NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 21, 2024

Sandro Schwarz

Press Conference

New York Red Bulls 2, Atlanta 2

Q. Could you talk about the decision to talk about Elias Manoel with the penalty kick and not Lewis Morgan?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Because Elias scored in the Leagues Cup two times. And in this situation, he was very confident about that, and this is a position that Eli take this penalty and was for sure, then, unlucky he missed this moment.

Q. Daniel Edelman has been terrific in the midfield for long stretches of the season and you award him with a little bit of responsibility and leadership giving him the captain's armband. Speak about that decision.

SANDRO SCHWARZ: First of all it was great behavior from Carlos Coronel this morning. We had this morning a great conversation about this topic and Carlos Coronel said for himself and for the group that he thinks could be better for this game that Danny Edelman is the captain.

And this is for me, first of all, great behavior from Carlos Coronel. And yeah, with his mentality, Daniel Edelman, he's very important for us, and also with his development in position and yeah, he showed this is whole 100 minutes today, Danny Edelman to be very strong in the duels and to organize our structure in the defense; and also to organize our structure in our offensive behavior.

And in this case, I'm very satisfied about the behavior from Carlos Coronel, and also I'm very happy about the performance from Danny.

Q. Just curious a bit about what you kind of try to instill in the boys for pushing on for late goals with the equalizer against sporting Kansas City two weeks ago and now the late equalizer tonight. What's the motivation at the end for the players?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, at the end, I would say and I said this in the locker room, it's a different feeling when we compare this to the game against Kansas City, for example.

But now today, for me, the performance was very well at the beginning with the whole energy, when the whole intensity and also create a lot of good moments and good chances in our position, and then also the beginning of the second half, we had our moments where we made the two mistakes in our defense behavior.

But the second goal was then also a great shot from Mosquera, and the first goal which we concede, the rest defense was not very well in this moment. But when I analyze the whole performance, which was for me very well, and also then not to so easy to come back when you concede the second goal, and to see the mentality that at the end we can also score the third goal for getting three points.

But that's okay. It's a different feeling, like Kansas City, and I'm proud of this mentality, of this behavior, from the whole team today.

Q. Tough result but I think a deserved point to say the least. Can you just speak about how the game played out? Atlanta United tried to overload one side of the midfield in the first half, but your side did well to nullify most of the attacks outside of just the penalty. In the second half, they were very content staying behind the ball. Can you talk about the adjustments the team made, and the results going into the derby next week?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: We have now one week to prepare for the derby for the next week against New York City.

But I would say our preparation before this game was more than we are playing against the back four. I think the last game, which they played with three center backs was against D.C. United from Atlanta.

But we prepared, then, in the locker room in situation, especially in possession, which position we have to occupy, and yeah, we did it very well. We had the good moments, very good, deep runs, and also when it was close on side, and to have these switch moments in the half space, that was very well.

But how we concede the first goal, this was then the long switch to the other side was a very difficult pass, and then the first, second touch was not good enough, and then they solved the situation diagonal and then with a long ball. This is what we have to improve, especially, to organize our rest defense.

Yeah what I said at the beginning of the press conference, when I analyze the performance, the behavior, especially the reaction after the game last week against Chicago, I'm very satisfied, and then also to come back after this second goal which we concede.

Q. How do you compare and contrast your thinking on the very late yellow card goal and your team never saying die, not quitting and pulling even at the end very late?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, we had a very good example and before the game we talked about Roger Federer to be honest. We saw statistics and numbers of all his games and his tournaments, and he's one of the best, or he was one of the best tennis players, tennis player. He won everything. He got 54 percent, he wins 54 percent all points.

So he lost 46 points. So when you think about, I got this question at the beginning of the week, and I thought this is maybe 80, 75 percent like this, that he won every point, but it's only 56 percent, and we talked about this was our main part in our pre-match meeting, that we never give up; that we have to believe in everything when we make a mistake; when it's the next situation or may be loose or then also to miss a pass or to miss a chance or to miss the penalty.

But at the end, the behavior, the mentality after that, was for me was great today. For sure we are disappointed for the result because when you see the numbers, a lot of shots, a lot of good moments, we miss the penalty. We are disappointed about the result, but the behavior, especially after last week against Chicago, for me was great.

Q. You talked the missed penalty with Elias, but can you talk about his mentality to get back in the game and get the equalizing goal?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, I tried to talk about that the last minutes.

But yeah, it's very important. It's very important to have this reaction, also, in the game because it directly changed some situations. We concede the second goal, and the result last week was not good, and then the home game against Kansas City was also not the best result and not the best performance.

But to keep this energy from the beginning and to the end and when you concede a goal, this is a great mentality and we need this mentality, and without this mentality, so I'm not sure that we have this quality then to win games with 70, 80 percent. We need this competition every day, every match day on Saturday, and that is for me great.

And then also, when you score the second goal, and then also to have three, four, five minutes and you want to win and you create these moments, you create the situation, the stadium was loud, the atmosphere was great, and this is what we need, especially next week we have a big game against New York City and now this is what we have to prepare.

Q. As a leader of the team and as a coach, what makes you -- talking about the goal and the guys giving everything to the end --

SANDRO SCHWARZ: I answered --

Q. No, thank you -- more happy, that situation, fighting through the end, or does that make you more angry the way you leave Atlanta coming back and almost get the three points in the game?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, for sure we are disappointed that we have only one point in our home game and the atmosphere was great in the stadium today for sure. We are disappointed about the result.

But when you come back after last week, this game in Chicago, what I said, and to come back, this is the reason why I'm very proud of the whole team, and not only for the starting lineup, but for the whole substitutions and for the whole roster which we have; and also the atmosphere in our locker room. And this is very important for me.

This is very important for us; and to keep this energy, to keep this level, to keep this intensity, and yeah, for me as a head coach to see this, it's great. It's great. You can imagine if you lose this game, two-against-one, and I think then I will get another questions then to talk about the mentality to be honest.

Q. I promise it won't be about mentality.

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Mentality is an important topic. Would he tell mentality --

Q. I do want to ask you about Manoel and Vanzeir going into the next match -- how important is it --

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Very important -- sorry for interrupting. Very important that ball strikers scored and then also Gunter, last week, he made the assist to the goal from Dennis, and yeah, then he was also directly in the game and in our pressing and in deep runs and he had also good shots, and the goalkeeper had great saves.

It's good. It's good that also both strikers, that they are able to score in these difficult matches and difficult moments, and yeah, this is what we need and this is what we need in now the next four games, and we will see what happened after the regular season.

Q. Focusing on the next game with NYC FC, they are going to be missing some of their players coming back to their game but you are gaining back Forsberg. Something missing towards the end in the last weeks, how are you looking forward to having one of your best players and your captain being in that position for the games that get tight just like this?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: For sure, Emil is a very important player for us. Lewis Morgan is very important with the experience, especially with this young group, and we are looking forward now, and we will see what happens now the next week in our team training session. The last two days, three days, he joined 70 percent of the team training session. We will see tomorrow's training, recovery training. For these players that didn't play today, they have also then tomorrow training on the pitch. Yeah, hopefully he will be ready, but he was also 10 weeks, 12 weeks out, and I think it's also not a good situation now to give him the whole pressure for the game next week. Because also, this is normal, and when you're injured after this long time to come back, so he needs also time.

But as a leader, he can also make the difference, especially in the finals, and in the last part, also able to score, he's an important player for us for sure. And great mentality.