In the early years of Major League Soccer there used to be an advantage to winning the Supporters’ Shield. The original playoff formats ensured it, but that’s not the case anymore.
“The funny thing about a lot of those kind of matchups was there was a true advantage to finishing first,” said Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch, who was a member of the D.C. United team in 1997 that won the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup. “There was a best-of-three series, or a first to five points, but you got two games at home. That was a big factor in why the higher seeds used to do better.
“Now it’s almost starting from scratch. There’s not much of an advantage. You can argue there’s an advantage playing at home first by setting a tone for the series, by getting a lead and going on the road, and if you can nick a goal early it makes it that much harder on the home team.”
So as the Red Bulls prepare for the Eastern Conference semifinals against rival D.C. United a week after winning the Supporters’ Shield, Marsch has to make sure the players are focused on a new task and not basking in the glory of a fantastic accomplishment, but one that’s not going to make it any easier to attain the next goal.
“The reality is that we have no advantage really,” Marsch said. “Even though we’ve had the best season we’re really not rewarded for it until a month from now. We start from scratch like everyone else does and we have to fight for everything that we’re going to get. We just have to maintain that mentality of being hungry and not being satisfied.”
And the players realized it right away.
“Our next day back in training Jesse made it very clear that it was a good accomplishment but we’re going to move on from that now,” midfielder Mike Grella said. “The meeting that we had certainly set my mind in motion to the next thing, to MLS Cup, and made things very clear for me that we’ve been playing all season for the Cup, not the Supporters’ Shield. So I’m sure all the players are on the same page now moving forward.
“What’s done is done. We can pat ourselves on the back when it’s all said and done after the Cup. Five more games to go, hopefully, we’ll take one game at a time, but that’s the main objective.”
Fans that were concerned that maybe winning the Supporters’ Shield may take away some of the players’ motivation moving forward probably have nothing to worry about.
“Everyone has turned the page,” Grella said. “We set out from Day One to win the Cup. We know we’re tough to beat. We set out to win this Cup and haven’t done that yet. Everyone understands we have a lot of work yet to do and that if we didn’t really go after it because we were so hung up on the Supporters’ Shield or patting ourselves on the back, we’d all be letting ourselves down and we’d all be kicking ourselves after it was all said and done.
“When teams win the Supporters’ Shield it would be very, very easy to sort of just go into a lower gear and say ‘we’ve won something already,’ but that would be the biggest mistake any of us can make. For sure, I don’t think we’re on that track. We’re fully focused moving forward.”
Only six teams have won the Supporters’ Shield and gone on to win MLS Cup in the same year. Four of them came in the first seven years – D.C. United in 1997 and 1999, the Kansas City Wizards in 2000 and the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2002 – but only the Columbus Crew (2008) and the Galaxy (2011) have done it since.
“Jesse has done a really good job of drawing it out for us,” goalkeeper Luis Robles said. “It’s one of his strengths as a coach. This is the situation and he explains everything that’s extenuating, everything on the periphery, and says ‘this is what’s important.’
“He’s been doing it all season and he did it again (Wednesday). So it doesn’t matter if everyone says we are the favorite, it doesn’t matter if we don’t have home field advantage, it doesn’t matter if we won Supporters’ Shield. These things are all details now. The most important thing for us is to take care of business on the field.”
So is there an explanation of why it’s hard to accomplish both these days?
“This league is so close. The only thing that can explain it is that on any given day any team can beat any team,” midfielder Dax McCarty said. “There’s no Bayern Munich’s in MLS, there’s no Barcelona’s or Real Madrid’s. Every single team, all 12 of them, when they enter the postseason feel they can win MLS Cup, and that’s not always the case. We feel the same. Teams are so close. Winning the Shield is a great accomplishment, but it doesn’t guarantee winning MLS Cup.”
So it’s back to square one as the Red Bulls get ready for the two-leg series, Sunday in Washington and Nov. 8 at Red Bull Arena.
“Our motivation comes internally,” Robles said. “It’s not necessarily affected by what’s going on with other people. With the Supporters’ Shield in tow, we know that part of our season’s done. (On Wednesday) when Jesse spoke at length, it was about the next task, navigating through the playoffs, which is not easy.
“As far as motivation goes, this group’s never had a problem with it. I can attest to that. Whether it was preseason, or midseason, or towards the end with the Supporters’ Shield, the motivation is pretty strong. And that goes back to the thing I just said, it goes back to the chip on our shoulder and defying expectations. It is going to be about refocusing on the next task and finding focus on the next task, and (Marsch) defined it very clearly, the next round of the playoffs.”
Marsch said there was a leadership council meeting prior to the season finale in Chicago. He wanted to know what the players were thinking.
“I said ‘Is there anything that you guys learned or that we need to include from lessons that we learned from the past that are important to what you think we’re trying to achieve this year,’ and they all just said we need to keep our mentality and our focus and our concentration, and that’s what I said (to the media) when Brad (Wright-Phillips) mentioned ‘It’s the details that make us good.’
“That’s who we are. That identity has been built through 34 games, but also through everybody contributing and giving their opinion and giving what they have.”
So the Red Bulls appear ready for the run to MLS Cup, with the Supporters’ Shield a nice memory. Perhaps McCarty said it best.
“The Shield won’t mean much if we don’t go on to win MLS Cup, and that’s the way we’re looking at it.”
