'I came here to win' - Wednesday Convo with New York Red Bulls star Emil Forsberg on 'why not us' mentality, Zlatan Ibrahimovic influence, push for first MLS Cup

GOAL: It’s nearly one year now since your arrival to MLS, what has that experience felt like?

FORSBERG: I mean, it feels crazy. I think the time has been going on fast. I had some tough couple of months with the injury, but now I can't say anything bad. It feels good. It feels fantastic to be where we are right now. Conference Final. It's been a long year, but it's been ups and downs, I think, for us, but this kind of shows how good we can be when we work together as a team. And, yeah, it's been a fun first year, for sure, apart from my injury, I think it's been a fun year.

GOAL: Has anything in MLS kind of caught you off guard in terms of maybe the player ability, the physicality, maybe the distance traveling between matches and cities? What are those takeaways that you you initially didn't expect?

FORSBERG: Before I came here, everybody told me that it's a physical league. I think the players are better than a lot of people expect, and I think that's the case. I think a lot of people think every player is very good. I think the quality is good. It's better than you expect. And I think… the travel, yeah, it can be some long hours in the plane, but, I mean, it's OK. When I played in Sweden, we traveled by bus everywhere. So I mean, I'm used to long hours sitting and waiting. So apart from that. It's been good... I'll just go with the moment and go with the flow.

GOAL: How did the move actually come about? Was it the connection between the two clubs, or was MLS always a destination you had in mind?

FORSBERG: I think it just came naturally. I think it was just the right time for it, the right moment, and we just grabbed it and said, 'Let's do it.' And I think it's not just one guy who has to be on board. Everybody has to be on board. And it was a decision for everybody. So it, yeah, it just came naturally. I would say I was nine years in Leipzig. It was unbelievable. I'm so proud of it. But like I said, I think it just came naturally to this point where, like, yeah, it's time.

GOAL: Leipzig to New York. It's a bit of a culture shock in terms of city life. What is life like for you now, and what parts of the city really draw you in?

FORSBERG: I'm a guy who doesn't try to make anything bigger or worse. Of course, there's differences, but I just go with the flow. I have been feeling very well. I think it's different of course - you come to New York, the biggest city in the world, haha, the city that never sleeps. But I'm here to do a job. I'm here to do my job, and that's to play soccer and try to be successful. So my mind has always been on that. So it's been an easy transition, to be honest, because I'm not that kind of guy that's trying to look for errors, I'm just like going with the flow. I'm accepting everything, and I'm a simple guy.

GOAL: A major part of living in the NYC area is exploring the food scene, what have you made of it?

FORSBERG: I love the bagels here, to be honest, I have bagel every morning here. If I go out, I'd probably be in a, like, egg and cheese. But mostly, if I do it at home, I do with, like, pepperoni and cream cheese with some chili pepper. It's insane. So good! But from that, I think there is a lot of good food here, like the pasta restaurants you can find, and sushi restaurants. I mean, you have some places to go to.

GOAL: Are there any other American activities you've become fond of, perhaps sporting events like the NBA, NHL, MLB or NFL?

FORSBERG: I have a big passion for ice hockey. I love ice hockey. I played it when I was younger, and we have a lot of fantastic Swedes in the (NHL) doing great. I have some friends in the league, so it's fun to go and watch some hockey games in the Madison Square Garden or at the NJ Devils. I have a lot of options. I'm a little bit spoiled that way. But apart from that, I'm getting to know the NFL a little bit more now. I have a fantasy team. We're doing OK, but I'm getting more into that. I think the NFL is fantastic. I love that every Sunday is fantastic to watch some NFL. Yeah, I'm learning the rules more and more.

GOAL: Was there ever a conversation with Zlatan about coming to MLS, or did you ever ask him for any suggestions about the league or anything?

FORSBERG: We spoke about MLS a couple of years ago in the national team, when he was here. And apart from that, not much more… he liked it, said it was fantastic. Too easy for him, of course (laughingly). We talked about it a little bit, and not much more.

GOAL: Sweden's atop their Nations League Group at the moment with 16 points. How exciting is that for the team?

FORSBERG: I think we are doing fantastically. I think with development now, the last year has been really good. We have a new coach, and we got young players taking responsibility more and more playing in top leagues, in top clubs. So I mean, the future of Sweden is very, very bright. And, yeah, we're all excited. We know we have a lot of potential, and we just want to get it out there on the pitch.

GOAL: Talk to me about the "F*ck it, why not us" slogan the club has embraced during the postseason. How was the locker room taken that and embraced it?

FORSBERG: I mean, I felt that that was what you're supposed to say. I mean, we have to have that strong mentality that we can beat everybody. You know, even if we go in as an underdog, you have some teams, if you think bad about yourself going into that situation that, 'Oh, they're better' -- you already lost. I think we went into those games knowing we can beat them, and mentality wise – the way we ran for each other on the pitch, that's the kind of things you got to do, and why I came here exactly, as well the challenge. Because I know they've been struggling for a couple of years.

So my motto and my mentality to come here was to push everybody, to push them forward, to make them believe in themselves, to take the next steps in their careers. And I think also with Sandro [Schwarz] and the coaching staff, who've been fantastic with all these guys developing them even better. It's the kind of thing you expect in the end, because they have it in them. And I just wanted that challenge to come here and bring that positive, positive mentality in that we can achieve anything together, and it feels cool so far, but we're not done. We can talk like, yeah, we're in the conference final, but the job's not done. Like that one very famous guy said once

GOAL: How have you navigated the postseason format, and during your time in Europe, did you ever experience anything like it - can you draw any similarities?

FORSBERG: Of course, I mean, it's a playoff game. It's in or out. I mean, all the details count in every situation. And like you said, I've been playing a lot of playoff games in the World Cup, the Euros, the Champions League, so I mean, it's all about the right mentality going into those games. Know what you have to do and do it for over 90 minutes. And of course, sometimes you need luck, but sometimes you deserve luck because of the hard work you put in.

So I mean, we've, we've been doing that, and then we get those maybe small things going on our side. And that's what I'm trying to tell the guys as well, enjoy the moment. Don't make it a thin line between too much pressure and too less pressure, or like tension is too much or too less. I think it's important that you find a very comfortable feeling in yourself going into those games. And I think we, the guys, have done it amazingly. And yeah, we keep on going.

GOAL: After you beat NYCFC, in the postgame locker room you said that the league owes the Red Bulls an apology. Have you heard from anyone yet?

FORSBERG: No, I don't want any apologies yet. Listen, I'll take that. We need to win [MLS Cup] first as well. But I meant in general as well - they didn't even talk about us before that Columbus game. They just talked about Columbus going through, Columbus will probably beat them, this kind of… a little bit disrespectful thing sometimes. I – we – didn't appreciate that, but in the end, you have to talk on the pitch. And we did that, and we keep doing it, and we're not finished yet.

So I'll hold the whole apologies for now, and we'll grab them if we win. They didn't mention our name. They just said, like, yeah, Columbus will probably meet them. You still have to beat the other team. And we were that other team, and we were better. In two games, we beat him two-nil. Now we went to Citi Field, and we beat NYFC two-nil. And yeah, here we are now. So we keep on going. Try not to listen to everybody else, just having fun on the way and enjoying it, because that's important as well.

GOAL: The Red Bulls have never won MLS Cup, and their last appearance was 2008. What would it mean to win the Cup for the club?

FORSBERG: I said it in the beginning. I came here to win, and I know it's going to be hard, but that's my mentality, and it's going to be very hard. But I'm here to win, and I'm going to do anything I can to win... We want it more than everybody else. So that's why we need to win and beat Orlando City this weekend.

GOAL: Any thoughts on the matchup?

FORSBERG: I think they've seen what we can do together. I think they know we're a team that works very hard together, that our mentality is, at the moment, fantastic. We're there for each other as a team, and we're prepared to do anything we can to win a game. And the game in Orlando is going to be fantastic. I think Orlando is a great team, who also has been doing very well. So I think the game is going to be exciting. It's going to be a close game. But hopefully, in the end we can we can grab that victory.