FC Cincinnati defender DeAndre Yedlin is hoping his team-mates can rediscover their competitive edge as they travel to the Red Bull Arena to face New York Red Bulls this weekend.
The Orange and Blue were forced to relinquish top spot in the Eastern Conference table as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Chicago Fire courtesy of Brian Gutierrez’s second half winner.
Cincinnati are now two points behind Inter Miami, who overcame their 6-1 defeat to Pat Noonan’s side last week with a convincing triumph over Toronto FC in midweek.
With Columbus Crew breathing down their necks and going to within five points of them with two games in hand, Yedlin insisted that his squad must rally together to rekindle that winning formula.
"We expect to win every game. It doesn't matter who we have on the field," Yedlin said.
"Since I've been at this club, I've noticed that the foundation of the club is hard work, is competing, is effort and then the little things sprinkled on top of that − the stuff that 'Lucho' can do, pulling stuff out of the hat.
“For whatever reason, the last few games it feels like that's a little off. There's nobody from the outside that can fix that. It's on us. It's on us to look deep within the team and find that competitiveness again."
For the Red Bulls, they extended their unbeaten run in the MLS to seven matches with their draw against CF Montreal last time out.
Sandro Schwarz’s side have drawn six of those games, however, and find themselves losing touch to the sides above them in the division.
The Red Bulls are currently fourth in the Eastern Conference, 10 points behind this weekend’s opponents with the possibility of dropping out of the top four should they fail to find a win on home soil.
Schwarz bemoaned his side’s lack of clinical nature in the final third, admitting the draw with Montreal left a bad feeling among his squad heading into their next encounter.
"It was a good game," Schwarz said. "But at the end, it's 2-2, and it's two less than if we play like the first 60, 65 minutes.
“Then you want to win. Then you want to go home with three points and that's it. And today, it's a bad feeling for us."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
NYRB – Wikelman Carmona
Having registered just two goal contributions in his first 10 MLS games this season, Wikelman Carmona now has two goals and an assist in his last six league outings.
Carmona scored the Red Bulls’ opener against Montreal last time out, and has lost just one of his four previous encounters with Cincinnati (W2, D1).
FC Cincinnati – Yuya Kubo
In the absence of talisman Luciano Acosta, Yuya Kubo will take on the responsibility of providing an attacking threat for Cincinnati in the final third.
Kubo has scored nine goals in 22 appearances for Noonan’s side this season, scoring in the reverse fixture between the two sides. However, the 30-year-old has won just one of his previous eight meetings with the Red Bulls (D3, L4).
MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW
Cincinnati will be hopeful of returning to winning ways having lost back-to-back home games but have found comfort playing away from home.
Noonan’s side have won their last seven games away from the TQL Stadium, having taken just six points from their last five home fixtures.
The Red Bulls have won two of their last five encounters against Cincinnati (D1, L2), hoping to equal their last unbeaten streak which was eight matches between September – October 2021.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
NYRB – 38.6%
Draw – 26.5%
FC Cincinnati – 34.9%