Thursday night was supposed to offer up the disappointing end to a nightmare season for the New York Red Bulls. A final evening of underachievement for the biggest-spending club in Major League Soccer.
With Thierry Henry suspended and the Philadelphia Union expected to handle the short-handed Red Bulls, New York was supposed to come up small yet again.
However, the Red Bulls had no interest in that script or in seeing their season end. Instead, New York delivered a disciplined, inspired if not pretty performance in beating the Union. The veteran-laden team played like an experienced side, bossing around a young Union squad that suddenly looks to have its own issues heading into the post-season.
Dane Richards celebrates scoring New York Red Bulls' winner against the Philadelphia Union. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
It wasn’t exactly a beautiful performance, but it provided plenty of promise for a Red Bulls side that has struggled throughout the season to play with any sort of consistency. The team avoided the costly defensive blunders that plagued it throughout the season, and the midfield dominated play behind the strong efforts of Teemu Tainio and Rafa Marquez.
Neither player was brought to New York to be destroyers, but with Hans Backe making it clear he wanted few mistakes and a tough win, Tainio and Marquez did the dirty work to stifle Philadelphia’s offense and protect the Red Bulls back-line.
The result was a victory that clinched the playoffs for New York, and held off the expected post-season inquisition into how a team with so much talent, a team that spent more money than anyone else in MLS, couldn’t even finish among the top half of teams in the league. No, that mediocrity wasn’t erased because of one win. If anything, the inescapable fact that New York’s 2011 regular season was largely a disappointment made the post-game celebrations following Thursday night’s win feel just a tad out of place.
What the 1-0 victory did do was give New York a chance to pull off a minor miracle in the playoffs. As much as it might seem impossible for the Red Bulls to navigate the brutal road that likely lies ahead, the fact remains they still are that talented team that was expected to be in the MLS Cup Final when the season began.
They did manage a 4-2-1 finish down the stretch, and showed in their three straight home shutout victories to end the season that they are still dangerous.
Just how dangerous? With a healthy Tainio and a focused Marquez anchoring the central midfield and bolstering an improving defense, Joel Lindpere and Dane Richards working the wings and Henry and Luke Rodgers playing well together up front, the Red Bulls have the weapons to give a fight to any team in the playoffs. It might sound impossible, but they could still make a championship run despite being the last team to qualify for the playoffs.
History is on the Red Bulls' side. MLS has seen three of the last six MLS Cup titles go to teams that were either the lowest or second lowest seed in the playoffs (and the 2008 Red Bulls went from the last season in the field to the MLS Cup Final, where they lost to Columbus). New York will face a tougher road than those previous underdog champions, with the extra step of winning a one-game wild card playoff on the road making things even more difficult.
The Red Bulls still have an outside chance of going through the
Eastern Conference in the playoffs (it would take Houston losing
its final match and the Red Bulls and Dynamo both beating higher
seeds in the wild card round), but saving that scenario, New
York’s path to the final will be brutal. It could involving
having to beat three of the four best teams in the league just to
get to the MLS Cup Final. No matter how tough the road is, the Red
Bulls still head into the playoffs with momentum and confidence.
The same cannot not be said for the Philadelphia Union, who
head into the playoffs with some question marks raised over the
final two weeks of the season. The team's continued over-reliance
on Sebastian LeToux and the failure of any of the team's other
forwards to really emerge as a threat have left Philadelphia
looking thin on offense.
Teemu Tainio, of the New York Red Bulls, is fouled by Brian Carroll of the Philadelphia Union. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
With Freddy Adu hampered by an ankle injury that has limited his
production, and with Danny Mwanga continuing to underperform in a
largely disappointing second season in MLS, Philadelphia finds
itself still missing a second reliable goal-scorer to partner with
LeToux, who has carried the offense down the stretch, notching 10
goals and two assists in 12 matches before Thursday).
Concerns about Philadelphia’s offense are tied into
perhaps the biggest question surrounding the Union. Will the team's
youth and inexperience be exposed in the pressure cooker of the
playoffs? Will youngsters like Mwanga, Roger Torres, Amobi Okugo
and the Farfan brothers be up to the task of performing well in the
playoffs, or will they let tougher, more experienced teams boss
them around the way the Red Bulls did Thursday?
The Union do have a strong veteran nucleus, right through the spine of the team with Faryd Mondragon, Dan Califf, Carlos Valdes, Brian Carroll and LeToux. That group was largely responsible for the team’s strong early-season results and recent eight-match unbeaten streak, but Philadelphia’s hopes of going more than one round in its first playoff appearance will depend largely on whether players like Adu, Mwanga and Torres can help the Union attack be dangerous enough to beat the teams they will meet in the playoffs.
If not, Philadelphia’s first foray into the post-season isn’t likely to last too long, and will serve more to provide experience for the Union’s nucleus of young talent.
The Red Bulls don’t have that luxury. They are an older team and one that was always built to win now. New York traded away several young players in constructing a high-priced but aging team, which made the team’s struggles to reach the playoffs all the more frustrating. They have essentially painted themselves into a corner and given themselves a narrow window to succeed.
Thursday’s victory has given New York a chance to salvage a season that was supposed to be so much better, but if the Red Bulls revert to their underachieving ways and fall flat in the playoffs, then their celebrations will have served only to delay an inevitable off-season of questions about just what went wrong this season.
