New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls: Live Blog

Nov 23, 2014; Harrison, NJ, USA; New England Revolution fans during the second half of the Eastern Conference Championship at Red Bull Arena. The New England Revolution won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Jay Heaps’s New England Revolution and Mike Petke’s New York Red Bulls clash in the second leg of the 2014 MLS Eastern Conference Championship at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The Revolution lead the Red Bulls 2-1 after winning the first leg at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. The Revs are looking to finally lift the MLS Cup after making the final four times, only to lose them all. As for the Red Bulls, they are also hoping to capture their first star.

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Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET and will be televised by NBCSN. The Live Blog is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET. Keep it right here on the MLS Multiplex for continuing coverage of the 2014 Major League Soccer season and the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs.

Refresh the screen for updates!

T-120: Welcome to the Live Blog of the second leg of the 2014 Eastern Conference Championship between the New England Revolution and New York Red Bulls. I’m Jo-Ryan Salazar, co-editor of the MLS Multiplex alongside Sean Maslin. Gillette Stadium just went through some flurries last night, but all is well.

Skies are clear, with some clouds, and the temperature makes this feel like an NFL game. This is the home of the New England Patriots, after all. So let’s get started. Here’s the preview from MLSSoccer.com.

"After a rough-and-tumble first leg Sunday at Red Bull Arena in which 10 yellow cards were handed out in the New England Revolution’s 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls, the scene in the Eastern Conference Championship of the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs, presented by AT&T, shifts to the Revs’ Gillette Stadium for the deciding game. Jermaine Jones and Teal Bunbury scored for New England, bookending a Bradley Wright-Phillips goal for the Red Bulls. If the Revs are able to hold onto their one-goal advantage, they would advance to the MLS Cup title game for the first time since 2007, when they lost to the Houston Dynamo. A win by two or more goals for the Red Bulls would put them in the title game for the first time since 2008, when they lost to the Columbus Crew. They will, however, be without leading scorer Wright-Phillips, due to a suspension for caution accumulation."

REFEREE: Baldomero Toledo.
AR1 (bench): Frank Anderson; AR2 (opposite): Ian Anderson;
4th: Silviu Petrescu

SUSPENDED: NY: Roy Miller (through 11/30); Bradley Wright-Phillips (yellow card accumulation; through 11/30)

LEAGUE HEAD-TO-HEAD:
NY 22 wins (2 SO), 105 GF … NE 26 wins (3 SO), 106 goals … Ties 15

2014 HEAD-TO-HEAD: NY 2 wins, 4 GF … NE 0 wins, 1 GF … Ties 0
AT GILLETTE STADIUM:
6/8: NE 0, NY 2 (Alexander 17; Luyindula 76)

MLS CUP PLAYOFFS: NE 4 wins, 9 GF … NY 1 win, 4 GF … 2 ties

T-117: Since I am doing this live blog as well as the live blog of Seattle-LA from the comforts of my own living room, expect plenty of tweets posted on here.

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T-105: “There are so many guys that can cause problems for other teams,” said Teal Bunbury, who has one goal and one assist in each of the last two games to Jeff Lemieux of revolutionsoccer.net. “If Lee’s getting marked up, if Jermaine is, if Charlie is, there are guys that can come off the bench, as well. It’s just finding that right opportunity and that right time to be able to exploit them and have that unselfish character.”

T-104: “We know they’re a good attacking team,” said Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth. “They’ve scored a lot of goals this year and they’re very dangerous going forward, so we knew we were going to be in for a tough test. We know coming home we’ve got to stay organized, keep our communication and keep our lines. We’re going to be in for a battle.”

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T-99: “It’s not that [Henry] just doesn’t like turf,” Mike Petke said last year to MLSSoccer.com’s Charles Boehm. “He has a chronic issue with his Achilles. And if I’m being told by the doctors that it could be damaged, then it’s a situation that, are you going to sacrifice or take that risk for one game?”

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T-93:  “I’ve felt surprisingly calm and at ease over the last week, which is strange for me because I’m usually not a calm and at-ease type of guy,” said Petke to MLSSoccer.com’s Franco Panizo. “Perhaps it is that I can sit back immediately after the game, and get it out of my system. … For whatever reason, I’m able to put that aside out of my head, and I’m at ease.

“I really focused on things this week with the team and what we want to do. The team is in great spirits, they’re in a great mental [state]. The day after the game they were having a great time playing 5-v-2 and practicing, and it was on one side annoying at first for me to see that but on the other side it was phenomenal for me to see that. It showed the mental character that they have to just move on to the next game.”

T-91: “People know what they’re going to get from me,” said the Red Bulls’ Tim Cahill, who has an opportunity to fill in for Bradley Wright-Phillips in a big way. “If I don’t score, someone around me will because I’m going to try and create as much havoc as possible. More importantly, we know the game plan. We’ve got to win by two goals, and that’s it. In a weird way, it suits us because we’re going away with nothing to lose with a very attacking team.”

T-90: We are now 90 minutes away from kickoff at Gillette Stadium. If you have comments on the match, sound off in the comments section below. You must have a Disqus account to join in the conversation.

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T-60: An hour to kickoff at Gillette. This is the Live Blog between the New England Revolution and New York Red Bulls, exclusively on the MLS Multiplex.

T-45: Odds from oddschecker:
New England Revolution 1
Draw 11/4
New York Red Bulls 3

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Lineups and all that will be on the way.

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T-23: “I think when you look at the struggles they had in 2010-2012, they still stayed the course, used allocation money and got the right players that fit into both the locker room and what coach Jay Heaps wanted,” Taylor Twellman said of New England. “Bad teams get allocation money, but what teams do with it is key. And New England made good on those funds.”

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T-7: Lineups and all that, finally.

Lineup

Bench

Officials

T-0: The broadcast begins on NBCSN. Kickoff is coming soon. Again, if you have any thoughts on the game, sound off on the comments below. Make sure you have a Disqus account.

I think that’s enough pregame tweeting. Stand by for exciting play by play in our live blog here on the MLS Multiplex.

FIRST HALF START: 3:24 P.M. ET

1′ – The first half begins.

2′ – Lee Nguyen, can he make an immediate impact in this game? The cross. Teal Bunbury should have done better. A tense start.

3′ – Here’s Ambroise Oyongo with the throw. The cross, and Peguy Luyindula was jammed.

4′ – Here’s Jermaine Jones. Challenged by Richard Eckersley. Dax McCarty now. All eyes will be on Cahill today.

5′ – Andrew Farrell denies Thierry Henry on that header. Farrell is a rising star. Watch for him down the road.

6′ – Lloyd Sam is away. The cross, and it was behind Luyindula. Very unfortunate.

7′ – Jones is actually in a bit of trouble here, slow to get up.

8′ – Well, JJ is up but he will need to adjust a bit to life as a Rev. Teal Bunbury will concede a throw to Oyongo.

9′ – Nguyen is guilty of a challenge there. Luyindula to Oyongo. Jose Goncalves, the Revs captain clears.

10′ – Bobby Shuttleworth is the next to deny Henry. A speculative shot from Tim Cahill.

11′ – Now while a scoreless draw will preserve the aggregate for New England, backing your way into the showdown way out West may be, for lack of a better word, unwise.

12′ – Andrew Farrell would have been guilty of being offsides if he touched that. Too much pace, may be the surface.

13′ – All of a sudden, this is the Bobby Shuttleworth Show. Cahill denied by the Revs netminder. Acrobatic.

14′ – If this keeps up, Shuttleworth, the former backup to current Galaxy goalkeepers coach Matt Reis, may end up the man of the match.

15′ – Chris Tierney should have gotten to that ball. Great pass from Bunbury, the former Sporting Kansas City bookend.

16′ – So far, this is a ball possession battle but we have seen a lion’s share of chances.

17′ – Good possession from New England. Here is the cross. Ibrahim Sekagya foils that sequence.

18′ – Offsides on the long ball from Jones to Bunbury. We’ve already had a few of that so far.

19′ – Steven Caldwell, and Luyindula is robbed. Richard Eckersley is there to clean up.

20′ – Jamison Olave is having a good game so far defensively but he can’t do it alone. Henry. Chaos in the box, but the Revs react.

21′ – Kevin Alston with a handball. One of the Revs’ feel-good stories, Alston concedes a dangerous set piece for New York. Henry time.

22′ – Good play from Jones to clear the danger. He may speak like a Franco-German snob but Jermaine Jones knows how to play.

23′ – Davies is away, but Eckersley again. The crowd wanted a penalty but no dice. Charlies Davies, once upon a times, almost was on the verge of losing his life but he’s come back strong and is now in the Revs’ colors.

24′ – Farrell with the throw. Bunbury makes a meal of that. Here come the Red Bulls. Shuttleworth picks that up after Lloyd Sam was kept in check.

25′ – Jones with his first chance on goal. Wide right.

26′ – GOAL! New York Red Bulls 17 Tim Cahill
What a goal. That’s continuity. Goncalves should have done better there.

27′ – Now New England are not in danger just yet; they are ahead on away goals, but now they need to get an equalizer in this second leg.

28′ – Dax McCarty denies Farrell. The Empire Supporters Club is bouncing. Nguyen with the corner. No handball penalty. Revs are off their rocker.

29′ – Can the Revs find the answer to ensure they are safe. We’ll let you know here on this live blog.

30′ – And with that, we have hit the half-hour mark, New York leading 1-0 in the second leg but still down on away goals 2-1.

31′ – Alston with the throw. So the pace in the match has slowed down a little. Let’s see if we can get a nice 15 here.

32′ – Henry plays it forward. Farrell bats cleanup again. Bunbury with the handball. Lot of New England handballs here.

33′ – Henry tried to look for Luyindula but the connection had too much pace.

34′ – Oyongo with a clutch clearance. Lloyd Sam now.

35′ – Cahill is denied by Shuttleworth. Resilient goalkeeper, that Bobby Shuttleworth. Here’s Lee Nguyen. Farrell.  Luis Robles, New York’s netminder, collects the Jones volley.

36′ – Free kick for Henry…Cahill is getting numbers thrown at him. The Revs now know what’s up.

37′ – Corner now for New York. Traffic here.

38′ – Jamison Olave’s redirection is over the bar. The breaks are not going New York’s way late.

39′ – Jones and Cahill sizing each other up, with Baldomero Toledo reminding them who is calling things in the middle. #Diplomacy.

40′ – Andrew Farrell wins a goal kick, and Tim Cahill continues to take his lumps.

41′ – Bunbury to Davies, denied by Olave. Olave, the former RSL man, is on a roll. Corner, Chris Tierney.

GOAL! New England Revolution 9 Charlie Davies
Fire the guns! There they go. Great set piece resiliency.

42′ – New England are now ahead on aggregate, 3-2, but the next New York goal will send it to extra time.

43′ – Long ball for Davies. And Olave concedes a set piece. Poor guy.

44′ – A.J. Soares makes a meal of that finish off the set piece.

45′ – Let’s see how many minutes Silviu Petrescu calls for here. One minute.

45′ + 1′ – Davies is away, but Olave tracks him down. Goal kick. Olave may need to get his mouth fixed for a cut at the break. Halftime.

HALFTIME
New England Revolution 1
New York Red Bulls 1
New England Revolution lead on aggregate 3-2

Team Statistics

New England Revolution on left, New York Red Bulls on right

So, the onus is now on the New York Red Bulls to counter with their best 45 minutes of soccer, or these could be the last 45 minutes and stoppage of their season. The urgency has to be there because this is a New England side that likes to score in droves. Let’s see if the response makes for an entertaining second half.

As always, if you have any thoughts on the proceedings of the second leg of the 2014 MLS Eastern Conference Championship, sound off on the comments below. Remember, you need a Disqus account to participate.

SECOND HALF START: 4:27 P.M. ET

46′ – Here we go with the second half of the second leg of the 2014 MLS Eastern Conference Championship.

47′ – Lee Nguyen is offsides. There has been talk that the Davies goal should have been called back for a handball, since is seemed to have hit his arm.  Cue another talking point from this match. There’s going to be plenty. New York, moving the ball around, looking for a seam.

48′ – Jermaine Jones with a Christmas present, and November isn’t even over yet. Wide left.

49′ – Gracious. Lloyd may need to change his name to “Lloyd Samtaclaus” if Jones finished that freebie. Davies! Wide right. And the defense of the Red Bulls is missing the plot.

50′ – This may not end well for New York. Smart soccer early for New England. Luis Robles pushes aside some streamers before playing it forward.

51′ – Teal Bunbury is offsides once again. And the Revolution continue to open up the Red Bulls in the midfield. It doesn’t help things when you don’t have Roy Miller or Bradley Wright-Phillips to save you.

52′ – Another miss for Luyindula. May be one of those games for him. Henry has his face in his hands.

53′ – GOAL! New York Red Bulls 8 Peguy Luyindula
Perseverance. Sheer perseverance by Peguy Luyindula. We’re all square in this one!

54′ – Hang on tight folks, we’re gonna have a thrill of a finish here. We’re tied on aggregate and away goals. Burnbury whiffs on the Tierney cross. Luyindula is down. He is in a world of trouble right now.

55′ – Luyindula is a peer of Henry and he is up. Soares is getting a talking to be Toledo. One more of that and he’ll be on report.

56′ – Handball…called on New York. Some bias may be in order here. Tierney to take this from outside the box. Cahill clears.

57′ – Eckersley wears Tierney like a glove. Great clearance. Oyongo concedes another free kick to New England.

58′ – Are you saying there isn’t any life in this house is Foxborough, empty seats and all? I didn’t hear you. Free kick, Revs. Cleared. A cross is wide. New York trying to break away. Finally they settle.

59′ – Farrell in on the tackle. Throw-in, Red Bulls. Here’s Sam, and Shuttleworth drops a sitter. Corner, New York. Henry to take.

60′ – Right in the direction of Shuttleworth. Dax McCarty is going to be cautioned here.

Yellow card 11 Dax McCarty
New York Red Bulls

61′ – Lee Nguyen is away. Lee Nguyen is away! Oyongo closes him down. Goal kick, Robles.

62′ – Now we got a confrontation here. Henry is telling his men to get back in formation and stay calm. A class act. We at the Plex will miss him, the great Thierry Henry.

63′ – Shuttleworth resets. Well past the hour mark, 3-3 global, 2-2 away goals, all square. Nguyen, Bunbury, Olave, and Nguyen is denied.  Nguyen is shaken up. The crowd wants a penalty. No dice.

64′ – Soares concedes a restart to New York.

65′ – Olave is wearing Nguyen like a glove here. That Real Salt Lake toughness on showcase today.

66′ – This is trouble! Cahill skies it! Unbelievable! If this was Giants-Patriots, that is good for three points.

67′ – This is riveting stuff, this is fun football. And we may not be done after 90. Alston is jammed. Eric Alexander denies Jermaine Jones. A little bit too unselfish there from JJ.

68′ – Alston wins a restart but Davies is offsides. Boy, that hurts.

69′ – Here’s Nguyen again. Oyongo is there. Luyindula is away. Andrew Farrell clears.

70′ – Jones is away. Now it’s Tierney, and Robles has to come off his line after a poor save.

GOAL! New England Revolution 9 Charlie Davies
What a reaction from Davies. He has a brace and is playing his best soccer of the year. Tierney with the excellent delivery. He has been clutch.

71′ – The resiliency and skills of Chris Tierney is massive. His playmaking may send the Revs to the MLS Cup Final on the West Coast.

72′ – Oyongo to the rescue again. He’s had to do a lot of work, Ambroise Oyongo.

73′ – New England now lead New York, 4-3 on aggregate. However, if the Red Bulls score again, they will lead the aggregate on away goals.

74′ – So now it’s strategy time. Do you sit back, or do you pursue? Shuttleworth is forced to tip that over, and now it’s a corner for Henry. Headed out by Soares. Jose Goncalves, clutch as ever.

75′ – The last 15 minutes are imperative. New England can wrap this up with one more goal. As for New York, score and you have the ascendancy. Easy math.

76′ – Bradley Wright-Phillips must be rueing the fact that he was cautioned in the first leg and was also unaware of the rules regarding yellow card accumulation. Welcome to America, BWP.

77′ – Cahill moving forward, and the cross from Henry misses Lloyd Sam.

78′ – Oyongo with the clearance, and now here is Sam. Henry doesn’t get right on the header.

79′ – Mike Petke giving the back line instructions…this is trouble! Luyindula misses. Davies is offsides. He wanted a hat trick. He’s not getting it…at least not yet.

80′ – Sam wins a corner. Kevin Alston concedes that. Henry will take this.

81′ – What a bad shot from Ibrahim Sekagya. Goal kick, Bobby Shuttleworth. Bless his heart, if he can prevent any more goals, the Revs are heading out west next week.

82′ – Kelyn Rowe will be coming in here.

83′ – Nguyen now. He wins a throw. No pun intended.

84′ – Substitution New England Revolution
IN 11 Kelyn Rowe
OUT 9 Charlie Davies

Farrell clears the cross from Sam.

85′ – Sekagya will give way to Connor Lade here. A collision, and Jermaine Jones is fouled.

86′ – Substitution New York Red Bulls
IN 16 Connor Lade
OUT 32 Ibrahim Sekagya

87′ – Jaraba Tapatio time from Dax McCarty. Cahill now. Jose Goncalves with the clearance. Jones is away and he whiffs. He’s in a world of trouble, and Luyindula is offsides. Un fracaso…in both ends. Hey now!

88′ – Bobby Shuttleworth denies Thierry Henry with perhaps the stop of the game. He is standing on his head, Shuttleworth…you beauty!

89′ – Henry’s shot is collected by Shuttleworth. It went through traffic, it was a worm-burner, but it lacked the pace.

90′ – The second may be ticking on Henry’s career here in MLS. Oyongo kicks that back to Robles. Three minutes.

90′ + 1′ – Tierney concedes a throw.

Substitution New York Red Bulls
IN 21 Ruben Bover Izquierdo
OUT 12 Eric Alexander

90′ + 2′ – Farrell with a throw for New England. Confrontation around Oyongo. And Jermaine Jones and a few others are gonna go here.

90′ + 3′ –Yellow card 10 Lloyd Sam
New York Red Bulls

Yellow card 3 Ambroise Oyongo
New York Red Bulls

90′ + 4′ – And some more exchanges are being made here. Last chance saloon here.  Revs clear. That’s it! Charlie Davies has made an MLS Eastern Conference Champion out of the New England Revolution!

FINAL
New England Revolution 2
New York Red Bulls 2
New England Revolution win on aggregate 4-3

Team Statistics

Goals and Assists

Assisted By: Thierry Henry

41′

Charlie Davies

Assisted By: Chris Tierney, Lee Nguyen

52′

Péguy Luyindula

70′

Charlie Davies

Assisted By: Chris Tierney, Scott Caldwell

Disciplinary

Reason: Foul

90’+2′

Ambroise Oyongo Bitolo

Reason: Foul

90’+3′

Lloyd Sam

Reason: Unsporting behaviour

Substitutions

Match Information

MLS Playoffs at Gillette Stadium

Attendance 32698

Weather Clear

This concludes our Live Blog here on the MLS Multiplex. Thanks for following along and we’ll see you tomorrow, when the Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles Galaxy determine who will face the beasts from the East. Good night, everybody!