It all came down to one goal, off a mistake in Mexico, to end the New York Red Bulls' Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League run.
"It's one mistake back at Guadalajara that cost us the series," Head Coach Jesse Marsch said following Leg 2. "Really, for it to come down to that one play, it's incredible."
New York was held scoreless in Leg 2 at Red Bull Arena as CD Guadalajara advanced on a 1-0 aggregate scoreline to the Final. The Red Bulls, though, did not go down without a fight. New York took 20 shots on Tuesday night, but none of them could find the back of the net.
"It's almost impossible that you can somehow not find a way to score a goal and find a way to be so dangerous around the goal all night long but not make that final play," Marsch said. "To have so many plays around the box and have none of them come find a way to go in, that's what I say is incredible. That's the unbelievable part, not the rest of it. Just like how does the ball not go in on the day?"
New York was held off the board by Chivas keeper Rodolfo Cota, despite nine shots on target on Tuesday night.
"No goals. There were no goals. Twenty shots, it doesn’t matter," Wright-Phillips said.
The Red Bulls held Chivas to one shot on Tuesday night, which was blocked at the top of the 18. Guadalajara had just three shots on goal in Leg 1.
"I told them I would go down swinging with them, any day," Marsch said. "It's a bitter pill to swallow right now. We had our hopes very high that we can push it over the hump and really, you know, make a run at this all the way to the end."
New York's Champions League run was cut short before finding themselves in the Final, despite posting a +5 goal differential across six matches. They just could not find the back of the net on Tuesday night, Wright-Phillips said.
“Obviously, it’s a tough result," Wright-Phillips said. "We tried everything but we just didn’t create enough in the final third. It was obviously tough because they were sitting back but I think we’ve got to do more, as attackers to create more.”
The team is back in action with an MLS match on Saturday, April 14 against the Montreal Impact at Red Bull Arena as their full attention turns to the nascent season.
“You’ve got to take this with a grain of salt and move forward and look forward to MLS play," Tim Parker said. "We’ve got a long season ahead of us there and, obviously, we want to win stuff there as well.”
