Historic night for Red Bulls overshadows shortcomings

Nobody could have imagined the amount of history that was presented before one’s eyes on a single given night. Although the New York Red Bulls (7-8-10) fell short to the Inter Miami CF (6-3-14), 2-0, the energy surrounding the night and the positives this game brought to the forefront for the Red Bulls, could be seen as beneficial.

For most of the game, the Red Bulls dominated the time of possession and applied great on-ball pressure. Unfortunately, the Red Bulls couldn’t secure any goals on the offensive side of the ball and continued to get open looks and opportunities. That said, Red Bulls head coach Troy Lesesne walked away with a lot of positives and was really proud of his team for taking on the magnitude of the moment at hand and continuing to fight through until the end.

“In the first half, I think we could have shown a little bit more of our identity by putting more pressure on the ball and creating more opportunities on offense,” Lesesne explains. “That said, in the second half, I was really proud of the group and I think we responded in a really good way. We finally begin to be ourselves, in fact, we made it really difficult on them by not allowing them to get out of their half."

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get the game-tying goal and then Miami brings on who they bring on [Messi] and they find the second goal,” he continues.

@TeamMessi enters the game and the @NewYorkRedBulls

Thanks to @JSNSPORTINGNEWS pic.twitter.com/Ljhodkqsuz

— John “Woods” Armwood III (@J_Armwood908) August 27, 2023

Importance of This Game for the Sport

In Messi’s MLS debut, he managed to deliver the dagger that helped secure the victory in the 89th minute for Inter Miami. However, the energy surrounding this game and just the atmosphere being more electric than it’s ever been all was a result of individuals wanting to see Messi perform. In fact, the Red Bulls reached their maximum attendance in stadium history with 26,276 fans in attendance.

“I'd love to use the opportunity to say that anyone that was new to the stadium tonight hopefully got to have a great experience, and I hope that they come back, and they also got to see so many young players from our club get opportunities,” Lesesne expresses his appreciation for the support surrounding this game and fans who’ve supported throughout the entire season. “Our club promotes young players to give them an opportunity to try to get to the stage, to the level of someone like Jordi Alba.”

“They competed tonight and they competed in a really positive way. There are newcomers, I hope they come back and support the young players,” Lesesne continues. “For the supporters who have been with us the entire year that were with us last week, I loved the way they tried to combat the noise of the night, the Messi chant. It's tough to combat, but our supporters were right there with us, pushing us, and we are going to need them to push us through this final stretch of the season.”

This angle of Messi's pass to set up his goal 😳

(via @MLS) pic.twitter.com/o4VO7yL5Pq

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) August 27, 2023

In the past, America’s support of soccer has been lackluster. That said, Messi is helping shift and change the sport within America as we know it. Not only did the whole stadium show blatant disregard for the home team on Saturday, but they also were cheering in joy for the sport of soccer. Many fans in attendance weren’t fans of either team, but just fans of the sport who were truly were honored to witness history before their very eyes.

“Yeah, I mean, it's kind of surreal, obviously, like, just won a World Cup, I think like six or seven months ago, and he's crazy,” Red Bulls midfielder Peter Stroud. “He's playing in our league. And it's amazing to see him out at Red Bull Arena, obviously, you know, it's kinda like just a surreal moment I think obviously, to play against probably the best player ever to play the game.”

There were reports of supporters crying tears of joy just to have the honor of seeing Messi grace the field. Also, on a smaller note, the Red Bulls debuted their new uniforms that appeared to be fan favorites to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, according to sources.

Upcoming News for the New York Red Bulls

Although the Red Bulls didn’t secure three points in the loss to Inter Miami, they’re still in the hunt to make a push for the playoffs. In the upcoming week, they will go on the road and take on New England (12-7-5) and later in the week Philadelphia (13-4-7). These two games are essential for the Red Bulls to to squeak into the playoffs. While both of these teams are fairly talented and tough to beat on the road, midfielder Sean Nealis believes they can persevere and are prepared for tough moments like these.

“I think we played pretty well against them but they're always a dangerous team,” Nealis said. “They've got a lot of great players I mean, Gil is another top attacking player in the league and we got to kind of contain him. We know it's on turf, you know they play well at home. So we have to kind of be at our best and it's a quick turnaround so it's another opportunity for us to get three points and kind of put the season back on our terms.”