As you might imagine, Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio wasn’t happy after Wednesday night’s 6-2 loss to FC Barcelona. It took one question to get Osorio going about a match his squad was thoroughly dominated in:
"Was it that this team couldn’t handle or wasn’t used to this style," asked one local journalist.
"Oh come on! Come on! Half of this team just played and won the European tournament," Osorio stated with a touch of exasperation. "What can I say? I’m not going to sit here and embarrass my players. That’s top players playing against very good players in MLS.
"We tried to control the game but they have midfielders that can pass the ball forever," Osorio said. "They have strikers that can individually affect the game. Collectively, you saw what they can do."
Osorio went on to explain the variety of tactical nuances of Barcelona’s versatile and unrelenting attack, and was careful to remind the media that he had some young players facing off against some of the best players in the world.
"I like Danleigh a lot, and I think he will grow, but let me remind you six months ago he was playing college football and he’s playing against Puyol and Marquez. Come on," Osorio said.
"That’s reality, that’s what it is. We couldn’t have done anything better than we did today. This is the strongest team we have and we played against a very tough team."
As disappointed as Osorio was, he stuck by his statements from earlier this week that he felt the friendly was worth playing.
"I said a couple of days ago that I thought it was a great opportunity because we want our players to grow, like Danleigh (Borman) and Luke Sassano," Osorio said. "We want them playing games like this and realize how hard it is to play football against senior players. I wouldn’t say necessarily that it is bad.
"The result is very difficult to digest, but I want to look at the bigger picture and think that the players will benefit from games like we played today."
What do you think of Wednesday night’s match? Was it a complete waste of time for the Red Bulls? Do you think that, despite Barcelona’s obvious quality, the Red Bulls still shouldn’t have lost 6-2?
Share your thoughts below.