Sacha Kljestan joked, we think, about hosting his former New York Red Bulls teammates at a pool party Sunday since they will remain in Orlando ahead of traveling to Mexico for a Concacaf Champions League semifinal tilt against Guadalajara next week.
A reunion would certainly be cordial at the Kljestan abode, but it should be far more feisty at Orlando City Stadium when the two sides meet at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Lions are desperate for their first win of the MLS season.
“He’s definitely up for that game, but we are as well,” Red Bulls midfielder Danny Royer said. “I think we’re all looking forward to see him again [outside] of the field, but on the field we’re going for the three points no matter what.”
Kljestan wore the captain’s armband a year ago for the Red Bulls and was one of the league’s top playmakers in MLS during his time in Harrison. The 32-year-old had 51 assists in three years before being traded to Orlando City SC on Jan. 3.
“First and foremost we’re going to go and face Sacha, who we all know is a great player and he’s going to be up for the game,” Red Bulls defender Aaron Long said. “That, in itself, is going to be a challenge.”
The Red Bulls head to Orlando for what will be a critical 11-day stretch, which will see them face their first Eastern Conference foe before a two-legged series against storied Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara with a berth in the CCL finals on the line.
That means that Jesse Marsch and his staff have challenges ahead regarding lineup selection and how much rotation is needed. When his team’s MLS opener was sandwiched between a pair of quarterfinal matches against Club Tijuana, Marsch utilized a heavily rotated squad in a 4-0 win over the Portland Timbers.
Marsch said the early kickoff in Orlando followed by a 10 pm ET start in Guadalajara Wednesday night should give his team enough time to regenerate and rest between matches. Still, some rotation is expected in order to get optimal results this week.
“We just want to make sure we give ourselves the best chance to get a result on Saturday,” Marsch said. “And then turn around and are ready to go for a massive two-legged series against a very good Chivas team who is very combative.”
In addition to Kljestan, who played 90 minutes in his Lions debut in a 2-0 loss to NYCFC at Yankee Stadium two weeks ago, Orlando City SC should have Dom Dwyer and Josué Colmán available, meaning all three of their DPs in the starting XI for the first time this season.
It should be a challenge to a Red Bulls backline that has been historically stout to start the season. Their four clean sheets are tied for the second most in franchise history through seven overall matches and they have conceded three goals through 630 minutes of competitive play in 2018 with just one coming in the run of play.
“In general we’ve been hard to score on,” Marsch said. “We’ve needed Luis [Robles] to come up with big saves at times, but I think we’ve been organized whether we’ve played four or five in the back and whatever the personnel has been. We want that to really be an emphasis of our team this year.”