The New York Red Bulls are the most tortured club in MLS history. An MLS original franchise founded as Empire Soccer Club. Prior to last year, when they won the Supporters’ Shield, they were the only MLS original to not have a trophy to their name. With a few moves by first year head coach Mike Petke, a collective team effort, and a Come-To-Jesus moment over a spat between Petke and star player Thierry Henry, NYRB lifted the Shield and broke their trophy curse.
They still have yet to win the MLS Cup. While there is plenty of debate around which is more indicative of the best team in the league, there’s no denying most fans and teams want the MLS Cup more than the Shield. The MLS Cup gets you a star above your club crest. The MLS Cup gives you the last laugh of the season. In a country where sports superiority is determined by the end of season tournament with the pressure on, soccer’s crown jewel is the MLS Cup.
And the Red Bulls still haven’t won it. Furthermore, they’re going to have to move mountains to get it.
New York won three of their last four games to climb back into the wild card in the Eastern Conference. They beat Sporting KC very impressively in the final game of the regular season, 2-0. Later that week, they hosted Sporting in the wild card round, winning 2-1 after conceding first.
They went on to defeat arch rival DC United in a two leg series, 3-2 on aggregate. They manhandled the conference champions at home in the first leg, outshooting them 17-9. Henry had an assist on both goals, proving once again he’s one of the best in the world. DC came out more organized and aggressive in the second leg, but New York was able to gut out a 2-1 defeat to advance.
New York now must face the red hot New England Revolution. The Revs are riding on the coat tails of their MVP Candidate Lee Nguyen and late season addition Jermaine Jones. New England’s technical system (what I refer to as ‘Happy Feet’) is being executed better than ever since head coach Jay Heaps arrived in 2011. The Revs have home field advantage, hosting the second leg on the turf of Foxborough, MA. NYRB have rarely played well there.
As tough as it was to finish off the season the way they did, knock off the (albeit wounded) defending champs, and defeat their rivals DC United, this will be their toughest test so far.
And to make matters worse, should they pull yet another upset, they will get to go on the road against the Seattle Sounders or LA Galaxy for the final.
Looking at the path they’ve come from and the path that lies ahead, all I can think is “it almost has to be this way for NYRB.” Considering everything in their past, if they’re going to finally win the MLS Cup, this is what they must do. Every step along the way has been a progressive exorcism of another demon of their past.
The only monkey they will not have to face is the trophy drought. While this is the most significant, the others collectively outweigh it.
Finishing off a regular season well:
I use sports analogies to help explain MLS to my non-soccer fans. The New York Red Bulls are like the Dallas Cowboys of MLS in a lot of ways. While finishing off the season poorly has not been one of New York’s unique tendencies (they’ve finished well in each of the last two seasons), their tendency to blow it in key moments has been a problem.
Win a playoff game at home and knock off the defending champs:
Sporting Kansas City were not on the same level as the team that won the MLS Cup last year. But the Red Bulls have had nightmares in home playoff games against weaker opponents. Going down 1-0 in the 53rd minute didn’t seem good, but they fought through it and dominated large stretches of the game. They were the better team and it was major building block on top of the great end to the regular season.
Winning a playoff series against DC:
Each of the last four years, New York has lost in the quarter finals. In four previous playoff meetings with DC, New York was 0-4, with a 1-7-1 record in those nine playoff games. They ended a recent playoff skid and a streak of losing to their Atlantic Cup rival in the playoffs. They did so as the underdog against the team tied for best defense in the league.
Ending the Revolution:
This team is a completely different beast compared to DC and Sporting. They have an MVP candidate who can tear you apart. They have a one-man wrecking crew in the midfield. They are not the defensive team DC was. While more easily pulled apart, they are an attacking tour de force. Both DC and Sporting were trending down as the season ended. KC was riddled with injuries. DC United had coasted towards the end of the season once they knew they were going to win the conference. New England is still trending up. They finished the season 9-1-1, their only loss to Columbus, who they just beat in a two leg series 7-3 on aggregate. The Red Bulls are most certainly the underdog in this match up, and this could be the best team New York has ever faced in a playoff series.
Thierry Henry’s personal shortcomings:
For all he’s done on the field for New York, Thierry Henry had yet to really shine in the playoffs. Prior to this year, Henry had one goal and two assists in 666 playoff minutes. In three playoff games this year, Henry has four assists in 261 minutes. In the only goal Henry has not contributed on, he pulled two defenders toward him, leaving golden boot winner Bradley Wright-Philips open, who headed the ball in for the winner against Sporting in the 90th minute.
Henry has shown up in these playoffs in ways he has not in years past. But he’ll have to do something he’s never done before: play at Gillette Stadium. Henry and Jamison Olave both have Achilles issues. Henry has played sparingly on turf in MLS and sometimes doesn’t even travel with the team. Olave has not has as many absences because of the turf monster, but is still a concern. I’ve been one of the biggest critics at LWOS on Henry and his fear of turf. He’s been given a pass in the past, with fans and media members often saying “if it was a playoff game, he’d play.” Unless New York win the first leg by three goals or more, the second leg will decide this series. Henry and Olave will have to play, if not start and play 90+ minutes.
Lastly, defeat an even better team:
There’s no denying Seattle and LA have been the two best teams in MLS this year. If New York beat New England, their reward will be getting to play one of the two teams better than New England. They will be on the road for the MLS Cup, and will most likely be hopeless underdogs.
I am not picking this team to beat the Revolution, and you’d probably be a fool to do so. But many didn’t have them beating DC. With a month left in the season, many didn’t have them making the playoffs. But if they somehow pull this off, it would be almost fitting in what they did to become champions.
Perhaps this is the way their MLS Cup drought has to end, this final exorcism. Do something you are not good at. Do something you’ve never done before. Do something thought impossible. Then do something even more impossible. Rise above where previously you have crumbled. And do it all in the wake of a hot mess of a season, BWP’s out-of-nowhere golden boot, and Thierry Henry playing out of his mind in what has been speculated as his final season of professional football.
Doing the impossible, breaking all your historic tends, and Henry riding off into the sunset as Red Bull fans rejoice in the relief of finally winning MLS Cup? Now that makes watching soccer in a baseball stadium sound like torture.
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