Each season, 19 teams set out with one goal – to win the MLS Cup. After a grueling eight month regular season, the MLS playoffs kick things into overdrive, and provide one of the toughest tests in sports. The road to MLS Cup is not an easy one. The playoffs are full of ups and downs – the lowest lows and the highest highs. With New York reaching its third Eastern Conference Finals in franchise history, we look back on each of the previous trips to the Conference Finals – how we got there, how we fared, and how the club continues to make progress towards winning MLS Cup.
The 2000 New York MetroStars were one of the league’s most exciting teams. Coming off of a 7-25 record in 1999, newly appointed general manager Nick Sackiewicz made a series of key offseason acquisitions that changed the face of the franchise. Adolfo Valencia was allocated to the MetroStars by the league at the start of the season, and Lothar Matthaus was signed from Bayern Munich. Sackiewicz also made significant moves for Steve Jolley and U.S. National Team veteran Thomas Dooley, among others. The puzzle would be completed with the addition of striker Clint Mathis in a dispersal draft in May.
The rejuvenated squad, led by the likes of Tab Ramos and a young Mike Petke, stormed the league and finished with a 17-12-3 record. The team’s 52 points were third-best in the league, and good enough to finish atop the Eastern Division, earning them a first-round series with the sixth seeded Dallas Burn.
With starting goalie Mike Amman injured, and young New Jersey native Tim Howard gone for the Olympics, goalkeeping duties fell to third-string keeper Paul Grafer to start the playoffs. The MetroStars hosted the first game of the quarterfinals at Giants Stadium in September of 2000. A goal by Clint Mathis was answered for Dallas by the late Bobby Rhine, setting up ten minutes of overtime.
Under that playoff format, games could end in a tie after the ten-minute extra session. If the MetroStars could not take three points at home, they would be in trouble heading to Dallas. Add to that the fact that the team was just 1-4 in the playoffs during their first four seasons, and had not won a playoff series in their existence, and the pressure was definitely on the home side. Fortunately for the 14,000 MetroStars faithful in attendance, Valencia struck in the final moments of the overtime to clinch the three points, sending the team to Dallas needing just a tie to advance.
Five days later Clint Mathis scored two goals, and Grafer kept a clean sheet, at the Cotton Bowl to see the MetroStars into the conference championship for the first time in team history.
The semifinals pitted New York against the Chicago Fire, one of two teams who had finished above them in the regular season. To make matters worse, the Fire were coming off of an impressive rout of New England, including a 6-0 drubbing in the deciding game of the series.
The Fire kept up their impressive form in the first game of the series, taking a 3-0 victory at Soldier Field in an otherwise forgettable game for New York. The team headed home with their backs against the wall, and just three days to prepare with the season on the line. The offense had gone cold in the windy city, and the Fire looked close to unstoppable through four playoff games.
Head coach Octavio Zambrano pushed all the right buttons, as he had done all season. The MetroStars took game two, 2-0, behind goals from Mark Chung and Valencia. Amman, with broken ribs still healing, made three saves in the shutout, including two key stops in the moments before Valencia’s goal in the 84th minute.
The victory set up a winner-take-all third game back in Chicago.
The Fire came out hot in the third game, and, trailing 2-0 inside of 20 minutes, it was gut check time once again for the MetroStars. Minutes after the second goal, young Mike Petke went streaking down the right side and played a cross through the box that found Valencia, who slotted it home to cut the lead in half. Valencia struck again minutes later, breathing life back into the season and sending the teams into the half tied at two.
Neither side could break through for much of a fast and furious second half. The visitors were within minutes of forcing overtime when Chicago forward Ante Razov got in behind the defense to go one-on-one with Amman and put home the winning goal in the 88th minute.
Heartbreak for the Metro and its fans, but a foundation was being laid. The club won it’s first-ever playoff series, and came within minutes of an MLS Cup appearance.
2008 was the most successful season in franchise history. Led by head coach Juan Carlos Osorio, the Red Bulls experienced an up and down regular season with constant changes in the squad. Despite the departures of Jozy Altidore and the midseason retirement of Claudio Reyna, the new signings of Jorge Rojas, Juan Pietravallo, and Gabriel Cichero boosted the squad.
Although they struggled down the stretch, the Red Bulls clinched a playoff berth in the Western Conference bracket with a 10-11-9 record.
Their first challenge came in the Quarterfinals when they faced the two-time defending champion Houston Dynamo. New York managed to hold the Dynamo at home, drawing 1-1 at Giants Stadium, but stunned the defending champions in Houston, routing them 3-0 in the second leg.
The victory sent the Red Bulls into their second ever Conference Finals where they would meet Real Salt Lake. The match was held in a frigid Rio Tinto Stadium on November 15. Juan Carlos Osorio started a very similar squad to the one that defeated Houston. New York struck early when John Wolyniec beat Salt Lake defender Jamison Olave and cut a threatening cross into the middle. Nick Rimando got a touch on the ball, but an unmarked Dave van den Bergh buried the Red Bulls’ lone goal in the 28th minute. Goalkeeper Danny Cepero earned the shutout and the underdog New York Red Bulls clinched the Western Conference Championship.
The Red Bulls, playing in their first ever MLS Cup Final, met the Columbus Crew at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, California. Columbus struck first in the 31st minute, a lead they would take into halftime. In the 51st minute John Wolyniec received a pass from Dane Richards in the penalty area which he would poke into the back of the net. The equalizer was short-lived however, and Columbus would score twice more to win the MLS Cup.
Now fast-forward to 2014. In an otherwise up and down season, veteran Thierry Henry and MLS Golden Boot winner Bradley Wright-Phillips were consistent performers for the squad. Henry recorded 14 assists on the year while Wright-Phillips, once jeered by fans for his poor form, silenced the doubters with an MVP-caliber season by tying the MLS single-season goal scoring record of 27.
New York entered the MLS Cup Playoffs on October 30th against defending champions Sporting Kansas City in a win-or-go-home match at Red Bull Arena. Despite falling behind by one goal, Wright-Phillips tied the match 1-1 and scored a dramatic 90th minute game-winning goal, once again from BWP. As they did in the 2008 postseason campaign, the Red Bulls had dispatched of the defending MLS Cup champions.
New York hosted the first leg of the Conference Semifinals against Atlantic Cup rivals D.C. United only four days after their historic comeback win in the Knockout round versus Sporting KC. The Red Bulls showed no signs of fatigue as they outplayed and overwhelmed United in a 2-0 victory. The second leg at RFK Stadium would prove to be a more difficult task, but Peguy Luyindula’s breakthrough away goal in the 57th minute pushed New York over the edge and into the Conference Finals where they will face the New England Revolution.
Now, less than 48 hours from kickoff in the Eastern Conference Finals, the two previous trips loom large over Red Bull Arena. All of the feats of those teams, all the successes and failures were building blocks. They serve as milestones in the club’s history – reminders of how difficult it is to advance this far, and signs of progress. The 2000 Metrostars returned from a poor season and were supposed to be a work in progress for the future. The 2008 Red Bulls were a group of new signings that came together as a team to make an impressive playoff run.
Now the feel is different.
The 2014 squad consists of familiar faces a year removed from raising the Supporters’ Shield. Thierry Henry, in his fifth season with the team, is the clear leader both on the field and off. Bradley Wright-Phillips has a combined 30 goals in 2014. The team is undefeated at home in the playoffs and hosts a Revolution team they’ve defeated twice this year.
Is this finally the year? Tune in and find out.
The New York Red Bulls face the New England Revolution in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday, November 23 at Red Bull Arena at 1:30 p.m. ET (TV: NBC).
