HARRISON, N.J. — The Columbus Crew had established a healthy lead in the first leg, and they did just enough to protect it in the second.
The Crew reached the MLS Cup Final on Sunday despite losing the second leg of the Eastern Conference Finals, 1-0, on Sunday night at Red Bull Arena. The result gave the Crew a 2-1 aggregate victory after they prevailed by shutout in the opening match at Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, a week ago.
The Red Bulls struggled to come up with quality scoring chances throughout the decisive leg, but nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback in the series in the waning moments. Substitute forward Anatole Abang flicked a ball with his head into the back of the net three minutes into second-half stoppage time, and that opened the door for a late equalizer.
Bradley Wright-Phillips was cruelly denied by the post on a nodded effort of his own a minute later, however, leaving the Red Bulls and sold-out crowd in disbelief.
Gregg Berhalter’s side will now host the Portland Timbers in the championship bout on Dec. 6. The Timbers tied FC Dallas, 2-2, on the road earlier on Sunday to take a 5-3 win on aggregate in the Western Conference Finals.
In need of two goals to salvage their season, the Red Bulls struggled to come up with clear looks in the final third. Sacha Kljestan had one of the best opportunities for the hosts in the 73rd minute, but his low blast from distance was parried away by Crew goalkeeper Steve Clark.
It was the Crew who had most of the quality scoring chances, and they nearly found a big away goal early in the second minute. Ethan Finlay got on the end of a pass all alone in the penalty area before getting denied by Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles.
Kei Kamara nearly scored six minutes later off a feed from right back Harrison Afful on a quick counterattack, but Kamara’s ensuing shot from an angle was denied by Robles.
Robles repeatedly came up big to keep the Red Bulls alive in the series. He also dove low to his left in the 38th minute to stop a precise shot on the turn from Kamara at the top of the 18-yard box.
It was not until the second half that Jesse Marsch’s side found a little more success in the attacking third, but the Crew’s defense still held firm. That is, until the late-game chaos.
Abang headed past Clark to give the Red Bulls a chance two minutes into stoppage time, but the club and its fans could only look on in agony as Wright-Phillips was denied by the low part of the right post.
Dax McCarty is a good mop up defensive mid I suppose. He’d be an outstanding sub for Red Bulls if you want to hold a lead, and he’d be an upgrade as a starter for most MLS teams. But if you need at least two goals, especially heading into the second half, why leave on someone who offers nothing going forward? The Red Bulls still need to get over their over-reliance on Dax. I admire his work ethic and heart, but he isn’t good enough facing the opponent’s goal and makes too many unforced mistakes (and spend a lot of his time mopping up his own errors). If you are going to attack — and especially if you need to attack — Dax just isn’t your guy.
They managed to score the most goals in the league this year with him playing almost every game.
We needed a different strategy in game 2. Should have learned that lesson from the way Colombus handled us in game 1.
I totally agree (see above). Marsch refused to acknowledge what the rest of the world could see — his midfield was getting outplayed, and Columbus was doubling up on Sam and Grella when they ventured down the wings and inviting RBNY to play a more direct style. So we saw plenty of balls in the air, or on the ground when he had his back to the goal, to the 5’8″ BWP. Abang should have been in the game way earlier. Sometimes dedication to a system and to “the way we play” can blind you to the need to adjust.
This is exactly right. RBNY were forced to play a more direct game and lumping balls in to a 5’8″ lone striker worked about as poorly as you’d expect. RBNY were far more threatening in the 20 minutes or so when Abang was on. I thought he might start last night and he should have at least come on at halftime.
Kljestan’s post-game comments echoed Marsch’s on this point — when asked whether the team considered a change in tactics, he said, in effects, “Our tactics are always the same. We don;t change based on the opponent. Teams know what they’re getting when they play us, but we just play our game.” Now I’m all for consistency and believing in your system, but when you manage two shots on goal in Columbus and go down 2-0, and still trail at halftime of the second leg after getting just one more shot on goal, in stoppage time, then maybe, just maybe, it’s time to consider a change. It’s not like RBNY didn’t realize that their press and quick passing game were not being effective — they had 34 crosses in Columbus — but their personnel on the field was not suited to the type of game Columbus was forcing them to play. Abang should have entered the game way sooner.
Finlay is garbage, no call up please
Oh, right….we’ll just call in all our other wing options.
Joe gyua is almost healthy, Jerome however u spell his last name from the u23 is a better option and I would prefer Paul arriola and Rubin and gooch can also play there, and there is boxi yomba, Julian Green and Wooten.
LOL…yeah what a bevy of great wing options.
Yeah, I hate it when my team has a winger that can score double digit goals while handing out double digit assists. Talk about a ball-hog.
Pathetic that there were so many empty seats at RedBull Arena. That franchise simply does not deserve to have the Final at home. Thousands of empty seats at a Conference Final? And 2/3s of them never saw the RedBull goal since they had left and headed to the parking lot.
Mark,….it was an excellent crowd on a very cold Sunday night. Your comments don’t hold any water. Not sure you can blame the crowd leaving in the 90th minute. BTW — they were right,…Red Bulls were eliminated.
Most of the fans that left left well before the 90th minute mark. I was at a full bar and around the 80th minute you could hear a lot of people commenting on how many empty seats there were and how you could see the red bull logo in the stands.
No crowd that sparse to begin with can be labeled ‘excellent’. And walking out on the team in their last game? Get out of here with that good crowd garbage
Plenty of passion but way too many empty seats.
The game was officially sold out. You couldn’t get tickets. Most of the empty seats in the first tier are the corporate season-ticket holders. But yes, there were other empty seats. There are a lot of families who go to the games, and down 2-0, on the (so far) coldest night of the year, game starts at “7:30” — I get it. I was there. Worth it for the last minutes.
RBNY attendance in general is disappointing but this game was sold out two weeks ago. Maybe some people didn’t show up but all the seats were sold. Crowd was excellent yesterday and I say that as someone who is more than willing to criticize our fanbase when I feel it’s deserved.
It was the tail end of a holiday weekend, of course there were going to be empty seats. I know several people that would have gone had they been in town rather than visiting family.
No one at RBA last night would have labeled the crowd sparse. Maybe a few people didn’t show up but the game was sold out for two weeks.
Over two legs, but especially tonight, RBNY played with a shocking lack of energy and ideas. The midfield trio was totally outplayed, and Marsch never made the necessary adjustments. I think their first shot on goal tonight was in first half stoppage time. Two halves of ineffective attacking, with no change in approach, is disappointing, three is shocking, four is inexplicable. Berhalter figured RBNY out from the get-go and Narsch and his squad never had an answer. Perhaps more incriminating was the lethargic approach, especially in the first half. They certainly did not play like a team that needed two goals.
Agreed,…Marsh didn’t show much on the tactical front.
Congratulations Columbus. Hugely disappointing for Red Bulls,…but they lost to a better team. Robles was outstanding,…kept them in the game. Tchani bossed Klestjian. Red Bulls just didn’t have any ideas. The crazy finish in stoppage time flattered the Red Bulls.
As a NYRB fan it was a great season, better than anyone had predicted. But it’s shocking how that goal at 9 seconds in Game One effected them. At no point in this series did the Red Bulls look anything like the resilient team that high pressed, played with ideas, played quickly and would run through walls for March until extra time. Too little, too late, too sad.