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photo from New York Red Bulls |
by Anthony J. Merced
New York Red Bulls drop a disheartening 2-0 result to the LA Galaxy in the final game of the Coachella Valley Invitational on Saturday, ahead of the start of the MLS season next week. The game which featured a mix of starters and bench players, saw a disturbing trend that haunted the team for most of 2023, spells of good build-up play with little in the way of conversion on created chances.
Most of the first half centered on Red Bull controlling the ball and generating chances. In particular, Emil Forsberg found Elias Manoel on a few occasions but was not able to convert the opportunities. The Galaxy found their way into the game late in the first half and forced an error in the box when Frankie Amaya brought down a Galaxy player. Ricqui Puig converted the effort to send the Galaxy into the break with a 1-0 lead.
The Galaxy found their footing early in the second half, pressing the Red Bulls into sloppy mistakes. Substitute defender Andres Reyes didn't help matters by bringing down a Galaxy player on a breakaway, surrendering another penalty opportunity. Goalkeeper Carlos Coronel made an important save to keep the team in contest. Later in the half, the Galaxy continued to poke away at the Red Bull defensive holes until scoring their second, and decisive, goal.
New York finishes preseason with just as many questions as they had going in, defensively stout but overly reliant on perfect games to get results. Despite having possession through long stretching, the team proved incapable of scoring with regularity. Forsberg adds a new dimension to distribution that the team hasn't had since Sacha Kljestan. However, the team is lacking a clinical goal scorer the likes of Bradley Wright-Phillips.
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