The players and coaches from the Red Bulls and New York City F.C. crossed paths for only a few minutes on Thursday. Sharing a podium as they changed places at a news conference promoting their game Sunday at nearly sold-out Yankee Stadium, the two players and their coaches awkwardly held team scarves for the kind of posed photos that most news organizations do not publish.
It was a staged moment, to be sure, but it was also a symbolic one: two teams passing before Sunday night, when they will renew their one-game-old rivalry in a clash of styles of how to play and visions of how to build a team.