After the Red Bulls’ lackluster performance in Toronto on Wednesday, coach Jesse Marsch, in his pre-game talk with the players prior to Sunday’s match against the Philadelphia Union, said he wanted the team to start the game as if it was trailing by a goal.
If that was the case, seven seconds after kickoff, the game was tied.
With Mike Grella scoring the fastest goal in Major League Soccer history, and Bradley Wright-Phillips scoring at the 3:14 mark to make it the fastest two goals the league has ever seen, the Red Bulls overwhelmed the hapless Union, 4-1, before an announced crowd of 21,080 in their regular-season finale at Red Bull Arena.
“What Jesse said was come out like we’re a goal down, and I think we always come out quite good, but we really came out well today, and a goal in the first 10 seconds really changes everything,” said Grella, who scored twice on the day in a Man-of-the-Match performance. “It was a different kind of game against them, and they become very difficult if you can’t score right away, so credit to us for getting the goal right away.”
Once Dax McCarty netted the third goal in the 17th minute, the result was pretty much decided. From there, the fans were in full party mode. And as the game ended, with Twist and Shout blaring over the loudspeakers, the Red Bulls did a victory lap around the field and kicked soccer balls into the stands as Marsch declared “We’re going after the Shield, then we’re going after (MLS) Cup.”
Though those prizes still await down the road, Sunday’s victory brought a number of spoils.
- The Red Bulls clinched their second Eastern Conference title in three years.
- They earned home-field advantage in the conference playoffs.
- They earned a berth in next season’s CONCACAF Champions League.
- They tied a franchise record with their 17th victory this season.
- They set a franchise record with their 12th home win of the season.
- Goalkeeper Luis Robles set a franchise record with his 49th career victory, breaking Tony Meola’s record of 48.
Though the Red Bulls and FC Dallas have identical records and points (17-10-6, 57 points), the Red Bulls have a plus-18 goal differential to FC Dallas’ plus-12, so if the Red Bulls defeat the Chicago Fire in the season finale on Sunday, and stay ahead on goal differential, they will have won the Supporters’ Shield for the second time in three years, which would guarantee that the MLS Cup final would be played in Red Bull Arena should the Red Bulls advance that far.
Not bad for a day’s work.
“Yeah, I’ll take that start most games,” Marsch said. “We weren’t happy with the performance (in Toronto). There was no sense of panic in our team, that’s just not that way we want to play, and the guys knew that. At home, this is a tough place to come play for opposing teams. I think our team really enjoys playing in front of this crowd. It was a great first half and a good win.
“We wanted to have urgency from the start today and we knew in some ways it was a race to the first goal. The race started out great. This is who we try to be, a team that, literally from the first second, just goes after the other team and makes them uncomfortable. We were rewarded for it tonight more so than ever before.
“The good thing about having the Supporters' Shield (to go after) before the playoffs is for teams like us that know there’s a reason to keep the foot on the pedal. We know we have to go into Chicago with the highest level of intensity and commitment than we’ve had all year. If we do that, then we feel that we not only can win the Shield, but that we can be successful in the playoffs.”
The Union (9-17-7) has always played the Red Bulls tough, but they are playing out the string of their fourth season in a row of not making the playoffs. Throw in a front office overhaul and an offseason of uncertainty, their poor performance was not unexpected.
But nobody expected they would be down a goal after seven seconds.
Midfielder Cristian Maidana passed the ball back to midfielder Michael Lahoud off the opening kickoff, but Lahoud wasn’t looking and the ball zipped by him. Grella, sprinting for the ball, swooped in and quickly headed for goal. Defender Steven Vitoria was late moving toward Grella, whose 13-yard shot deflected off Vitoria’s leg and slipped inside the left post.
The goal was one second faster than the one former Red Bulls midfielder Tim Cahill scored at Houston in 2013.
And it was never a game after that.
“It was great. It takes the weight off everyone’s shoulders and we really needed a good start,” Wright-Phillips said. “I didn’t expect it to be that good, but it was brilliant, and after that we were just on fire. ... I don't think I've ever been involved in a game with a goal that fast before. Brilliant.”
Minutes later, it was Wright-Phillips doing the celebrating.
A Sacha Kljestan corner kick from the right was headed toward the net by defender Damien Perrinelle. Wright-Phillips, stationed alone in front, swept the ball into the net in the fourth minute for his team-high 16th goal and a 2-0 lead.
By the time Grella made it 3-0 in the 17th minute with his ninth goal of the season – again faking out Vitoria in the left side of the box and beating goalkeeper Andre Blake to the near post – the Red Bulls had taken the heart out of the Union.
“Mike’s been great from Day One,” Marsch said. “From Day One we were like, 'This guy’s got something.' He really wanted to establish himself because he knew this is his home and he probably felt that this is his last chance. He’s taken this chance and run with it. We’ve shown belief in him, but we’ve also been hard on him on certain days, too, and we challenge him to do more and be more.
“Mike has shown up every day, doesn’t take a day off, and works as hard as anybody we have. His good days, you just see he’s so clever and tricky, good around the goal, and the work rate he puts in. He fits the way we want to play. He can run all day. We've been proud of him for the year that he’s put in.”
Along with Grella, defender Kemar Lawrence has been one of the finds of the season for the Red Bulls. His moment came a minute before halftime when, cutting in front of the net from the left, he scored his first career goal off a nice feed across the goal mouth from McCarty.
“I think we’ve always bounced back. After every bad performance we’ve had we always bounce back and responded in a good way,” said McCarty, whose two assists gave him a career-high eight this season. “Obviously we had that stretch in the summer when we lost four games in a row, but I think that was an anomaly and that wasn’t indicative of who we are as a team, so we knew we would bounce back. …
“I told the guys before the game, I said, 'Listen, good teams, good players, they want to step up in the spotlight. They want to be involved in high-pressure games and high-pressure situations because that’s when you really see what character comes out.' And I thought the response in the first half was unbelievable.
“So we didn’t let them breathe right from the start. We did exactly what we wanted to do. You can have performances like the one in Toronto, it just happens sometimes. I mean, Toronto wanted to make the game ugly, and we played into that. So now, when we come and play at home, we know it’s going to be a much better game, we know that we’re going to be able to do the things that we want to do with the ball, and our fans give us confidence. (It was) obviously one of the best halves of the season from us.”
The only negative point was the Red Bulls getting caught too far up field in the 55th minute, which led to an easy counter-attack goal by former Red Bull Sebastien Le Toux. But the result was never in doubt, and Robles punctuated the victory with two excellent saves in second-half stoppage time.
“It's a nice moment for our club. It's a nice moment for the players and the work that they’ve put in,” Marsch said. “I’m happy for the organization and the positive vibe that has gone on here from Day One that I’ve been here. Everyone around here has continued to show belief in me and belief in the way that we operate in as a team and belief in our players. It means that we’ve all been put in a situation to succeed. It's a nice time to reflect, yeah, but we’re hungry.
“We’re not satisfied, we want more. We want to honor everything that’s been done by making the strongest push we possibly can and to have the exact mentality we know we need to have in order to really give us a chance to win a championship. That’s where we’re at right now. (It will be a) big week to get ready for Chicago and then, obviously, after that.”
Added Robles: “It is important that we stay hungry, that we have an instinctual desire to go forward, get goals, defend, and nonetheless, not only win the Shield, but advance towards the Cup. I think the word I like to use is resolve. There's been several times this season where we may have not played well ... but you look at the resolve of this team, the mental fortitude, and we know that when our quality comes out and we have that mental toughness, we’re going to be very difficult (to beat).”
