In a familiar fate, the New York Red Bulls (regular season: 18-10-6) will travel to RFK Park on Sunday, November 1 to play D.C. United (regular season: 15-13-6) in the first leg of the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs conference semifinals. The match is set to kick off at 3 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast on ESPN. The Red Bulls have rested since their last regular season match, a win at Chicago that let them lift the Supporters’ Shield, while D.C. is coming off a midweek knockout round win over the New England Revolution.
Here are some numbers to know before the first leg on Sunday:
0: D.C. United have never won a conference semifinal match after playing a knockout round match, but that is also because they had never played a knockout round match before this year.
2: The Red Bulls won 2 of their 3 regular season games against D.C. this year. The third was a draw.
¼: The conference semifinals, or MLS Cup quarterfinals, are the only place that the Red Bulls and D.C. have ever met in the playoffs.
3: The Red Bulls have advanced past the conference semifinals 3 times in their history (2000, 2008, 2014) with a 12-21-8 record overall. They did not have home-field advantage in any of those years.
8: The Red Bulls scored 8 goals throughout their 5 playoff games last season, scoring at least 1 goal in every game. The team has actually not failed to score in a playoff game since 7 matches ago, in their last playoff match of 2012 (November 8). This year’s Red Bulls have not been shut out since May 24 and so look on track to extend their playoff scoring streak.
36.4: The Red Bulls have gotten a result in 36.4% of the playoff matches between these two teams (2 wins, 2 draws out of 11 total), but that number drops to 33% at RFK (2 draws out of 6 matches).
50: With Bradley Wright Phillips, the Red Bulls are 50/50 against D.C. in playoff matches. He has only faced them in 2014, scoring one goal in the first leg and recording one assist in the second.
60: D.C. has won 60% of the conference semifinal first legs they’ve played at home, with a 3-1-1 record overall – but the tie (2012) and loss (2003) are the two most recent first-leg-at-home occurrences.
83.3: The Red Bulls have gotten a result in 83.3% of first-leg conference semifinal matches when away (2-1-3), compared to only getting a result in 67% of first-leg conference semifinal matches at home (4-3-2).
2014: The last meeting between these two teams was in 2014. After a 2-0 Red Bulls win at home in the first leg and a 2-1 D.C. win at RFK in the second, the Red Bulls advanced past D.C. for the first time in the playoff matchups between these two teams.
