“When Thierry gets it I just know, get in a cut back area.” – Bradley Wright-Phillips
The fourth seed New York Red Bulls faced the first challenge of their 2014 MLS Cup campaign on October 30 against Sporting Kansas City in the Knockout round.
The match was held at Red Bull Arena and the record was infamous: 0-6-2 in their last eight home playoff matches.
Consider the playoff demon exorcised.
However, it was Sporting KC that would strike first. A forced a turnover at midfield in the 53rd minute sparked a counter-attack and Benny Feilhaber found a speeding Dom Dwyer inside the penalty box. Dwyer slammed his shot into the back of the net and the defending champions grabbed a one goal lead. For New York fans, it was an uncomfortable moment of déjà vu.
But the Red Bulls had no plans of seeing their playoff run cut short.
Finally in the 77th minute, a Peguy Luyindula through ball found an open Thierry Henry sprinting into the penalty area.
“When Thierry gets it I just know, get in a cut back area,” Wright-Phillips said. “It was just taking a chance on a good play from Thierry and Peguy.”
Henry spotted the chance to hit the cut back pass and found MLS’ Golden Boot winner unmarked.
“I wanted to get a bit of power on it,” Wright-Phillips said. “I really had to dive for it because the ball was kind of in front of me.”
Wright-Phillips lunged forward and stabbed his low shot into the far corner, just out of the reach of a diving Eric Kronberg. As the ball rippled the back of the net, Red Bull Arena erupted in euphoria.
The equalizer tied the game at 1-1 and shifted the momentum in New York’s favor heading into an important final stretch of the match.
NY: 77’ Bradley Wright-Phillips. Assisted By: Thierry Henry, Peguy Luyindula.
