Eight days versus nine years — that’s how long each coach involved in Saturday’s Red Bulls-Sporting Kansas City match has led his respective team.
That difference in experience ultimately proved meaningless, as a second-half Marc Rzatkowski brace gave Chris Armas his first win as Red Bulls head coach in a 3-2 victory Saturday night in Harrison, N.J.
“I’m not new to the league, and I’m not new to the sport, and I’m not new to understanding how other teams play,” Armas said after the game.
The Red Bulls did not play perfect soccer, but they did show the same type of fight that got them so much success when former coach Jesse Marsch was in charge. That resolve was ultimately just enough.
The Red Bulls got on the board early after Bradley Wright-Phillips delicately chipped a ball over goalie Tim Melia in the fourth minute, after being played in behind by Alejandro ” Kaku” Romero Gamarra.
That lead lasted just four minutes as Kansas City quickly imposed itself into the game. In the eighth minute, Graham Zusi and a wide-open Johnny Russell connected down the right flank for Russell’s seventh goal of the season.
Both teams saw chances from there on, but it was Kansas City that looked like the more fluid team for the rest of the half.
“They’re obviously a good passing team, best in the league, and the best at switching fields … it just cost us a lot of running on a really hot and humid day,” said Armas, who was an assistant with the Red Bulls before taking over for Marsch.
But if Kansas City were the more coherent side throughout the match, the Red Bulls were the ones who ultimately stayed the course with a boisterous home crowd behind them in the second half.
After Roger Espinoza scored in the 51st minute to give Kansas City the lead, the Red Bulls introduced Rzatkowski into the match.
That switch proved to be decisive. With Kansas City inviting pressure, the German midfielder struck twice. He finished off a Tyler Adams shot in the 72nd minute before matching Espinoza’s efforts with a rocket of his own seven minutes later.
“Credit to Marky, he came in and won us the game,” Wright-Phillips said. “But that’s not gonna happen every week so we need to find ways to win these games and look more convincing at home.”
The Red Bulls struggled for long stretches against Kansas City, and realistically would have lost had a couple of moments gone differently.
Still, they managed to get a significant result that will ease nerves over Armas’ appointment.
“It’s more for the naysayers and the haters,” Wright-Phillips said of the win. “If we don’t win in like two or three or four games, people start talking rubbish.”