Step 1: Qualify for the playoffs. Check.
Step 2: Eastern Conference championship. Check.
Step 3: Supporters’ Shield. Check.
Step 4: MLS Cup champion. Dare we dream?
Red Bulls fans have every right to believe that this is the year they can check off that final box, the one they have never been able to do in their 20-year history. They will enter the playoffs with the best record in Major League Soccer (18-10-6), the most goals (62) and arguably the best team they ever had following Sunday night’s 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire before 19,850 at Toyota Park, their first win at the venue in 14 games.
“I think that this group deserves the Supporters’ Shield,” said Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch, who clearly is the frontrunner for Coach of the Year. “I think that in a lot of ways they were the best team throughout the season, they showed that, I think, game in and game out. Obviously the points add up to mean that we’re there. So I’m happy for them to reach this achievement.
“I said on television (after the game), ‘In life you don’t always get what you deserve’, but here I think they got what they deserve. Now the key is to know that moving forward the next month, we all start from scratch. And actually what it may mean is we have an even bigger target on our backs. We have to enjoy tonight but absolutely be ready for Monday morning, because it’s back to business.”
The Red Bulls, who set franchise records for wins and points this season, will play the lowest remaining seed that advances to the Eastern Conference semifinals, either No. 4 D.C. United, No. 5 New England Revolution or No. 6 Toronto FC, on the road on Sunday, with the home leg Sunday, Nov. 8.
But the victory, and the team’s second Supporters’ Shield in three years, did not come easy, though it appeared to be a cakewalk early. In the eighth minute, Sacha Kljestan took a corner kick from the right that defender Sal Zizzo back-headed toward the net. Bradley Wright-Phillips, alone in front, had an easy tap in for a 1-0 lead.
The goal was the 17th of the year for Wright-Phillips, who tied a MLS record with 44 goals over a two-year span. The Crew’s Stern John scored 26 in 1998 and 18 in 1999. It was also the 14th assist of the year for Kljestan, tying Eduardo Hurtado (1998) and Thierry Henry (2014) for the most in team history. Kljestan also has 19 points in the past 19 games (six goals, 13 assists).
Combined with an early goal by San Jose Earthquakes forward Quincy Amarikwa against FC Dallas, it enabled the Red Bulls to open a plus-8 goal differential on FC Dallas, which all but assured the Red Bulls of claiming the Shield with a victory since FC Dallas, which had the same record as the Red Bulls, was the only other team that could possibly win the Shield.
“They stepped on the field in the first half and really went after it.” Marsch said. “I thought on the road, to set the tone like that, and obviously to get the two-zero lead, it showed their character in a pressure-packed moment.”
It was also the Red Bulls’ 12th goal in the opening 15 minutes of games this season, the highest total in the league.
"Yes, it was very important. Not just for the result, but for the nerves,” Wright-Phillips said about the early goal. “Everyone knows how big the occasion was, and we just wanted to start well. Not even get a goal, but start well. Let them know why we’re here. It worked out well."
It would not be a Red Bulls game without a couple of great saves by goalkeeper Luis Robles, and the first one came in the 19th minute. The ball was floated over the head of Red Bulls defender Damien Perrinelle toward Chicago forward Gilberto at the top of the box. Gilberto chested the ball down and had an open shot, but Robles went low and pushed the ball wide with his right hand.
The Red Bulls took a 2-0 lead in the 35th minute and appeared to knock the will out of the Fire. Midfielder Mike Grella was knocked down from behind by Fire midfielder Patrick Nyarko in the box and Kljestan converted the penalty kick past Fire goalkeeper Alec Kann, who was making his MLS debut.
It didn’t even matter that about the same time, Mauro Diaz of FC Dallas scored to tie the score of their game, 1-1.
But the Fire made a game of it in the second half, outplaying the Red Bulls for long stretches, and probably deserved better than their 20th loss of the season.
“In the second half, you have to give Chicago credit because they now knew they had to push, they pushed really hard, and in the end they scored a goal and we’re holding on a little bit for dear life,” Marsch said. “But that final whistle couldn’t have come early enough, but we still did enough today to get the win."
Robles came up big again in the 68th minute when a Gilberto shot deflected off Red Bulls defender Kemar Lawrence and rebounded out to the top of the box on the right. Midfielder Matt Polster drove a shot toward the upper corner that Robles pushed aside with both hands.
Five minutes later, substitute David Accam hit the right post as the Fire continued to show resolve. That paid off in the 78th minute when Gilberto volleyed home a Nyarko cross from the right and suddenly it was 2-1.
Moments later, when FC Dallas’ Victor Ulloa scored to give his team a 2-1 lead with 11 minutes to play, the Red Bulls seemed to be faltering. They began to drop back and defend, knowing that another goal by the Fire and the Shield would be lost.
“We’ve never won here for a reason,” McCarty said. “Chicago always gives us a tough game. They literally never give us an easy game when we come here. Tonight was no different. It was nerve-racking at the end, and the ball can go anywhere. Chicago has nothing to play for, so they have nothing to lose. They were just throwing everything at us.
“You just have to grind it out and make it ugly and try to get through it until the ref blows the whistle. And once he blows the whistle, it’s a tremendous feeling."
There was one more scare. In the 90th minute, Polster threaded a low shot through a crowd with Robles screened, but Perrinelle got a foot on it to deflect it out of danger and ensure that the Supporters’ Shield would return to Harrison.
“It’s huge. It’s very significant,” McCarty said. “Obviously this one means a lot, just like the first one did. But I think this one, you know, for me, it’s special for different reasons obviously than the first one, for sure. No one was expecting much from us this year. A lot of people wrote us off in the beginning. A lot of people gave us no chance to be part of the postseason, now we are here.
“Statistically speaking, we are the best team in the league after the regular season. It’s a great feeling, and it’s part of our goal-setting for the year that’s been accomplished. We have another big goal that we are dreaming of now. Now we can forget the regular season and go on towards the playoffs. It’s hard to put into words, but it means a lot to this group. We are like a family and it’s a just reward for the way that we’ve played the season.”
But the regular season means nothing once the playoffs begin. Only six of the past 19 Supporters’ Shield winners won MLS Cup in the same year. It’s a fact not lost on Marsch.
“It’s a great celebration for our club and our team with everything that’s gone on in the past 10 months,” he said. “There’s been a sense on the inside that despite what everyone wanted to say about our group and our team, that there was something special happening here. We have to continue to honor it for the next month.
“But you know a lot of these guys wanted to prove that it wasn’t about Thierry Henry, it wasn’t about whatever was going on in the offseason. There was talent here and they believed in themselves and they believed in each other and they put it all together for a pretty complete season. So again, we start from scratch. We start from scratch come Monday.”
