It took ninety minutes to make their trip to the MLS Cup Final permanent as the New York Red Bulls traveled down to Central Florida and defeated the 4th seed in Orlando City at the Purple Palace on Church Street. With Felipe Carballo out with a bit of a foot injury, but very lucky to have Sean Nealis back in the starting eleven after his collision with Justin Haak of NYCFC, the Red Bulls went with their game plan and played a strong match that put them into the championship final for the first time since 2008 when they were the Western Conference Champions by qualifying as a wild card team and designated to the Western Conference playoffs.
The backline came alive putting out fires every time Orlando City would attack with the ball down the flanks, or down the middle of the park, they would make solid blocks, steal the ball off the feet of their attackers, or that one moment where Carlos Coronel, who had an amazing playoffs making spectacular saves all match long came up big when he stopped Facundo Torres in the thirty second minute. He positioned himself perfectly, stood his ground and made the two fisted punching save to keep the ball out of his net. Or getting help from Cameron Harper as he slid down to swipe the ball away inside his own area to tell Orlando City they are not going to score tonight.
After an amazing opening forty five, the Red Bulls regrouped inside the locker room and they knew what had to happen to make sure they get ahead of their hosts and take a lead. It happened within the opening two minutes of the second half as Harper got fouled on the far side of the pitch and that meant it was John Tolkin’s job to use his left foot to put that ball into play inside the Orlando City area. When Tolkin delivered that ball, I honestly thought it was going to curl past Gallese and tuck it’s self inside the back post almost like an Olympico, but it was Andres Reyes who was the hero as he ran straight toward the near post and got into position to beat the back line and heads the ball off the inside of the near post and completely over the line to take the one goal to nil lead.
While you were hoping for a second goal, it never came, but what you saw was strong defensive work by the Red Bulls to frustrate Orlando City and when they did have a clean chance to convert, they either missed the net, or the shot was blocked by everyone inside their area. This wasn’t just the backline making these stops, it was everyone making the stops, and when they won the ball, they made attempts to get that second goal to ice the game. While that second goal never came, the Red Bulls did what they had to do to make this magical run reach their final destination.
The celebrations at Inter & Co Stadium’s away supporters section yelled in delight, videos of watch parties in New York City like at Legends, and in Northern New Jersey at Mulligan’s on first Street in Hoboken we singing, dancing, jumping around screaming their heads off and playing Rage against the Machine’s Bulls on Parade when Reyes scored was amazing to see. The scenes all over the NYC/Northern NJ area were palpable and everyone who started supporting this club from the mighty mighty Metros to the New York Red Bulls beginning in 1996 were now heading to the 2024 MLS Cup Final against the Los Angeles Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on December 7th.
The two most important people who had the belief in this group was on the pitch and inside his technical area. The Captain Emil Forsberg, and the head coach Sandro Schwarz. What these two men have done is nothing short but exceptional and they have one more task at hand. After hoisting the Eastern Conference Championship Cup, they will now take their final step toward immortality and remembrance. To have the gall and the audacity of flying to Carson, California and defeat the Los Angeles Galaxy in their own backyard and lift the clubs first MLS Cup Championship. Something we all hope we would see in our lifetime.