Youri Djorkaeff's mother, father and two brothers -- for what could have been the final game of the French World Cup champion's storied 22-year professional career.
Djorkaeff was honored before the game with a video tribute on the stadium's Jumbotron screens. A loss or even a tie and the New York Red Bulls season, and Djorkaeff's career, would be over.
There was only one problem: Djorkaeff knew this wasn't the end.
"No, because I was really confident with the team," Djorkaeff said when asked if he was treating the Red Bulls' season finale as his last game. "I was sure we would win this game."
Djorkaeff will play at least two more games and he has Amado Guevara to thank for that. The Red Bulls captain scored a hat trick, including two goals from the penalty spot, as the Red Bulls rallied from an early deficit to beat the Kansas City Wizards 3-2 at Giants Stadium on Saturday night.
The Red Bulls advance to play rival D.C. United in the opening leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals next Saturday at 2 p.m. ET at Giants Stadium. The second leg is Oct. 29 at RFK Stadium at 6 p.m. ET.
"Great, it was great," Djorkaeff said of Guevara's play of late. "Right now, four, five games, he's raised his level of play and that's what we need. He scored three nice goals and the third goal, it was very beautiful."
Red Bulls boss Bruce Arena calls Guevara "probably the best player in this league in taking penalty kicks." So when referee Ricardo Salazar twice pointed to the spot, the first time for Ryan Raybould taking down Chris Henderson on the half hour and the second time for Jose Burciaga, Jr. pushing down Marvell Wynne in the 60th minute, Arena knew exactly who would take the kicks.
Both times Guevara pushed the ball to the right of K.C. goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi. He is 4-for-4 from the spot this year and has converted 15-of-17 in his MLS career, including eight in a row.
"If there was a third penalty, I was going to kick the ball in the same place," Guevara said through a translator. "Because when you are on the spot, you have to trust yourself, you have to be confident. My only objective is when I am in front of the ball and take a penalty, it's to score a goal."
Guevara wasn't done there. He punched the Red Bulls' playoff ticket in the 75th minute, beating Oshoniyi low to the keeper's left from 24 yards out.
"He played very well," Arena said of Guevara. "I think his ability to hold the ball up combined with his passing, combining that with Youri makes us a little different, because we certainly have not been the best passing team."
The Red Bulls haven't been the best team, period. But they were good enough to beat out the Wizards for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot for a second consecutive year. And now they'll again go into the Eastern Conference Semifinals as a heavy underdog, just as they did last year against New England.
But this time they face D.C. United, the best team in MLS.
"I think it's an important step that we're in the playoffs, but I don't think this is the way we want to be satisfied," Arena said. "But, I think over the last three or four weeks we knew what we had to do, and we did it. That is a real positive."
Added Guevara: "I really feel happy not only for me, but all of my teammates deserve it too. Also, the coaching staff is part of this win and success and now we are where we want to be. We now have to start from scratch -- a new part of this championship."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
