Teams can’t win games in the opening minutes, but they can go a long way toward throwing them away. The Red Bulls’ penchant for coughing up early goals has come back to haunt them, and they know doing it again tonight against first-place Sporting KC could cost them first place in the Eastern Conference (7:00, MSG Plus).
“It is kind of true we can put a statement out there, but we still have to play Chicago at home and against Kansas City. It will be more a type of being-in-their-head thing or them in our head if we don’t win. It’s just a game we need to win,’’ said Thierry Henry, who lamented the Red Bulls’ habit of falling behind early.
“We don’t want to go into the game every time conceding. I think we conceded four goals in the first eight minutes of the game, and I don’t want to see [that again]. … You cannot start against Kansas City like that. They do not concede a lot, and I don’t know if you have a lot of teams this year that scored two or three against Kansas City. That won’t happen often.’’
What’s happened all too often is digging themselves into early holes. The Red Bulls have allowed goals within the first eight minutes in four of the last six games, including a 1-1 tie at Sporting KC on Aug. 26. Coming into tonight in third place in the East — two points behind Sporting KC and one behind Chicago — they can ill afford to cough up an early goal.
“It’s been a number of times and also against the top teams,” coach Hans Backe said. “We look in the four teams that are close to us, I think we’ve went down against every of those teams in the first 10 minutes and some the first five. It’s a long way in this league when you go down 1-0.
“Everyone is aware of it, everyone is sharp and ready for the game. … We look a little bit passive in the defending game, the pressing game, the 50-50s. You need to invest a little bit more the first 15, 20 minutes.”
Rafa Marquez — who made his first start in two months Saturday, notching an assist in a 3-1 win over Columbus — added, “The mistakes are just a lack of focus, and we need to come out sharper at the start of games. Everyone’s at fault for that. We’re a team: We win together, we lose together.”