The face of the New York Red Bulls changed over the offseason with the departures of Thierry Henry, Jamison Olave, Tim Cahill and coach Mike Petke.

However, while an era may have ended, the club’s winning didn’t. The Red Bulls will arrive at CenturyLink Field today with 4-2-5 record that sent them into the weekend in third place in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference.

“Their season started under a little bit of an air of intrigue,” Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. “But (coach) Jesse Marsch has done a good job with the team. They’ve sort of gone maybe a slightly different direction.”

Obviously, not everything changed. Forward Bradley Wright-Phillips returns after winning the MLS Golden Boot last season with 27 goals, including three in a 4-1 win against the Sounders.

“He’s very good at toeing that offside line,” Seattle central defense Chad Marshall said. “That’s something we’re going to have to watch and make sure we’re not playing too high of a line.”

In Seattle the Red Bulls will face the top defensive team in MLS, as the Sounders have surrendered a league-low nine goals. Six of those came in just two games. Seattle has seven shutouts overall, and three in a row.