The Red Bulls head to Ohio to take on FC Cincinnati

While Red Bull fans were downing one dollar hot dogs all night, the team mustered up a 2-2 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps. Both teams had answering goals within 10 minutes of the other scoring, which made for quite an entertaining evening.

A Brian White close range header leveled the score up at one after a Scott Lee Sutter smashed home an effort just 29 minutes into the match. White was also the cause of the own goal by Andy Rose, which Fredy Montero responded to by slotting home a penalty in the 61st minute.

The game had its moments of end to end action and displayed some great movement by the Red Bulls front line. Kaku was especially fun to watch as the Paraguayan looked much like his old self this match.

Kaku created five chances this match, boosting his tally up to 13 for the year. His lone assist came back in the disaster against Sporting Kansas City, but this was by far his best match of the season. He was creative going forward and looked to exploit space in behind the Whitecaps defense.

Amro Tarek also continues his dominance, notching an accidental assist for White’s goal. The ex-Orlando City defender is really coming into his own with the Red Bulls, making Aaron Long’s absence a bit more tolerable.

The upcoming matches in June will be an even bigger test for Tarek and the entire Red Bulls defense as Long, Kyle Duncan, Kemar Lawrence, and Michael Murillo all got call ups to their respective nations for Gold Cup duty. The listed players will be with the team for the match against Cincinnati, but starting in the middle of June, the roster will be significantly thinned.

For now, the team only has to focus on this match against Cincinnati, who they were victorious against back on April 27th. The Red Bulls squeaked out a 1-0 win thanks to a thunderbolt goal from Connor Lade, ultimately kick starting their season after a rocky start.

Since that match, Cincinnati has won just one match, losing three of their last four. The offense has been severely lacking while the defense lately has left plenty of room for improvement.

Cincinnati traveled to Orlando last weekend in a match they soon hope to forget. After a 24th minute Darren Mattocks goal, Cincinnati conceded five straight goals en route to a 5-1 loss. Nani and Tesho Akindele both recorded a brace as Cincinnati fell to bottom of the east.

Yoann Damet, FC Cincinnati coach, has seen his team win just three matches all year while conceding 23 goals in 13 played. They have the least productive offense in the league, scoring just 11 all season. They are showing their true expansion team colors, with not many game changers in the squad.

Darren Mattocks has been the only real problem for the opposition, scoring and assisting twice this season. The Jamaican can only do so much, though, with Kenneth Saief being the only other player with more than two contributions.

The midweek match against the Whitecaps should not be too much of an issue heading into this one. The squad was properly rotated by Armas and a few key first team players got a much needed rest. Mathias Jorgensen was an unused sub as well, so he could feature against the leaky Cincinnati defense.

It will be hard for Armas to bench Brian White, who leads the team with three goals on the season. Starting Jorgensen will be good for the Danish international, who has not seen first team minutes since the reverse fixture where he played just four minutes in.

The Red Bulls have struggled this season to beat teams that, on paper, they should beat. This is an away game that should cause the team no problems, but the MLS has produced plenty of mind boggling results already this year.

With Royer, Sean Davis, and other big first team names returning to the lineup, a three point grab should be attainable for this Red Bulls team. A win would push the team into a tie for third place, so that should be more than enough incentive to fight hard for an away victory.