New York Red Bulls coach Sandro Schwarz is demanding defensive improvements against Sporting Kansas City after seeing his team's three-month unbeaten run in MLS snapped.
The Red Bulls suffered their first loss since June 8 – when they were beaten 1-0 by the New England Revolution – last week as they went down 2-0 at home to the Philadelphia Union.
The result left the Red Bulls fourth in the Eastern Conference standings but with just a five-point advantage over the teams currently occupying the wild-card spots.
With every point of utmost importance during the run-in, Schwarz wants his team to rediscover their solidity on Saturday.
"We didn't have the best few days after the Philly game, we analysed this and it's very clear we have to improve our defence, especially against Kansas City," Schwarz said.
"It's also necessary that when you lose a game, you change a little bit the atmosphere and now we are looking forward to the game.
"We should see some more players integrated towards the end of the season and the performances every day on the training field will be important, but matchday is when you have to show your quality."
Sporting KC, meanwhile, beat Indy Eleven in the U.S. Open Cup semi-finals last time out, having also beaten Orlando City 3-0 in their last MLS game to keep their own slim playoff hopes alive.
Coach Peter Vermes was glad to have a breather last weekend and expects his team to be reenergised for their trip to Red Bull Arena.
"The week has been good. Having the break after two games in a row was actually really healthy for us," Vermes said.
"I think for the team, having some of the days off has kept the guys hungry and they're ready to go and play a big game. It's been good."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New York Red Bulls – Lewis Morgan
As well as leading all his team-mates in the goalscoring charts with 12 strikes in 23 regular-season games this year, Morgan has been a real creative force for the Red Bulls.
Only John Tolkin has matched his 38 chances created for the team in MLS play this season.
Sporting Kansas City – Tim Melia
Sporting have kept clean sheets in back-to-back matches across all competitions, and veteran goalkeeper Melia will be desperate to remain unbeaten again here.
This is the first time they have gone consecutive matches without conceding a goal in all competitions since March 2023, while they last did so in three straight back in 2020.
MATCH PREDICTION – NEW YORK RED BULLS WIN
After meeting nine times in all competitions between 2012 and 2014, Sporting and the Red Bulls have played just eight times in the 10 seasons since Kansas City moved to the Western Conference. Sporting have won four of those eight meetings (two draws, two losses).
They approach Saturday's game in good form, too, winning six of their last 10 matches (one draw, three losses) after only winning six of their first 24 to start 2024 (five draws, 13 losses).
The Red Bulls saw their 11-match unbeaten run in MLS ended by last week's defeat to the Union, having also previously gone 17 home games without defeat – the longest such run in their history. Can they get back to winning ways on Saturday?
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New York Red Bulls – 58.3%
Sporting Kansas City – 20%
Draw – 21.7%
Union Berlin 2-1 Borussia Dortmund: BVB's away struggles continue
Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 2-1 loss at Union Berlin in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
In a match that took place just four days after BVB’s 7-1 demolition of Celtic in the Champions League for their biggest European win, their familiar domestic away woes returned in the German capital.
Union's Kevin Vogt ended a 10-year Bundesliga goal drought after converting a 26th-minute penalty.
Vogt's previous goal was scored on October 18, 2014, making it a record 275 Bundesliga matches between goals for an outfield player.
Dortmund showed none of the aggression they produced in the win over Celtic and before half-time they conceded another with Yorbe Vertessen's low strike from the edge of the box.
Julian Ryerson pulled a goal back for the visitors just past the hour, but they could not find an equaliser despite applying some late pressure.
The loss meant Dortmund dropped to seventh place in the standings on 10 points, with Union now one place and one point above them.
Data Debrief: Away woes for BVB
Dortmund had lost 5-1 to Stuttgart in their previous away game on September 22 and, dating back to the end of last season, have now collected just one point from their last five Bundesliga road matches.
They have failed to score more than once in any of those games.
Dortmund dominated the possession (67.1%) here but only converted that control of the ball into eight shots, four of which were on target, resulting in a poor accumulated expected goals (xG) total of just 0.66.
One of the few BVB positives was the performance of Julian Brandt, who created a game-high four chances and got the assist for Ryerson’s goal.
Midfielder Brandt has now created a goal in three straight games across all competitions and has four assists overall for Dortmund this season.
Leicester City 1-0 Bournemouth: Buonanotte hands Foxes first win
Leicester City finally got their first win of the Premier League season, defeating Bournemouth 1-0 at the King Power Stadium.
Facundo Buonanotte scored the winning goal for Steve Cooper’s side in the 16th minute with a stunning curling effort.
Bournemouth put on a much better display in the second half though, with Lewis Cook having a direct free-kick ruled out for offside 66 minutes in.
Illia Zabarnyi and Dango Ouattara also hit the woodwork as the Cherries continued to dominate, but they fell short of finding an equaliser.
The Foxes move up to 15th place, with six points from seven matches, while Bournemouth sit 13th – two points better off their opponents.
Data Debrief: Buonanotte at his best
While Leicester had to wait for their first victory since returning to the top flight, it came via a player who had already impressed under Cooper.
Buonanotte now has four goal involvements in six Premier League appearances this season – already his joint-most across a single campaign in the competition (also four for Brighton and Hove Albion in 2023-24).
Indeed, his four goal contributions in his last five league games is as many as he managed in his previous 36 matches.
Leicester had to come through plenty of pressure at the other end, but they held firm for their first home clean sheet in the Premier League since October 2022 – a 2-0 win over Leeds United that game 16 home top-flight games ago.
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Holstein Kiel: Alonso denied win on landmark outing
Bayer Leverkusen again let a lead slip, having to settle for a 2-2 draw against Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga, in Xabi Alonso's 100th match in charge of the club.
Victor Boniface slotted in after just four minutes to put the hosts in front, netting his fourth league goal of the campaign.
And Leverkusen struck again before Kiel could recover, with Jonas Hofmann's low drive getting the better of Timon Weiner, who should have done better, to put them 2-0 up inside eight minutes.
Kiel, however, refused to back down and pulled one back on the stroke of half-time thanks to Max Geschwill's far-post header.
Jeremie Frimpong then brought down Armin Gigovic in the box, and Fiete Arp made no mistake from the spot as he got the promoted side back on level terms in the 69th minute.
Leverkusen missed the chance to go level on points with leaders Bayern Munich, and instead sit fifth.
Data Debrief: An early lead slips
Alonso would have been hoping to mark his 100th game in charge with a much more positive result, especially having won 66 of his first 99 in charge.
It was not for lack of trying though, as they had 23 shots in the game, seven of which were on target - a much-improved tally from their meagre three attempts against Bayern last weekend.
In fact, The Werkself have still taken the most shots (117) and had the most on-target (44) in the Bundesliga so far this season.
However, they have also dropped seven points from winning positions in the competition, with only Bochum and Wolfsburg (both eight) losing more, and that is something Alonso will be keen to stamp out sooner rather than later.
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