The New York Red Bulls walked into Citi Field at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens for the very first Hudson River Derby in the MLS Cup Playoffs and they took no prisoners against the Blue Team after getting swept in the regular season. It was all business and from the bus ride across the George Washington Bridge, down the Harlem River Drive, over the Triboro Bridge then take the Grand Central Parkway to arrive at their destination. They had the mentality of men getting ready for business and with their captain Emil Forsberg finally starting in this huge playoff match many felt this one was going to be a different outcome.
From the opening whistle to the closing whistle the Red Bulls defended very well against NYCFC, Sandro Schwarz kept his five man backline on a short field and they clamped down on NYCFC to prevent them from getting any clean chances on goal, even when they had clean chances, Carlos Coronel stood on his head and made the big saves he had to make to keep that clean sheet. The defense made smart calculating tackles and got their opposition frustrated all night long. The big moment came once again from their Designated Players who have stepped up once again to provide the goals to grab this two goal clean sheet victory. The Uruguayan Felipe Carballo made magic once again for his second goal in three playoff matches.
Coronel Sent that ball down the pitch on the goal kick and it was headed away from the NYCFC defense, but Dante Vanzeir found a way to leap for the ball, and headed back toward Carballo and one a one touch smash destroyed the back of the net going upper far 90 and Matt Freese dove helplessly as he couldn’t make the save on that Golaso. Carballo took a twenty five yard shot to show he meant business and destroyed the net. Since coming over he has slowly gotten used to his surroundings with this club, and paired up with Daniel Edelman as the double sixes to not only provide defensive help for the back line, but to add a little offense as well. So far he has two match winners in the playoffs.
Another player who has been needed to convert the goals has been the Belgium striker in Dante Vanzeir as he is continuing his strong play and has now scored in two consecutive playoff matches. Since he broke his goal scoring drought against Atlanta United at Red Bull Arena on September 21st, and since then he’s played better. When the Red Bulls earned their corner kick, Vanzeir was at the right place at the right time as the ball got delivered inside the scrum, pinballed around, and then that magical moment came when Dante who was kept onside by Keaton Parks, banged the shot off the inside of the near post and past Freese for the two goal lead. From that point on it was all Red Bulls defending and frustrating their hosts strong positioning for defending the ball, and they got a little luck when the blue team nailed the post, just missing ripping up the clean sheet.
The one moment that has our concern is centerback Sean Neails who we saw colided with Justin Haak and face planted down on the outfield grass of Citi Field. The replay was horrible when Sean tucked his head down into the chest of Haak, then his chin caught Sean in the back of his head to knock him out. Thankfully he was able to get back up and walked off with help from the training staff. Obviously, Haak didn’t mean to do that as the force of the challenge by Sean lead to that horrible moment. Hopefully Sean can recover from this and continue in the Eastern Conference Final. But at the end of the match, the Red Bulls got their revenge in the worst way. They took down NYCFC in the playoffs sending them packing as New York City will light up in Red.
Sandro Schwarz has done an amazing job reviewing the tapes from past matches against both the Columbus Crew, and NYCFC to prepare his players to attack, defend and keep the gameplan to win these three playoff games. A masterclass in Columbus, a strong home match against the Crew, and now another masterclass in Queens to put them one step closer to the MLS Cup Final. No we wait for either Atlanta or Orlando to advance to see where the club goes next weekend. Either back home to Red Bull Arena, or headed down to the Purple Palace on Church Street. This run has been magical, and can they keep it up? We shall see, but for now celebrate these next few days as the Red Bulls have proven to be the Kings of New York and doing it in the Borough of Queens.