Red Bulls prepare for RSL

You always want to have a positive start for a brand new season in Major League Soccer, and the Red Bulls are no strangers when it comes to having a solid start beginning to a brand new year.

While having some questions answered, there are going to be some issues that pop up during the match, while it was a tale of two halves the Red Bulls found a way to secure the full three points.

But now they have to get ready for a three-match road trip as they prepare themselves to face opponents in the Rocky Mountains, the northern end of the country, then visiting an old friend down in South Beach.

But first things first, the Red Bulls make a trip to the Rocky Mountains as they take on Real Salt Lake in an afternoon tilt at Rio Tinto Stadium, this time, however, it looks like this club is in transition through their roster as several pieces have moved on from the club.

Nick Rimando retired after a long career in MLS as he finished his playing career with RSL, and now you have Zach MacMath in goal to start the season who isn’t a bad keeper in his own right. Yet the very athletic Rimando will be missed, as you need your last line of defense to keep that ball out for the draw or the win.

In their last match at Orlando City, Real Salt Lake left Exploria Stadium with a scoreless Draw and frustrated the purple & Gold Lions as they faced nine shots while two were on frame. MacMath wasn’t busy at all in this contest.

But one thing is proven about RSL is that they have players who are hungry and ready to take on all comers since their USL Championship side did something big at the end of their playoff run, win a title.

RSL’s Real Monarchs of Salt Lake City are the third MLS owned USL club to reach the championship final of the USL, but the second one to win the title since Red Bulls II did it back in 2016. The year before the LA Galaxy two team was in the final but lost to the Rochester Rhinos, at Sahlen Stadium on a cold and rainy night.

As many remember the reports last season that Guiseppe Rossi from Teaneck, Nj was training with the Red Bulls, he was trying to make a club back in Italy, well now he is with RSL in his first season in MLS. So it will be interesting to see what will happen if he does get a chance to face his hometown club if he does get the nod.

But this match is about the Red Bulls improving their season as well as adding on to that solid victory to begin the year, at the same time they are facing a club that looks to be doing the same thing they are, that is developing their own and using that talent to prepare them for bigger things when they play with the big boys in Major League Soccer.