The New England Revolution took a big step towards another MLS Cup final appearance as a dramatic late winner from their USA midfielder Jermaine Jones stunned the New York Red Bulls in front of a sell-out 25,000 crowd.
The Revs started and finished well to secure not just the win but two precious away goals. Their hosts were left to regret a raft of missed first-half chances and, perhaps more worryingly, the loss of the season’s leading goalscorer, Bradley Wright-Phillips, for the second leg. Wright-Phillips scored the Red Bulls’ equaliser here but he also picked up a soft yellow card in a match that was full of them.
In a frenetic atmosphere, New England were the quickest to settle, as they imposed a pressing game that looked to be troubling the Red Bulls. Just as the home team seemed to be adjusting, the Revolution’s Teal Bunbury picked up the ball wide right in the 17th minute, stepped inside and hit a perfect left-foot shot beyond Luis Robles for a goal he later acknowledged as “the most important” of his career.
An often unremarked player who has come good in this playoffs run, Bunbury was involved in the build-up to the second as well. With New York pushing for the lead late on, New England broke and Lee Nguyen slipped the ball wide for Bunbury’s low ball across Robles to find Jones steaming in to finish at the back post.
Until then Nguyen had been a marginal presence, forced out of the game by Dax McCarty consistently breaking up his supply, but with McCarty committed forward the MVP candidate was able to provide the crucial assist.
The loss of a man many New York fans consider as deserving of an MVP nomination as Nguyen, Wright-Phillips, creates a real headache for coach Mike Petke. Already without suspended left-back Roy Miller, whose left flank was the origin for both Revolution goals, Petke must now approach a game at Gillette Stadium without his leading goalscorer. Furthermore, the team’s star, Thierry Henry, and first-choice centre-back, Jamison Olave, have historically been loathe to play on the New England stadium’s artificial turf, for risk of injury.
If ever there was a time for either man to reconsider that stance, it is now. Henry is out of contract at the end of the season, and flirting with retirement. Sunday may have been the Frenchman’s last game in New York. The romantic scenario of Henry going out in an MLS Cup showdown against the LA Galaxy’s Landon Donovan is in danger – he may find himself under some not so discrete pressure this week.
There will be no such pressures for New England coach Jay Heaps, whose game plan paid off perfectly after his team weathered first-half New York pressure and then reorganised to great effect at half time. The incredible run that started with the arrival of Jones in the summer and has been accelerated by the performances of Nguyen and a constantly improving collective shows no signs of ending.
New England have taken a giant step towards a fifth final, in a competition they have never won. This could yet be their year.
New York Red Bulls:(4-2-3-1) Robles; Eckersley, Olave, Sekagya, Oyongo; McCarty, Alexander; Sam, Luyindula, Henry; Wright-Phillips
New England Revolution: (4-2-3-1) Shuttleworth; Farrell, Goncalves, Soares, Tierney; Caldwell, Jones; Nguyen, Bunbury, Rowe; Davies
