It took them the better part of a season, but the New York Red Bulls - the highest-paid team in Major League Soccer - finally showing flashes of being the team we thought they would be when the 2011 season began. They attacked with purpose and defended well as they spent the past few weeks looking like a team that deserved their playoff spot.
The only problem: It all came too late, this desperate late-season surge. All those months of mediocrity forced the Red Bulls to take a brutal path through the playoffs. That ultimately led to them to facing a team in the conference semifinals that had spent the entire 2011 season, not just a few promising weeks, looking worthy of a championship.
On Thursday night, the Los Angeles Galaxy reminded us and the Red Bulls about the difference between a team that had only recently begun to play well and a team that had played at a high level and succeeded all year: The consistent team finds a way to win under any circumstances.
The Red Bulls jumped all over the Galaxy at the start of Thursday’s Western Conference semifinal second leg, with Thierry Henry playing playmaker and Luke Rodgers racing around like a motivated ball of emotion.
Los Angeles eventually settled down, withstood New York’s early surge, and proceeded to frustrate and outplay the Red Bulls. After that rough start, the Galaxy’s defensive discipline eventually shone through, and David Beckham produced another quality set piece to set up a goal before drawing a second-half penalty that put the match out of reach.
It was by no means a perfect performance for the Galaxy, but in a physical and emotionally-charged series, LA’s poise and ability to deliver key plays were simply better than New York’s. The Red Bulls played the better soccer at times, but they simply could not sustain that level and were left with a mix of good moments and disappointing ones.
That inconsistency was their season in a nutshell - a season that was supposed to be special and was supposed to lead to the club’s first championship. That dream faded during those disappointing summer months when the Red Bulls went from title contenders to woeful underachievers: a team loaded with talent, but one who still needed a late-season surge to become on of 10 (out of 18) teams to qualify for the post-season.
Yes, the Red Bulls gave the Galaxy all they could handle in this playoff series, but that shouldn’t be seen as a source of pride. It's a reminder of the unfulfilled promise and disappointment that should be associated with this season in New York. It was a season that saw New York fans slowly stop coming to Red Bull Arena before the team's late-season surge rekindled interest; a season that saw $5 million Mexican star Rafa Marquez turn into a punchline. It was another season that ended without a meaningful piece of silverware to put in the Red Bulls trophy case.
There will be serious questions to be answered by Red Bulls bosses this off-season, which may have made it even more fitting to see how the Red Bulls were ultimately eliminated.
They lost in the playoffs to a strong Supporters Shield-winning Galaxy team built by none other than Bruce Arena, the same coach the Red Bulls fired in 2007 after just a season and a half in charge. Arena took over the Galaxy a little more than a year later and proceeded to show the Red Bulls just how bad a mistake they made.
The Galaxy provided the latest reminder on Thursday, and if that weren’t enough, it was another Red Bulls castoff, Mike Magee, who delivered two of LA’s three goals in the series, while another former Red Bull, defender Todd Dunivant, locked down the left side of the field. On the same night, New York’s left back struggled and kung fu’d his way to giving up the series clinching penalty.
Revenge wasn’t the motivation for any of them, though. All of the Galaxy's former Red Bulls have long since put their focus on trying to win a championship, something New York is no closer to achieving.
Watching the Red Bulls late in the year and in their series versus the Galaxy, you got the sense they finally remember just how good they were supposed to be. Unfortunately for them and their fans, they remembered far too late.
