MLS week 25 began with an entertaining tactical chess match between two of the league’s best and smartest managers. Patrick Vieira and Jesse Marsch dueled it out at Red Bull Arena in the New York Derby, which finished 1-1 on an impressively-clinical NYCFC counter and a penalty-kick drawn by Sacha Kljestan.
It may not have been end-to-end action and it couldn’t be classified as a track meet like the Seattle-Portland match that closed the week, but watching the Red Bulls’ ever-changing pressing shape and how NYC combatted it with varying possession patterns was fascinating. Catching a replay of this might be on my schedule this week, and I’d recommend taking a close look at this one.