Red Bulls look to midfield trio for Sunday success against Columbus

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/nov/22/new-york-red-bulls-midfield-columbus

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If the New York Red Bulls are to get past the Columbus Crew in the MLS Eastern Conference final the game may be won and lost by the effectiveness of their midfield trio of Felipe Martins, Sacha Kljestan and Dax McCarty. Generally, as those three go, so does the New York team.

Not that there won’t be other determining factors. If Crew SC persist with playing out of the back in their possession-heavy style, the ability of the Red Bulls to press early through the front three attackers will be telling. And if Columbus instead go direct to Kei Kamara, as they did in beating the Red Bulls earlier in the season, Matt Miazga’s ability to close him down will be vital. And in either scenario, the MLS goalkeeper of the year Luis Robles will expect to be given plenty of opportunities to remind people why he won the award.

But key to the success for the Red Bulls will be the performance of three players whose complementary qualities have added up to way more than the sum of their parts, which represents this year’s team in microcosm.

Where they also represent the season in microcosm has been in their part in the restructuring of the squad under first year sporting director Ali Curtis — a figure who is still a polarizing presence at the club, after he oversaw the pre-season firing of coach Mike Petke — but who can at least now point to a Supporters Shield, and one of the most watchable Red Bulls teams of recent years, as some kind of justification for his methods and decisions.

When Curtis made the trade that sent Eric Alexander and the promising Ambroise Oyongo to Montreal in exchange for Felipe Martins and top spot in the allocation order, it was a bold move. Alexander, along with McCarty, had anchored the Red Bulls midfield in 2013 during the switch to 4-2-3-1 that sent the team on their first Shield-winning run, while Oyongo had speed and promise. There was intrigue about who New York would be moving for with the allocation pick, but just as much grumbling about the fact that in an off-season that had already seen Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill leave, the Red Bulls looked to be further dismantling a team that had just got to the Eastern Conference final, and gone within a goal of getting to MLS Cup. The Red Bulls’ moneyball era did not begin smoothly.

Felipe was regarded as a solid enough signing, but probably one whose value would be determined in terms of who else was signed with that allocation spot — which essentially characterized him as a makeweight. Not the most flattering assessment.

When Sacha Kljestan arrived from Anderlecht as the final piece of this particular trade puzzle, it once again divided fan opinion. Kljestan may have been a respected international midfielder, but was not in that tier of US signing who would capture the imagination.

Even when the team started strongly, there was little sense of anything special brewing. Kljestan looked out of sync with his new team mates, while Martins had flashes of quality but often looked anonymous. McCarty was his solid self in the early games, but nobody was calling him the natural All-Star pick he’d be by July.

But gradually the Red Bulls clicked. The pressing game Jesse Marsch wanted to implement took form. McCarty and Martins shuttled forward and back to support or cover the other. Goals were prevented by one of them anticipating a counter and shielding the defense when the other one had stepped up. Vulnerability to speed on the counter was a fundamental challenge for the Red Bulls’ pressing style, but the choices McCarty and Felipe made about when to stay and when to go were often fundamental in protecting that potential source of weakness.

And then there was Kljestan. His ability to vary the pace and drift between opposition lines that gave the team a crucial dimension beyond brute pressure. By the team Kljestan had picked up a disguised ball (often from Felipe or McCarty) 25 yards out, already half-turned for goal, there’d often be too many team mates in motion ahead of him, or arriving late in or around the box. And when sides tried to anticipate that, they had to risk the potential for Felipe or Kljestan to shoot from distance.

And now it makes for a fascinating series against Columbus. Perhaps McCarty and Kljestan in particular can discuss with their counterpart Ethan Finlay just what a smart US player has to do to get a sustained international chance. Some part of New York’s success this year may be due in part to their engine room humming along efficiently, but seemingly off the national team radar.

New York’s fans won’t mind that this year — with their team finally, finally, looking credible and not just hopeful contenders for a first MLS Cup. If that’s to happen three key players are about to embark on what they hope will be three more games.