The New York Red Bulls advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals after upsetting the reigning MLS Cup Champions Columbus Crew.
New York and Columbus finished regulation tied 2-2, with New York advancing after penalties. Carlos Coronel saved three consecutive penalties and Daniel Edelman converted to send New York through to the next round.
"It was unbelievable," Head Coach Sandro Schwarz said. "All these emotions -- yeah, it was unbelievable."
Red Bulls equalized the match in the 64th minute, when Emil Forsberg played a through ball into the path of Dante Vanzeir, who’s left-footed strike went past the Columbus goalkeeper into the bottom right corner. Columbus had scored quickly into the second half to take the lead.
New York scored their second goal of the match in the 80th minute, when Forsberg converted a penalty kick attempt in the bottom left corner.
Columbus equalized late in stoppage time to force penalties and to determine if the Red Bulls would advance or if they would need to play a third game of the series.
John Tolkin's first penalty attempt was saved, but Coronel came up big, making three-straight saves to keep New York in it.
"I must give a little credit to Ryan [Meara] and [Goalkeeper Coach] Jeremy [Proud] because this was a lot of teamwork," Coronel said. "I did not start how I wanted to, but I finished very well. We analyzed Columbus as a team together, and in the end that's what worked."
Edelman stepped up and converted to send New York through.
"I've been begging for a moment like that to redeem myself," Edelman said. "I'm a guy that -- despite the difficulty of missing the penalty versus Toronto in the Leagues Cup -- I want it. I want those moments. And it just shows I stay locked in, and I'm super proud of myself to be able to step up there and to have the team trusted me in that moment as well, to step up and bury it."
Vanzeir scored his fifth goal across all competitions for New York this season and his first career MLS Cup Playoff goal. The Belgium international has scored two goals across all competitions against Columbus.
Forsberg tallied his sixth assist across all competitions this season and his first career MLS Cup playoff assist.
The Red Bulls have advanced to the Conference Semifinals for the first time since 2018.
"This is the reason why we are doing this job every day, to train hard, to have so many video sessions to talk about the opponent and to talk about our principles," Schwarz said. "But these are the days. I'm so happy to see all these faces. Yeah, it's very emotional from my side as well and I'm very happy, I'm very proud and I love -- I will never forget for sure this day and the best messages, and I said this directly to our group is that the season is not over. That's the best message today."
The Red Bulls will face the winner of FC Cincinnati and New York City FC in the next round of the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.
"I think we showed a lot of the quality that we have, since we beat Columbus, after being last year's MLS Cup Winner and the League's Cup Winner," Coronel said. "We showed today what we can do in this league, and this gives us big confidence for the next game. We work and we stay calm for the next opponent as we start our preparation for the Semifinal."
