The way the 2022 season went has become all too familiar for the Red Bulls.
Promising regular season. First-round playoff exit. Offseason ambition to build off it and take the next step as contenders. Rinse. Repeat.
The Red Bulls have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs each of the past four seasons. They’ve made the playoffs for 13 straight years, but failed to reach the MLS Cup despite winning the Supporters’ Shield for the best regular-season record three times in that span. They earned a home game in the first round last year against FC Cincinnati and led 1-0 in the 48th minute, but conceded two late goals to lose and continue their frustrating pattern.
Monsters in the regular season. Disappointments in the playoffs.
To change their end-of-season fate, the Red Bulls are changing their game. Tactically, the Red Bulls have become synonymous with a high-energy, high-pressing strategy in which they play high up the field and try to force their opposition into turnovers. Their direct-to-goal attack became one-dimensional, with the Red Bulls launching long balls in the air to their forwards.
Red Bulls midfielder Daniel Edelman will be vying for a starting role this season.Getty Images“Right from the beginning, one of the things we’ve been focused on this year is adding more ideas with the ball and control with the ball to try to break pressure and not always look for that direct long ball,” midfielder Daniel Edelman, who is vying for a starting role, told The Post by phone Friday morning. “This year, everybody is just more sound in terms of what we know, our principles defensively. Now it’s just a matter of executing offensively and doing it better.”
Despite returning most of their core, the Red Bulls will now be without team icon Aaron Long, who signed with Los Angeles FC in free agency.
Without Long, the Red Bulls are thin at center-back, a position that will be the team’s biggest question mark to begin the season. Sean Nealis, who was named the new captain, will return to his starting role at center-back after a strong 2022 season. Next to him, Andres Reyes will likely fill Long’s spot as the other starting center back.
Sean Nealis, who was named the Red Bulls’ new captain, will return to his starting role at center-back after a strong 2022 season.Getty ImagesRegardless of their defensive combinations, the Red Bulls’ greatest hope to elevate themselves to the top of the league’s hierarchy likely will hinge on new star forward Dante Vanzeir. The Red Bulls signed the Belgian international from Royale Union Saint-Gilloise as a designated player for a reported $5 million transfer fee, which could rise and become the club’s all-time record fee, depending on incentives. In addition to one appearance for the Belgian national team, the 24-year-old scored 48 goals and recorded 21 assists in 91 appearances over the past three seasons with Union SG.
In the midfield, Lewis Morgan led the team with 14 goals last year. Luquinhas and Christian Casseres, the team’s most promising youth, will provide coach Gerhard Struber flexibility to inject dynamic new options in the midfield.
The Red Bulls signed Dante Vanzeir for what could turn into a club-record fee. Getty ImagesEdelman emerged late last year, making 10 starts (all in the last 12 games) in his debut season after being promoted to the first team. The Warren, N.J., native and homegrown talent won the team’s Newcomer of the Year award, and now will step into an even bigger role at the heart of the Red Bulls’ lineup. Peter Stroud and Cameron Harper will challenge for significant roles as well.
“It’s a young group of highly motivated players,” Struber told reporters on Tuesday. “They are very hungry for more. A group of players that have the ability for big steps in a good direction. The preseason showed me that. … The biggest goals are the same. We want the playoffs again and after that, anything is possible.”
