NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 22, 2025

Sandro Schwarz

Press Conference

New York Red Bulls 2, Toronto 1

Q. Can you speak a little bit about Forsberg and how important he is to the club and what he did particularly in this game?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, he's a very important person off the field, and also on the field, and we can see today the whole quality of Emil, first of all, in our pressing behavior that he's working so hard and that he's attacking the opponent and especially this quality with the ball, as a leader, he wants in every situation the ball, and also then with deep runs and this was the main part, the main topic for this week and he showed this very well. It's great to see him every day in our facility, in our train session, in our locker room, and then it's about to see him as well then on match day.

Q. It seemed difficult to find a real rhythm in that first half. What do you think prevented you guys from finding that?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: I think it's normal, to be honest, when you want to play very, very dominant and when you have, I think so, we have now after the game, 69 percent in ball position. That's, for me, great.

And to find the rhythm, and for sure this has been the next step when we are dominant to create more situations in the box or around the box. I would say especially in the second half, it work at the beginning very well.

But I am very satisfied today with the performance, and this is the next step. When you control the game to play very dominant, what we did, our counter press, a lot of situations, what the guys did was very well.

And when Toronto scored with the first chance, the goal, and then to come back like we did, that's great. This is now the next big step for us today to control the game with these high numbers in ball position and then hopefully that we can do this also for the next weeks.

Q. A.J. got his first start, first win as well. He went on loan last year to end the season in Finland. Just talk about how he grew from that experience and kind of brought it back with him to become a backup this year?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: I said this on Friday as well in our press conference, and he trained so hard every day. He deserved, also, that he's staying today on the field. Also now in our build-up situation, he made good build-up situations. He created a lot of good moments to build up. And especially with the loan last season in Finland, it's great for him, individual for him as a person, to go in a new culture, to win in a new culture last season. And now today he showed us very well today in his first game in the MLS, and that's great, to see him, and also to give him these three points.

Q. Can you talk about the injury to Serge?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, I think we decided, to be honest, it was the last, six, seven minutes. When he went out and the rule is he has to be out for two minutes. This is what we don't want in this situation when you are 2-1 and you have the result, then we decided to change directly.

Q. With the struggle to get consistency, what do you think changed in the second half that allowed you guys to just be that direct and to have that aggressive player that could just keep going especially with the subs coming out?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: But that's normal to be honest. That's normal when you control the game, it's also a good opponent, especially with individual quality. You have always, always to be careful for the transitions and for the individual moments which they have with the players.

And for sure, we can create some more moments but it's not so easy to control the game and not to lose the patience. But you use, also, the speed that you need in some moments.

The second half was great, and also the first half was a lot of good moments to control the game. They had one chance in the first half, and then the first chance was when they scored. It's normal game, and it's normal, and it's a big, big step in our development to control the game and then also to win the game.

Q. Toward the end of the game, Felipe Carballo and Freeman had somewhat of a disagreement that led to his ejection. Was this something that you and Felipe had a discussion with after the game?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Not directly, but then this is a topic for the next days, for sure, to have the conversation, what happened in this situation. Because it's necessary that we don't lose the head and that we don't get a red card in these moments. But this is what we have to talk about the next days.

Q. Can you talk about the posture and attack you played the ball out wide, and you were looking for crosses in the first half. But it seemed like you only had one runner and not many runners to the near post. Is that the posture you're looking for, or are you looking for more numbers into the box?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, we need more numbers, and in our halftime, we showed the guys three sequences where we controlled the ball very well.

But we need more numbers in our box, first post, second post, penalty squad, these areas. This is what we analyzed in the halftime, and to control the ball, it was good. But more clear, aggressive runs in the box that we have also the positions then in the box.

Q. We saw Wike Carmona make a start today. He did a lot of good pressing. Do you think we can expect something like that in the next game, too?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: He has to do that to be honest. Not to expect; he has to do that. This is our style of play, to play very aggressive, and in our pressing, as well. This is what I said before. Then, also, to make these aggressive runs in the box. This is necessary and this is important for us to create these moments.

But he was also injured most of the time in the preseason, and then it's not so easy to come into rhythm. It's the same like the whole team for me today, it was very well, and especially for him.

Q. How does the team decide who takes the penalty kicks?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: They decide. It's normal, the situation, Emil and Choupo at this moment, they are so experienced with all these games which they played in their career, and they have to decide.

And I'm not this coach, to be honest, that I'm saying, okay, yes, to take this penalty, these two guys they have to decide in a small conversation, without trouble, and in a small conversation, and then they decide.

Q. You brought on Parker to end the game. Talk about your team's defensive structure to close out the game and your ability to be able to grind out these type of performances.

SANDRO SCHWARZ: The decision was because we wanted to have one guy more, especially for set pieces, maybe, for the open, and then to bring Tim as a center back. He did it in the last training session and also very late in our preseason, but the character, as a leader, as well.

This was our decision, then, to bring Raheem in a higher position but more defense thinking about that, and then Emil as a left wingback, to bring the out at the end.

Q. Can you talk about the spark that Serge brought in the short period he was on the field? Seemed direct and started that goal sequence.

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, I said this directly on the field to him after the game. But it was great to see he was directly ready in these 20 minutes, with his run, speed, it is necessary, and for me, he was directly in the game and this is what we need, also, from these guys when they are coming from the bench, and we did it very well.