MLS Cup Playoffs Wrap: Thierry Henry leads New York over D.C. to open conference semifinals
HARRISON, N.J. - You will read a lot of stories across the Internet today placing high praise for Thierry Henry in the context of this year potentially being his last in Major League Soccer.
All that praise is certainly merited. But step back for a moment, and you will see a storyline that transcends even one of MLS' most transcendent players.
On Sunday, the New York Red Bulls made history for a third consecutive game.
First came a win at Sporting Kansas City last weekend, in which Bradley Wright-Phillips scored his MLS record-tying 27th goal of the regular season.
Then, on Thursday, a second straight win over Sporting, this time at home, and this time in the knockout round of the playoffs. It was the club's first ever playoff win at Red Bull Arena, and its first ever home win in a postseason elimination game.
Completing the triumvirate was New York's most impressive performance of the three, a 2-0 win over D.C. United that was the club's first in the playoffs over its perennial arch-rival since 1996, MLS' inaugural season. And that game was decided by the now-extinct shootout after a 2-2 draw. So you might choose to conclude that Sunday's victory was truly unprecedented.
The only MLS club in the New York market (for now) always shoulders a heavy burden of expectations and demands. In the league's first 18 campaigns, those expectations proved crushing when the spotlight shone brightest - the playoffs.
But now, for the first time in years, there is a kind of belief that has rarely been seen on the banks of the Passaic River, and that rarely was seen when the club called the Meadowlands home.
New York manager Mike Petke has lived that disappointment more than anyone, save for the team's most loyal fans. He witnessed their playoff failures as a MetroStar from 1998 to 2002, and as a Red Bull from 2008 to 2010. And last year, he did so as the team's manager - a pain compounded by having won the Supporters' Shield, the club's first ever major silverware.
After the game, I asked Petke to reflect on what it has taken to get his team over the mental roadblocks of its past disappointments, and what his role has been in that process. He offered a heartfelt answer:
Listen, I'm not taking credit at all for, you know, anything like that. These guys are experienced enough. A lot of them have been around this team for at least the last two, three or four years, if not longer.
I don't have to remind them about our record in the playoffs. I honestly think that after last year's season and how this season has gone, leading up to the last month or so, guys were not very happy. And I think they took it upon themselves to just say we're better than this.
This is a great opportunity for us - all the hype around Thierry's future and everything, I think he has stepped it up big-time, and I think it's just a team thing. Mentally-wise, we have veteran guys in this team, whether they are veterans of MLS or veterans in European leagues. They know what it takes at crunch time.
And perhaps during the season they're not really tuned in, but over the last month, and in the playoffs, they have been. So it could be any number of things.
The series is far from over, of course. A 2-0 deficit is not insurmountable for a team returning home to play the second leg of an aggregate-goals series. And since that team won the Eastern Conference regular-season title, there is every reason for it to believe it can do the job.
United manager Ben Olsen - like Petke, a man who was a hero playing for the club he now coaches - said his team's poor showing “wasn't for lack of want.” He instead offered the simple assessment that “New York put a whupping on us - they were very good, and we weren't.”
But the Middletown, Pa., native remains optimstic about what his team can do when it returns to the historic confines of RFK Stadium.
“We've dug ourselves a little bit of a hole, but it's certainly doable, and we'll have a little bit of a chance to get at them now,” Olsen said. “I do believe in the resiliency of this team, and the staff, so I have no doubt that we'll make a real push, and make this thing very interesting... This thing isn't over. Know that.”
Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles didn't have too much to worry about Sunday evening, especially during the second half. But he knows he's in for an onslaught when the scene shifts to Washington this Saturday (2:30 p.m., NBC).
“This is definitely a new situation for us - since I've been here at New York, I haven't had this opportunity to be going into the next leg of the playoffs with this advantage,” he said. “Because we played well today, not only do we have the advantage of going down there and scoring a goal and really putting them in a hole, but nothing's going to change in the sense that we want to get a result regardless.”
Across the field, D.C. winger Nick DeLeon - who scored one of the most famous goals in the rivalry's postseason history two years ago - knows full well what the stakes are for his team. It can be tricky to strike just the right balance between pressing for an early goal and being susceptible to a counter-attack that buries a team even deeper.
“I think we've got to take it to them, but we've got to be very careful at the beginning,” he said. “We don't have to throw the kitchen sink at them early. We've got to play our game, and if we can get a goal early that good, and we'll start throwing numbers forward late if we don't have our goal.”
With that, the stage is set for another dramatic 90 minutes soccer that will feature two teams who've been there together more than any other teams in MLS history. Saturday's second leg will be the 79th all-time game between D.C. and New York, and the 11th playoff game. That will set a record for the most playoff games contested between two teams.
Here are the highlights from New York-D.C. and the rest of the weekend's MLS Cup Playoffs action - including New England's stunning rout at Columbus that made the biggest statement of any of the four games.
Columbus Crew: Justin Meram 64', Federico Higuaín (PK) 90 +4'
New England Revolution: Charlie Davies 34', Chris Tierney 51', Lee Nguyen 70', Charlie Davies 78'
Real Salt Lake 0, Los Angeles Galaxy 0
New York Red Bulls: Bradley Wright-Phillips 40', Péguy Luyindula 73'
FC Dallas: Michel (PK) 34'
Seattle Sounders: Osvaldo Alonso 54'
