The New York Red Bulls scored two second half goals as they battled back against the Columbus Crew on Saturday night at Red Bull Arena.
Columbus scored a stoppage time goal to take the three points, 3-2.
New York and Columbus are set to face off in Round One of the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs, with dates and times to be determined.
Emil Forsberg scored both goals for New York, one from the run of play and one from the spot.
Columbus opened the scoring in the 2nd minute when forward Cucho Hernandez whipped in a cross in between New York’s center backs to midfielder Aziel Jackson who headed the ball into the bottom right corner.
The Crew struck again in the 14th minute as Jackson sent a driven pass to the feet of defender Yevhen Cheberko who laced a shot into the bottom right corner.
New York would bounce back in the 78th minute, when Lewis Morgan drove at a Columbus defender and slipped a pass through to midfielder Forsberg who faked a right footed shot, carried the ball onto his left foot and curled a shot into the top left corner.
New York would level the scoring in the 87th minute when forward Elias Manoel was dragged to the ground by a Columbus defender to win a penalty kick. Forsberg stepped up and placed his penalty kick into the bottom right corner of the net.
The match was decided in the 90+7th minute when Columbus midfielder Dylan Chambost centered a pass onto the top of the box that was smashed into the bottom right corner by defender Malte Amundsen.
"I know the last weeks, especially after Leagues Cup, it was not the best," Head Coach Sandro Schwarz said. "But for me, it was then, the situation now, today to see the second half, to feel the second half with the whole team and the whole staff, and now it's our job to be ready for the first game in Columbus. New competition. All the guys told me, it was my first experience with these playoffs but all the guys told me, okay, it's now a new competition. That's good. Now the competition is against a good team, but I'm sure, and Columbus knows as well, that they know, okay, we are also a good team, a strong team when we showed our whole quality on the pitch."
Forsberg tallied his second career MLS brace. The Swedish midfielder has the second most goals for New York this season with a total of nine.
"In the second half, I think we came out really, really good," Forsberg said. "I think we were dangerous. We heard them and we created chances, and we showed them and ourselves what we can do when we play with that kind of intensity, and that we're a really good team where we do that and that we can hurt them. So I think we have a lot to take with us for the playoffs."
Morgan dished out his seventh assist of the season and third in his last three appearances. Morgan earned his 20th goal contribution on the year which is the most single-season goal contributions in his career.
New York will travel to Lower.com Field to face off against Columbus Crew in the first match of Round One of the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs Best-of-Three series with dates and times to be announced. Coverage of the match will be on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV in English and Spanish and New York Red Bulls Radio in English via the New York Red Bulls app and NewYorkRedBulls.com.
Round One kicks off in a few short weeks and you can secure your tickets now to cheer the New York Red Bulls.
