New York Red Bulls Advance, United Falters

Survive and advance. A two game playoff series is more than just victories and losses. It is about doing everything you can to score, to pad your goal total, and to do whatever you can to score on the road. Although DC United came out on top on Saturday, it is the New York Red Bulls that will be advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals. A Peguy Luyindula strike in the second half gave the Red Bulls the 3-2 series victory on aggregate.

At the start of the match, it was DC United that looked like they might be advancing. Despite being down 2-0 on goals in the series, United hammered the Red Bulls defense looking to halve their deficit. Midfielder Nick De Leon led the team on the attack, making long diagonal runs  crisscrossing the Red Bulls defense and forcing them on their hooves.

De Leon’s pass into forward Fabian Espindola in the 15th minute helped set up forward Chris Rolfe’s chance. However, Rolfe’s shot went wide.

Things nearly got more complicated for DC United in the 33rd minute when a shot by Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips hit off of the arm of United defender Bobby Boswell. Although the 1200 New York Red Bulls supporters wanted a penalty, head official Ismail Elfath ruled that play should continue.

After persistent efforts at getting the first goal, United’s breakthrough came in the 37th minute when De Leon would finish off a superb cross by United defender Taylor Kemp. It appeared that New York Red Bulls midfielder Dax McCarty had a bead on De Leon but let up, assuming Kemp would pause before the cross. But Kemp caught Red Bulls defense off-guard, whipping in a cross with precision.

As quick as United scored to cut the series lead in half, they almost buried themselves by napping on defense. In the 41st minute, Wright-Phillips trapped a headed pass by midfielder Loyd Sam and delivered a strong shot on target. But United goalkeeper Bill Hamid directly engaged Wright-Phillips and was able to make the series-saving clear.

Although play was at times rough in the first half, pressure mounted for both teams in the final 45. An Espindola diving header in the 54th was just whiskers away from hitting the right corner of the goal.

It is interesting how one particular play can shift a match. Within just a few minutes of the Espindola miss, the New York Red Bulls were able to run the counter-attack and catch United off-guard.

Much like in the first match it was Red Bulls midfielder Thierry Henry who provided the spark. Henry hit a cross into the box for Red Bulls forward Peguy Luyindula to finish. The French connection had scored in the previous match-up and linked up once again in the 57th minute to give New York the 3-1 advantage.

With their season on the brink, United coach Ben Olsen pulled out all of the stops bringing in forwards Eddie Johnson and David Estrada. United were able to score in the 90th minute off of a strike by defender Sean Franklin. But the New York Red Bulls defense, led by center-back Jamison Olave and Richard Eckersley, held United to just two goals even while losing left-back Roy Miller to a red card.

For the New York Red Bulls this was just their third ever series victory and their first against DC United. They will host the winner of today’s Columbus Crew-New England Revolution match for the right to play in the MLS Cup.

DC United’s season is done. They will next play in the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions League on February 24th when they will take on Alajuelense.