This Saturday’s clash between Columbus Crew SC and the New York Red Bulls is a meeting between two of the league’s most defined styles of play.
When they have come together, Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch has generally had the upper hand on Crew SC's Gregg Berhalter. The teams have met seven times in regular-season play since Marsch’s appointment in 2015, and the Red Bulls are 4-2-1 against Columbus.
But in the 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs, it was Berhalter who got the better of Marsch, when Columbus bested New York 2-1 on aggregate on their way to an MLS Cup appearance.
As they meet for the first time in 2018 on Saturday (5 pm ET | ESPN - full TV & streaming info), there may be more focus than ever on each side's tactical approach, with both men thought to be on Earnie Stewart's list of candidates for the US men's national team head coaching job. Not to mention the two are again locked in a battle for playoff positioning in a power-packed Eastern Conference.
To Create or Destroy?
Berhalter on the sideline during a game against D.C. United in April | USA Today Sports Images
For Columbus boss Gregg Berhalter, the matchup represents the difference between creation and destruction.
Aesthetically pleasing play has always been Berhalter's emphasis. From his opening press conference in November of 2013 to now, Berhalter has prioritized free-flowing, attacking play that has become known for putting strikers in enviable positions.
And even in a season where his team is sporting the best defense in MLS, Berhalter said that philosophy has remained.
“It hasn’t changed,” he said at training Thursday. “Our aim is to disorganize the opponent through ball possession to create goal-scoring opportunities, and it will always be that.”
In Marsch’s Red Bulls, Berhalter sees the opposite.
“They’re fantastic at what they do,” he said. “You talk about not valuing the ball, the ball not being important – they want to create goal-scoring opportunities without the ball. There’s the big difference right there: we want to create them with the ball, they want to create them without the ball.”
Berhalter admitted Marsch’s style can be problematic for Columbus, but said Crew SC are no different than any team in MLS who is bothered by the press.
“I think it causes problems for everyone, if you think about it,” he said. “It’s easier to destroy than it is to build. So when we have to play through guys running without the ball and we have to play with the ball, it’s more challenging, no question.”
Berhalter doesn’t think the two teams are so different, however, and sees similarities in how the franchises are run, though New York has a homegrown pipeline that forces Columbus to “be creative in other ways.”
“I think they’ve done a great job of, similarly to us, not depending on one or two guys,” he said. “They had tough decisions to make when they traded Dax (McCarty) away, when they traded Felipe (Martins) away, when they traded Sacha (Kljestan) away. But they have the next-man-up mentality.”
And while playing New York can be difficult, Berhalter said he looks forward to the matchup.
“For us, it’s how do we solve the problem?” he said. “I think it’s a great challenge.”
Brainwashing? Well ... maybe
A fan at Red Bull Arena holds a sign in homage to Marsch | USA Today Sports Images
Since their nascent days, the then MetroStars were a team that chased big stars and high profile players, many of whom made this club the last stop in their careers. This only got bigger and grander when the likes of Thierry Henry, Rafa Marquez and Tim Cahill called Red Bull Arena home.
But since Marsch took over in 2015, the team has gotten younger and more athletic, and has stopped the cycle of aging stars coming in.
The Red Bulls are the MLS prototype of pressing and counter-pressing, developing a style under Marsch as unique as it is manic. Even in losing their semifinal series to Chivas de Guadalajara in the Concacaf Champions League, the Mexican club’s head coach Matias Almeyda praised the Red Bulls for what he called a European style of play with their counter-pressing.
All of which led Marsch on Wednesday night following a 4-0 win over New York City FC in the fourth round of the US Open Cup to joke that his players go through “brainwashing” to play this style.
“It’s sort of true in a sense that when you’re here, you have to be all-in in how you think and how we play,” Marsch said on Thursday following training. "It’s adhering to the tactical principles, adhering to the concepts of philosophy of what we do and challenging each player to develop the kind of mentality that’s not just about passing the soccer ball or possessing the soccer ball. That is, inherently around the world – not just in our country – inherently around the world that is a foreign concept.”
To enhance his point, Marsch points to the transformation of Barcelona under former manager Pep Guardiola, who took an already talented team to “juggernaut” level through the introduction of the pressing game.
“And now I think the game is evolving such that pressing and counter-pressing is becoming more of the norm,” Marsch said. “And I think that, frankly, that Red Bull is at the forefront of that with our philosophies and our concepts and our tactics."
Saturday at Columbus, Marsch anticipates Berhalter’s team playing lots of long ball and direct soccer in an effort to circumvent his team’s high press. It is the same gameplan that caused struggles for the Red Bulls in their Eastern Conference finals with Crew SC in 2015.
