Red Bulls prepare for the Crew and Grella

After a huge and an emotional night down at Audi Field in our nation’s capital that saw Bradley Wright-Phillips score his 100th career league goal and fighting out the rest of the night to defeat DC United, the Red Bulls have to quickly turn around and face the Columbus Crew.

This will be the first time that Chris Armas will match wits with Greg Berhalter and at the same time it will be a home coming of sorts for the Glen Cove, Long Island native in Mike Grella who was once a Red Bull Academy player in his youth and then a player after his stint in England.

“That’s the negative about professional sports. We are all just passing thru and there are those who just doesn’t stay here for a long period of time. It happens in all sports leagues. Very few players stay on the teams they want to play for.” said Luis Robles.

“Mike is one of those guys who is a special player and truly a special guy, you can play golf, playing cards with them. You miss those moments and it’s always sad to see those guys leave.”

The Crew have been playing very well this season with a few bumps and bruises, but down by eight points and behind the Red Bulls who are currently in fourth place. The club knows that this side is still a very dangerous one with the likes of Gyasi Zardes.

Ever since the trade with the LA Galaxy sending over Ola Kamara for Gyasi Zardes before the season got underway, it has been nothing short of surprise and excitement in the capital of the state of Ohio as the former LA Galaxy academy product has converted thirteen times.

“It’s no surprise about a guy like Zardes when I was with him in the January camp. Seeing how hard he works and the work he puts into after training to fix certain things. Said Tyler Adams.

“That trade was a surprise to people, but credit to him as he went into Columbus with an open mind and he is scoring goals like it’s a job for him. It’s been fun to watch him, but we need to stop him and we have two great center backs to stop him and that’s what we need to do on the day.”

But the most dangerous man on the pitch isn’t just Zardes, it is their play maker in Federico Higuaín who just continues to play dangerous in the midfield and behind Zardes who continues to prove why some feel that he is still a national team player.

The main question inside the technical areas of the pitch is will Greg Berhalter attempt to play a certain way. Will he try to build from the back or will he go direct to challenge the Red Bulls press.

“Columbus can play with pressure at times and we’ve had some success at times, but when they play direct it’s not just long balls. They can do more than just use long balls and they have been affective with that.” Said Chris Armas.

But one thing is for sure about this Saturday evening’s match up against the Columbus Crew, BWP will not rest after earning his 100th career league goal that made him the fastest player to reach that milestone.

So it’s time to get ready to see what the Red Bulls can do against their next opponents which will be the Columbus Crew and close out the month of July with a Win. Be aware that Red Bull Arena will have the Benfica/Juventus match in the International Champions Cup early afternoon.

So please when traveling to Harrison to arrive after 4:30PM so that they can clear the first crowd and get ready for the Red Bulls later on that evening. It should be a lot of fun and let’s hope everyone gets there safely.