Without a playoff berth or a position in the Eastern Conference table at stake on Thursday, the New York Red Bulls instead used their final regular-season match as a dress rehearsal for the postseason.
And following the Red Bulls' 1-1 tie with the Los Angeles Galaxy, the club enters the MLS Cup Playoffs ready for the show.
"There's always work to be done but you definitely feel confident," Red Bulls forward John Wolyniec said. "We looked at the last two games as kind of a playoff series in itself. To get a win and a tie, that would be good enough to advance. We feel pretty good about ourselves and we're excited to get going."
If the Red Bulls can repeat their last two results -- a 2-1 home win and a 1-1 away draw -- the club will play in the Eastern Conference Championship. The Red Bulls will play host to New England in the first leg of the conference semifinals on Oct. 27 and will play at the Revs on Nov. 3.
With their regular season complete, the Red Bulls need only focus on improving their health, striker Jozy Altidore said.
"We just need to get everybody healthy," said Altidore, who accounted for the Red Bulls goal. "We had a group of guys who didn't make the trip because of injury. We just need to get healthy, get a good week of training and the sky is the limit for this squad."
Among the players who did not make the trip were captain Claudio Reyna and forward Francis Doe. Without the pair, the Red Bulls still dictated terms against a Galaxy side with everything to play for.
The atmosphere seemed to go against the Red Bulls from the start. Galaxy legend Cobi Jones was set to play in his final regular-season home game. David Beckham was in uniform and seemed fit enough to appear as a substitute at least and the 27,000-seat stadium was sold out.
Instead, it was the Red Bulls who set out as the more determined side.
"We knew that it was going to be a lot going on today and they were going to be a desperate team, a team that needed points," Wolyniec said. "We just looked at it as ... preparation for the playoffs. We knew it was going to be a hostile environment and just tried to put our best effort out there to get points."
The Red Bulls put some early pressure on the Galaxy and took the hosts off their rhythm.
"We wanted to really just come out and win this game. We wanted to treat it as if it was the playoffs," Altidore said. "We had a home game against Kansas City and an away game so it was a perfect scenario. We played the game and it was really in our hands to totally finish them off."
However, despite the early domination, it was the Galaxy who went up a goal. Landon Donovan whipped a cross into the penalty area and Galaxy defender Troy Roberts powered a header past goalkeeper Jon Conway.
But the Red Bulls didn't exactly hang their heads. Almost immediately from the kickoff, Dave Van Den Bergh sent a cross from the left flank to the front of the goal and Altidore redirected the ball into the back of the net.
The goal served as vindication for the first 14 minutes, Wolyniec said.
"There was a good feeling in the group that we had taken to them the first couple minutes of the game and that goal kind of came against the flow of play. We knew that we just had to go right back at them and we put together a really nice goal and kind of took the momentum back instantly which is what we really needed to do especially on the road because if you're chasing the game against a team like the Galaxy, it's tough," Wolyniec said.
Meanwhile, Altidore felt his side earned the goal.
"It's important," Altidore said "You learn growing up that teams are most fortunate after scoring and at the end of the half. We played good soccer on that play and we deserved the goal."
Beckham eventually got in the game but his rust was evident. He took five corner kicks after coming on for Peter Vagenas in the 68th minute but the set piece attempts got progressively worse.
Altidore nearly bagged a late winner when he slipped into the penalty area and pushed a shot just wide of the far post from 14 yards out.
Ultimately, the Red Bulls took a point back home and damaged the Galaxy's playoff chances in the process as L.A. now needs a win in Chicago and some help to reach the postseason.
"We got one point," Wolyniec said. "Maybe we deserved a little bit more, maybe it was a fair result but our effort was pretty good tonight."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
