MATT KREMKAU - EMPIRE OF SOCCER

by DAVE MARTINEZ

Sunday’s encounter will be a hot one — long before the Red Bulls and New York City FC take the field.

Early prognostications are calling for this weekend’s Hudson River Derby match to be a scorcher, with temperatures in and around 95 degrees at the 1 P.M. kickoff time. Due to the activity on the field, the glare of the seats and the static conditions, temperatures on the pitch will likely be about 5-10 degrees hotter, creating a bubbling cauldron for both NYCFC and Red Bull players to perform.

Playing in the summer is a way of life for MLS players. That is a reality Patrick Vieira is beginning to understand. However, the time, date and importance of Sunday’s match has the former Arsenal great wishing for better circumstances.

“For me, it is difficult to understand how we can play a derby game as important as this one, why you want to promote soccer and the game, and you play it at 1 o’clock, when it is the peak of hot weather,” NYCFC boss Patrick Vieira said. “It is difficult for me to understand it but that is the way it is. Of course, that will have an impact in the game and it is something we will have to manage well and take into consideration in our training for the week.”

“I don’t understand it, but that is the decision people have taken and we have to deal with it,” he continued. “You want both teams at their best to promote the game. I don’t think playing at 1 o’clock helps both teams to promote the game, for people to come to the stadium or for people to watch the game.”

Vieira’s nebulous “decision people” are the very broadcasters set to air the match. FOX has scheduled the national matinee on their main broadcast channel, opening up the encounter to a vast and potentially uninitiated audience.

The decision, however, comes at the price of the players.

MLS is no stranger to midsummer matinees. They are also no strangers to the dangerous effects such conditions impose on players and fans. Back in 2003, then-Kansas City Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad collapsed and was carted off the field, forcing him out of his match with the Metrostars due to heat exhaustion. He was treated with intravenous fluids to help stabilize his condition. Then Metrostars player Edgar Bartholomeu suffered a similar fate as both men succumbed to the 118 degree heat.

”We were gasping for air,” MetroStars midfielder Mark Lisi told reporters after the match. ”Hopefully they will take a good look at this and don’t have any 12 o’clock games anymore.”

In 2012, the Red Bulls and Chicago Fire endured 101 degree conditions in a midweek matinee at Red Bull Arena. Both teams cautiously traversed the pitch, making for a slow and ugly encounter. At the 90 minute mark, several players displayed their exhaustion, collapsing to the ground as the final minute of the match struck.

While Vieira openly admitted his concern for the conditions, team captain David Villa had a different take. “It’s difficult and the team has been working on this all week,” Villa said. “Everyone knows that Sunday at 1 o’clock it will be very warm, but the condition of the game is the same for both teams. We need to work to be ready for any conditions.”

Jesse Marsch believes those equal conditions can potentially play in the Red Bulls’ favor. March’s side are working on drills this week to better manage the heat in the construct of the team’s high press.

“These day games get national television and a big audience. Our team relishes playing in some these moments where there are a lot of eyes on the team and rivalry and typically we have done well in nationally televised games,” he began. “We are not worried about it. In some ways, we wish kickoff was today”

While New York City FC are defined by their aging superstars, the Red Bulls are a younger side who could theoretically handle the heat a bit better than their veteran foes. That is one key element Marsch hopes to exploit come this Sunday.

“We want to challenge them to physically hold up in the heat,” he said. “They have some older players and that is a challenge. I know personally as I got older, the heat became debilitating.

“We are gonna make the game fast, go after them and use the elements in our favor.”