As he took a victory lap around Red Bull Arena moments after the Red Bulls clinched the Eastern Conference title, capping the greatest turnaround in MLS history, Dane Richards couldn’t help but think back to last October’s regular season finale.
“Last year we were thanking the fans and we were going to go home,” the Jamaican midfielder said. “Now we’re thanking the fans to come and support us in the playoffs also and that’s a great feeling.”’
On Thursday, the Red Bulls clinched the East for the first time since 2000, defeating the New England Revolution, 2-0, in front of 15,866 fans at Red Bull Arena. A year after being mired in a miserable 5-19-6 season, the Red Bulls (15-9-6) return to the postseason and will be the top seed in the East.
“Normally you can’t see any team in the world double their points in one season,” Red Bulls coach Hans Backe said. “It’s impossible to do that. To get 30 points more, 10 more wins, less conceded goals, it’s been excellent.”
The Red Bulls, which snapped a 16-match MLS winless streak against the Revolution, will also host the Eastern Conference final should they win their first round aggregate series against either San Jose, Colorado or Seattle. The first leg will be away from home next week and the home leg is Nov. 4.
“Today was important for so many reasons,” Red Bulls captain Juan Pablo Angel said. “We won the Eastern Conference, we beat New England after so many years, but we still have a long way to go. We have to, and we want to, hopefully win the MLS Cup.”
Backe said the Red Bulls rode the momentum from the early part of the regular season, when it won five of its first six matches. But Jeremy Hall said the turnaround was even earlier.
“I think it started in preseason,” Hall said. “Last year was terrible, something we wanted to forget about. From Day One in preseason we worked on our defensive shape and keeping that. I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve done so well and have won the East. Hopefully we can continue that into the playoffs. Now it’s a clean slate and it’s anyone’s for the taking now.”
The Red Bulls jumped in front on 17 minutes on Richards’ fifth goal in the last seven matches.
Medhi Ballouchy won a ball in his own defensive third, turned and distributed to Angel. The Red Bulls captain threaded a perfect pass to Richards, who raced down the right side and unleashed a laser from 16 yards out into the upper right corner of the net.
Joel Lindpere, who opened the season with a goal at Red Bull Arena, ended it the same way. The Estonian midfielder took a feed from Tony Tchani and cut back on goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth before putting a right-footed shot into the net from eight yards out.
While Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez’s entrance has received more fanfare, no one has been more important to the Red Bulls this season than Lindpere.
“He’s been our most consistent player during the season,” Backe said. “I would say every game, I don’t think he had one game where he had one game when he was going down because his work ethic is phenomenal. We tried to play him central today to get a more lively central midfield, a little bit more dynamic and that definitely worked.”
The Red Bulls were without Henry, who sat with a right knee strain.
“He’s been away for nine days exactly,” Backe said. “I think fitness-wise it’s no problem. The knock on his knee is too painful at the moment and they will try during the weekend to do some treatment and hopefully he can train on Monday. The touch on the ball, the sharpness, that’s going to take time.”
After its five-game unbeaten streak was snapped in Philadelphia last week, Backe said he wanted to see how his team responded. Although it wasn’t pretty, he liked what he saw, especially in the first half.
“We wanted an answer after the Philly game, even after the Kansas City game, an answer what kind of mindset we’re going into the playoffs, to bounce back from the Philly game,” he said. “The last minutes of the first half, I was happy with that.”
Now, for the first time since their Cinderella run to the MLS Cup in 2008, the Red Bulls are in the playoffs. Backe said he still believes Los Angeles and Real Salt Lake are a step above the rest of the teams, but you have to be in it to win it. After last year’s nightmare, that’s just where the Red Bulls find themselves.
“We couldn’t do worse than last year,” Richards said. “We just came in, worked hard and we did it. It’s not over yet. Hopefully we have three more games left and we go all the way and win it.”
