New York clinched their 12th consecutive postseason appearance, which is the longest streak of any New York metro area sports team and is the second longest active streak in Major League Soccer. Â
"The feeling right now, the mood in the dressing room is on an outstanding level," Head Coach Gerhard Struber said.Â
After starting the season with a 1-8-2 record on the road, New York earned a mark of 4-1-1 in their final six road matches while outscoring their opponents, 9-3, in those matches.Â
"I am very happy, and I am very proud of the way we go with this season and right now, we stay in the playoffs," Struber said. "This was the goal over the whole season, and we realize this on the last gameday, and the feeling is outstanding today. With me and with my whole team, we will celebrate that and looking forward in the playoffs."
Fabio scored in the first minute of the match for his seventh goal of the season, which ranks second on the club. His goal of 35 seconds is the quickest goal scored for New York this season.Â
"It was an important goal, an early one," Cristian Cásseres Jr. said. "You know, it gave us a lot of confidence early on and of course, it was an important goal because it got us our ticket to the playoffs and now, you know, that is something that we really wanted."
Cásseres, Jr. tallied his fourth assist of the season, which tied his career-high for assists. He had four assists in 2019.Â
"We just invested everything we possibly had into this final stretch," Captain Sean Davis said. "We took all the lessons that we had from half of the season, or two thirds of the season, and we just went for it, and we got result after result. We did not look back, we reset every time and credit to the staff for their belief, for staying on top of us, for creating the necessary dialogue for us to understand what we needed to do, what we were good at, our strengths and weaknesses and then instilling that belief into the rest of the group."
New York was all but buried after a tough summer, but rallied back to drop just one result from their last dozen matches -- and now find themselves back in the postseason.
"I am fortunate to play for this club and to play in a club with such high standards and so, that is why when results were not going our way, it was a difficult moment, for the team, for me individually, and it was just about reminding everyone here, the coaching staff, the players, what the standard is at this club, and that is at least making the playoffs and ultimately going for MLS Cup," Davis said. "That is the bare minimum and so it was important to have that conversation. I mean, we talked about it so many times this season, in so many different parts of the facility, on the road, I mean it was just a lot of honest dialogue and ultimately it is just about protecting the culture."
New York will head on the road to face the Philadelphia Union in the first round of the 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs, with a date and time to be announced.
"It is up to us to make it even more memorable and again, do well in the playoffs and see how far we can take this because it is a special group," Davis said. "I think we can really go for MLS Cup."
