New York Red Bulls’ head coach Mike Petke was uncharacteristically nonchalant about his team’s 3-0 loss — and U.S. Open Cup ouster — against the New York Cosmos.

“This was the World Cup to them and my guys didn’t view it that way,” he told reporters after the match.

Clearly, the comments got under the skin of Cosmos boss Giovanni Savarese. In a similarly uncharacteristic fashion, Savarese opened his weekly press conference issuing a statement that addressed the comments of his crosstown counterpart.

“I just wanted to be clear,” he began. “It wasn’t for us the World Cup … it was the U.S. Open Cup.”

For Savarese, the meaning of the match was clear. “We treat it as it is; as the U.S. Open Cup,” he states. “But the different thing is that we treat it with respect for the competition and for our fans.

“Our fans deserve a team that is going to compete 100% for every game that we have available which we can win a trophy,” he explained. “That is the least they deserve; that we step on the field and put on a good display and effort, whoever are going to be the names we are going to put in.”

What unfolded in Shuart Stadium Saturday night was much like the lead up to the match. The Cosmos approached it with a certain reverence, promoting it through various channels and talking up the encounter as a historic moment in local soccer lore.

The Red Bulls took a more lax approach, and it translated onto the field.

In the wake of the Red Bulls’ loss, much of the conversation has been about why it happened. After all, it wasn’t just a loss; the Cosmos dominated play.

Roster depletion heading into the match has been used as a potential explanation for their poor performance. Stars like Tim Cahill and Roy Miller were off in Brazil for the World Cup. Stalwart midfielder Dax McCarty is out with a knee injury. Both Thierry Henry [handling BBC duties for the World Cup] and Jamison Olave were already ruled out due to turf concerns. Moreover, the Red Bulls elected to start Ryan Meara over arguably the team’s most valuable player, Luis Robles.

While that may be true, Savarese turns the tables on the argument. “We didn’t have [Marcos] Senna, we didn’t have Roversio, we didn’t have Diomar [Diaz], we didn’t have some important players on the field,” he said. “Jemal [Johnson] is just coming back.

“Whoever was going to play had to give 100% into the game for the fans coming to support us and because we have a chance to win a trophy.”

Moreover, the Cosmos boss defends the actual strength in the Red Bull roster despite their missing players.

“If you are supposedly in the higher division, you are supposed to be the favorite wherever you go,” he explains. “When we play the Brooklyn Italians going into St. Johns, we were the favorites going into the match because we are coming from a higher division. That should be the norm.

“Red Bull, especially with the XI they started, which were exactly, probably one or two exceptions, the one that played against the New England Revolution, they took the game seriously, they came to our field as favorites and at the end weren’t able to perform.”

Another explanation offered for the Red Bulls’ loss was exhaustion. It was clear Petke lamented the June 14th fixture, particularly because it cut into the team’s 19-day World Cup layoff. To that point, the Red Bulls had played 14 games in 13 weeks while the Cosmos just wrapped up their nine game Spring Season.

When asked what good he could take from the loss on Saturday, Petke simply replied, “Ya … we have vacation. It’s over. We have vacation now. The guys need it.”

That also seemed to strike an unsavory chord for Savarese.

“For us, vacation is when the days are off,” the Cosmos boss explained. “If we have an important match, which for us, every game that we can win a trophy is important, we treat it seriously. Then, when they go to vacation, they go to vacation, but also, when they go on vacation, they go with responsibility knowing they must continue working and be ready for what comes after.”

No matter the reason for the result, Savarese sent a clear — and final — message about the match itself.

“Everytime we step on the field, we have a job to do; to give 100% to the organization and our fans,” he said. “I knew what our players are capable of doing. We have the confidence to enter in the field and be dominant and our guys are able to execute the gameplan we ask them in a great way.

“I was not surprised and I can only judge my team that was ready to step on the field and was serious about this game that is very important to the fans and the organization.”

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