Throughout all the off-season upheaval, from front office and coaching changes to roster moves and the ups and downs of the regular season, the Red Bulls find themselves in a very familiar spot.
They’re one game away from reaching the MLS Cup Final.
“It’s always tough to get far in MLS, especially in the playoffs,” team captain Dax McCarty said. “It’s tough to get back to this place, especially after teams were probably gunning for us after we won the Supporters’ Shield. Obviously we’ve accomplished a lot of the goals we set out to do this year. The main goal was obviously to get to MLS Cup, and then to win it, so that’s still our main goal. That’s still the barometer for which we’ll set if we have a successful season or not off of that.
“It’s difficult when you have a lot of turnover, but the belief in this group from the beginning has been great. Even in the first day of preseason when no one really knew what direction this was going to go, we always believed. That’s a testament to the coaching staff keeping us confident the whole year. We’re back to a place we expect to be and where we want to be, but we’re not satisfied and we have a big task ahead of us.”
That big task is overcoming a two-goal deficit from the first leg of the Eastern Conference Finals when they play the Columbus Crew Sunday at Red Bull Arena. Last year the Red Bulls lost the first leg of the conference finals at home against the New England Revolution, 2-1, then had to go to Gillette Stadium, a building where they rarely won, and not only overcome a deficit, but two road goals as well.
Surprisingly, they scored twice, but so did the Revolution, and the Red Bulls were eliminated on 4-3 aggregate. A year later, only McCarty, goalkeeper Luis Robles and midfielder Lloyd Sam remain from the starting lineup that day. Defender Connor Lade played the final four minutes while defenders Damien Perrinelle and Chris Duvall were on the bench.
Forward Bradley Wright-Phillips, who scored in the first leg against the Revolution but missed the second leg due to a yellow-card suspension, has a chance to redeem himself this year, but says that is not on his mind.
“I haven’t thought that I missed this game last year,” he said. “That was the (first leg against the Crew). I had to be careful. I was on a yellow card. I got through that. It’s just another 90 minutes on Sunday.”
The Red Bulls believe that the goals will come, especially playing at Red Bull Arena, where they went 12-3-2 this year and set a franchise record for home wins. They scored two or more goals in 21 games this season, going 17-3-1, and were 10-3-1 when scoring two goals, and 7-0-0 when scoring three or more.
“We’ve been very good at home, very good at scoring goals at home, very aggressive at home,” Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch said. “I expect this game to be on our terms for much of it. Certainly being aggressive without being reckless is very important. It should be an emotional game with a packed crowd and a lot of fun, frankly.
“We’ll have a good mind frame and we’ll know how we want to go after the game. Certainly there won’t be a sense of panic or a lack of patience because scoring two goals, three goals, four goals, that’s not out of the question for our team, especially at home.”
Wright-Phillips agrees.
“The way we play we always get chances. We scored a lot of goals this season,” he said. “I don’t think anything has to change. I think it comes down to each player individually coming out and being ready for the game. We conceded a goal in 10 seconds (in the first leg). That’s unacceptable. That won’t happen again, for sure. I don’t think it’s too much tactics, it’s a mind frame I think.”
So are the Red Bulls feeling the pressure? They haven’t been shut out at Red Bull Arena since May 24, so you have to figure they will score at least once, and likely more. Also, they only allowed 18 goals all season at home, although conceding even one this game would be a back-breaker.
“I’m not too sure we feel any pressure. I think it’s quite the opposite,” midfielder Mike Grella said. “Against D.C. United in the return leg (of the Eastern Conference semifinals), that was a tricky game because we had the lead, and you don’t really know whether to go for it or not. Late in the game you’re in a weird situation, but this one, it’s clear as day what we need to do.
“We need to really press the game, really push the game and really shore up at the back. We have to go for it from the first minute. That takes away a lot of the pressure because we have nothing to lose. We have to go for this game for sure, and that’s what we’re best at.
“From the first whistle we need to be ready to go on all accounts in every position, (have) high energy and (be) in their face and create chances. At the end of the day, whatever the result is, the result is, but we for sure have to have that mentality from the first minute to the last.”
Marsch isn’t worried about pressure. The Red Bulls have dealt with everything thrown at them this year and became a stronger team because of it. However, he is concerned about how the team approaches the game.
“There’s balance between being overly excited and now being focused,” Marsch said. “That’s the balance that will be important to get right. Each game is a little different. Each series is a little different. (Against) D.C., we came home and we were excited, but a little hesitant.
“Now we’ll be excited but maybe aggressive, and so you have to balance out that game with D.C. I thought we managed the game really well, and now it’s the same task here, different layout for the series and score line, but the same kind of emphasis of being who we want to be.”
So the Red Bulls know what they need to do and feel confident they can do it. Now it’s just a matter of how the Crew approaches the game. Will they attack early and go for the killer away goal, will they sit back and counter attack, or will they bunker in and try to protect the two-goal advantage?
“They can do what they like. We have a plan for all situations,” Wright-Phillips said. “We played against teams that have bunkered in and we’ve managed to score goals, so this is no different. If they do, it will be quite a surprise because it’s not them. I don’t think they’ll be at their best playing that (way) right now. We’ve got a job to do. We’re coming out to score goals.”
To Marsch, it won’t matter. He believes his team will follow the corresponding game plan and advance to the final.
“We’ll be prepared for them to come out and be really aggressive and go after the goal,” he said. “We’ll also be prepared for them to sit back a little bit more. Whatever they choose, it won’t catch us by surprise.”
