NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 30, 2025

Sandro Schwarz

Press Conference

New York Red Bulls 0, Columbus Crew 0

Q. What do you think about the new pitch?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, good first question. First of all, it's great, and to say thank you for the club that they are doing this for the new pitch. And I think it's important, not only for us, for the opponent, as well, for the motivation, and this was a great job from the club. It was a great job from the green keepers, from the whole team, that we had this situation today to play on this pitch.

Q. This is the second straight game where the team seemed to create really about chances but unable to put them away. Is the team frustrated that they were unable to do that, and what can you do as a coach to help them through this frustration?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, to analyze, first of all, and of course we are frustrated that we didn't win this game today. But when we are looking to this performance against a really about team, and we played, for me, especially against the ball, very well, so dominant against the ball and very intense to find the right moment in our pressing, in our back four behavior, every time to step out. And this was for me really good.

And then we had, of course, then, especially in the first half a lot of good chances, but I'm pretty sure we have the quality to score. And first of all, it's our basic to be very aggressive against the ball as a group. And I'm really satisfied with the performance. We are a little bit disappointed with the result, that's clear, but about the performance for me to be honest was one of the best games especially against the ball for me.

Q. In terms of the speed of play, it seemed like the first 20 minutes felt like there was a lot more intensity visibly, just a lot of chances in and around the goal. And it felt like in the second half that kind of died down. Can you speak to any of that shift? Did you see any shifts or were you pleased with the intensity throughout the 90 minutes?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, I think the second half, it was a little bit the problem, we won similar the balls on the side, similar the balls in the center. But I think compared to the first half, then we missed the first pass, second pass, to create more situations in our transitions. This was in the first half very well.

But in the second half, for me, we had also a lot of good moments. Columbus, they had only one big chance the whole 95 minutes, and we had a lot of situations. Also, second half after set pieces the moment with the corner, the situation with Dylan. But also in the second half, then good moments, was not so clean, the first ball, second ball like in the first half, that's true.

But the performance, what I said, really, I'm really satisfied about the performance against a really good team.

Q. With only five games left, how do you approach the final stretch of the season?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Tomorrow, training. Then we have the national break. So to prepare these guys in our training session and to hope that no one gets an injury in the national team. So that's, for me, now the focus to work very hard, very serious now in this week.

Next week we don't have a game, and to prepare the game for Portland and not to think about now the next five games. Only the focus this training week that we have a high load for some guys, which is necessary for their fitness. Then Gustav Berggren a normal, regular week, which is important that he's becoming closer to our principles, and that's it.

And then next week we start the focus for Portland.

Q. I'm from began in a and I'm very, very interested in the Ghanaian players on your team, Mohammed Sofo and Ronald Donkor. We have seen Sofo make a lot of appearances for Red Bulls this season. We have also seen Donkor make some appearances for New York Red Bulls. How important have these players been for your team?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, very important for us when we are looking now, Sofo, great development, how he's working so hard against the ball and a lot of good runs today, especially in the first half, a lot of good moments and in our transitions and with a lot of speed, this is necessary. So great development from Sofo and it's good.

This is our philosophy from the whole club to interest these guys for the next step and then to get the experience in the starting lineup or to come from the bunch.

And Ronny, as well, is the same situation. So Ronny, yeah, he has a little bit more experience. He played last year more, and also great player, as a six position in keeping the ball to find the right moment in, ball possession, very aggressive. Really good guys from Ghana.

Q. Just wanted to ask you about the first 20 minutes, we saw a lot of the team possess the ball and they did manage to secure a few chances on. It can you talk about how you can build on that going into Portland in a few weeks and do you think that the international break may hinder some of that momentum you want to build during training? And as a second part, how do you see Gustav Berggren in his first few minutes as a Red Bull player, and how has he been integrating in the team in practice?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, for me, was not only the first 20 minutes to be honest. We had, of course, in the beginning of the game, we good transition moments but was for me the whole 95 minutes.

We talked in our match man about that that we want to play very dominant against the ball. Because Columbus, everyone knows his style of play and ball position, a lot of rotations. And for me, the winger players, ball strikers made a great job, and this is what we have to continue, then, also, for the Portland game.

Now my answer is so long, I forgot the second question.

Ah, Gustav Berggren, yeah. We have seen the last couple of days in our team training session how he's playing, and he's very aggressive. He wants always to make the last step in our defense behavior, in our pressing, and also to play with a lot of confidence. But, of course, now, I don't know, he played 20 minutes.

So now this is tomorrow next training session, which is very important for him in a normal regular week, next week, to adapt our principles. But what I have seen the first couple of our train session, that he's good in communication to support to help the teammates, and this is what we have to progress now.

Q. Is there anything different that Columbus did to keep you guys off the scoreboard? It looked like you guys were basically pressing toward the second half but it seemed they stiffened up the defense. Is that the catalyst that kept you guys scoreless or were there mistakes? I wanted to see your insight.

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, the second half they changed a little bit the structure, and they had one player more in the center then in a higher position. The situation, how they create the chance was then that we were a little bit too deep with our back line in one or two moments.

But at the end, they had only one chance, and not to forget, they had zero shots in the first half, and for me, that's okay today to be honest. And of course, when we scored the one goal and then everyone is saying about this performance, what a great performance, we missed the chances, but we had the chances. That's for me, important. When we don't have the chances how can you win the game?

But we had chances and we were very aggressive. We played all together in our defensive behavior, and that's okay.

Q. Coming off of last year's Cup run, we can all say that the fans expectations have risen a little bit. Do you have a message to the fans, and were you able to see the banner that was displayed in the supporter section?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, I have always a message in each press conference, and I hope that they have a message for all of us. So we are fighting. We are fighting for our goal. So we have now 40 points. So I don't know exactly how many points we had last season. I would say maybe 43, 44. So it's not a big difference compared to the last season from the points side.

I'm pretty sure we have to stay together, all together, all. And now it's not the moment to think about how was it last year and how is it this season. Only to keep the focus for the next training session, to keep the focus for the next game, and that's important.

So we have five games to go in this season and we try everything. We are working so hard, the whole group, the whole staff, the whole club and so now keep going and after this season, we can analyze about everything.

But now, for me, from my side, it's not the moment now to think about, Oh, what happened here, something like that. Come on, everyone is trying their best. And we have all to know that Red Bull is a big company. It is a big organization. And it's not only the responsibility then maybe here from our front office or something like that. So that's a big company. It's a big organization, and we have to respect that all together.

And this is now to keep going the last weeks, and then we will see, after the season, we can analyze everything. But now is not the time to analyze something about that.

Now is the time to analyze the games, the training session, and then in Portland, in Montréal. And when we have the next home game, I think it's NYC FC. Come on. We have to look forward. And our Supporters, they have to look forward, okay, come on. When we are coming here next time in our home stadium, everyone has to be ready, especially against NYC FC. Come on. There's no time to complain about topics off the pitch.

After the season we have enough time to analyze. But now, that's the message. We have to stay together. We have to fight together, and hopefully, then, also, to be happy after three points.

Q. Once again, good performance, but now with the result that didn't go your way, do you have to now watch other clubs as how they perform while you do try to get those points and remain above the playoff line? And secondly, how is Daniel Edelman? He fell on the pitch. He didn't get up for a while until he did and hobbled around a bit. Is he okay?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: I think so. He's okay. But we will check him tomorrow. But I think it's not a big topic now with Danny. So I think he will be ready. And, yeah, we have to look for ourselves. That's it.

This is what we have in our hands every day, and not to look about, okay, what happened on the right side, what happened on the left side. We have to look what we can bring with our quality, with our behavior, with our atmosphere all together; and not that we create our emotions and to look for other clubs or how is the result today or tomorrow, I don't know, or next week, I don't know.

So only to have the focus what we have in our hands, and that's a lot, to be honest. That's a lot. In these five games, it's a lot. And this is my main focus, and not to have the influence of another results in my feelings or something like that, no.

And today, guys, believe me, and you know me, today I have a good feeling. Because I see a great team today, and also, against a good team, Columbus. This is also great head coach, great players, as well, with their style of play. So 0-0, it's okay. This is what we have to respect. Next.

Q. Against Columbus the last couple games, going back to the playoffs, going back to last season and this season, it seems like the Columbus Crew are a team that is going to lead the Eastern Conference. You guys seem to be playing them in a way that they can't get comfortable. You guys led them on shots today. You guys let them on shots on target. You guys conceded possession but it didn't matter because you used the ball more effectively. Could you just talk about your process against these teams, like teams that are favored against you guys, and you are still able to get these results. I know you wanted three points but one point against this team is still pretty good?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Okay, guys, come on. Let's talk. Then we go -- we analyze everything now. Because we talked about the playoffs, about last season.

Look, guys, last year, we played two games in the regular season against Columbus. We lost the first game in Columbus 3-0. We played back four. We didn't have the chance in Columbus.

We played the second game in our home stadium in the last game in the regular season. We lost 3-2. 2-0 down, 2-2, last second, we concede the third goal. We played back four.

We played two games in a back four, and we lost, and I would say we haven't had a chance, the first game; the second game, was better.

Then, the playoff games, we played two times with three center backs. It was a little bit more man orientation which is not our main idea, our principles, but this was more because of the playoffs and now the situation.

And today was the first game in these five games against Columbus we played with our principles in our defense against the ball, and this was top for me. This was top. This was the first game.

And I know everyone is looking for the result, playoffs; we won; we won; we won against Columbus. But today we played with our principles, with our pressing, in a back four, 4-4-2, sometimes 4-2-3-1, sometimes 4-3-3, and this was, for me, great, to be honest, and hopefully next in two weeks we are playing against Portland. I'm very happy that we didn't play against Portland last year in the playoffs to be honest.