch as the Red Bulls will not take them lightly. The Sounders know that it’s not about how you start a season, it’s how you finish.

“They’re a team with very good players. When you think about what they’ve done the past two years where they didn’t have good starts, yet because they know within their locker room that they have the personnel to get the job done when it matters.” said Luis Robles.

“You’re thinking that they’re probably thinking the same way and you just look at their roster and the talent that’s on that roster and you know that statistically they’re not ranked very high anywhere right now, yet because of the players and the experience that they have in that locker room I feel like they can turn it on.

It’s almost as if they’re waiting to turn it on and we have to make sure that this isn’t the game in which they do it. I think that they’re going to be fine and mostly because they’re an experience group and a very talented group and they have the sort of leadership that’s going to make sure that they turn it around.”

But this match signals the return of Tim Parker, Tyler Adams and Alejandro Romero Gamarra as these three will return from International Duty with their respective national teams, as bot Michael Murillo & Fidel Escobar remains with Panama during the FIFA World Cup.

Both Adams and Parker had successful stints in the two matches they played at Republic of Ireland & France. Especially France where Adams, Parker and former Red Bull Academy Product Matt Miazga had an excellent showing, but sadly Miazga suffered a head on head collision with Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud and suffered a gash that needed fifteen stitches and was under concussion protocol.

“A really fun experience. Going to Ireland first and starting in Dublin against Ireland was a unique opportunity. It was John O’Shea’s last game for Ireland and he’s a legend there, so it was cool to step on the field with some of those guys, some of the guys that are from the Premier League with unique opportunity for all the young players that we have on our squad.” said Tyler Adams.

“To go out there in front of a pretty cool crowd in Aviva Stadium, their national stadium, was pretty unique. Obviously in France was really really fun. Playing against a lot of guys that are my idols and going toe to toe with some of the best players in the world and a World Cup favorite was really unique. Me and Tim had a fun time in Leon and it was nice to get a good result as well.”

And Tim Parker’s experience getting his first start for the US Men’s National Team against the French?

“It was just a great experience. I think me and Tyler walked out one behind the other and we were just saying what an experience this is going to be to obviously get the chance to play.” Said Parker.

“It was just something that I think you’ll remember, an environment and something like that where they’re off to the World Cup and their country wants to send them off the right way and we obviously wanted to play the villain in that story. I think we did a pretty good job.”

On the injury front Vincent Bezecourt suffered a Mild MCL Right knee sprain at Maphre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio so he will be missing in action between 6-8 Weeks, but thankfully the injury wasn’t a lot worse.

But the Red Bulls are prepared and ready to go to face the Seattle Sounders as they need to find a way to get three points against a side that is very strong within league and US Open Cup Play.