Fans of the New York Red Bulls piled onto a dozen buses and traveled to RFK Stadium in droves. In the past, this has always been followed by a sad, silent journey back home.
But not in 2014. Not even after Roy Miller did his best Jackie Chan, and after D.C. rolled into the attacking third again and again, and after Thierry Henry, for 89 minutes, was more "traffic cone" than "all-time great."
2014 is going by a different script. Yeah, New York lost 2-1 on the day. But they advanced 3-2 in a series that never felt that close, and truly finished thanks to the one moment when Henry reminded everyone who the best player on the field was.
Here are three things I saw from this one:
1. Espindola makes up the numbers
It was predictable that United, who needed a win and were playing at home, would come out and control the game. What wasn't quite as predictable was how they'd go about doing it.
There were two big changes, one which begat the other. First, Chris Rolfe came in from the start for Eddie Johnson; and second, that allowed Fabian Espindola to drop deep in a completely free role. The Argentine wears No. 9, but in this one he was almost a true No. 10, doubling his usage rate from Leg 1 and creating a boatload of chances:
Espindola had stayed higher in the first leg, which allowed New York to overwhelm the United central midfield and control the vast majority of the game. This time it was Rolfe who stayed high, moving incisively through the larger, slower Red Bulls defenders, and freeing up space for Espindola.
He used it well:
His movement allowed both Nick DeLeon (who got the goal) and Chris Pontius to go directly into the box, sowing confusion in the New York defense.
It worked. It was a really good gameplan.
2. Protecting the pocket
Henry had eviscerated D.C. in the first leg by controlling the game from the "pocket" on the left-hand side of the field, that area where it's not clear whether the fullback, the d-mid or a central defender is supposed to shadow him. United coach Ben Olsen clearly gameplanned to make sure there would be no reprise, as Henry's touch map on the day shows:
That's seven touches on the left, an incredibly low number for Henry and testament to yet more good gameplanning and execution from United.
Part of this was simply the benefit of having veteran Sean Franklin back and ready to go, but defense is always, always a team effort. D.C.'s success - and yeah, holding RBNY to only one really good chance has to count as "defensive success" - came from a much more active and aggressive midfield, one that shut down New York's quick outlets and refused to let them get into transition.
New York never got out on the run in this one, which is why Henry had such a tough time getting the ball in dangerous spots.
Until he didn't.
3. Spread the field and find the gap
If directive No. 1 from Olsen was "press high and don't let New York get out on the run," then directive No. 2 was "keep the field compact."
The Red Bulls, in the regular season, connected on 57.9 percent of their long-balls, which was good for third in the league. Those aren't hopeless balls over the top, for the most part, but big, field-switching diagonals that can create semi-transition moments and give Henry on one side, and Lloyd Sam on the other, room to attack either in isolation or against a defense that's having to slide into place and reset itself.
D.C. held RBNY to a season-low 44.6 percent completion rate on long-balls. Stopping "most" isn't the same thing as stopping "all", though, and one of those successful, field-opening diagonals started this play:
That was Dax McCarty's only completed long-ball of the day. It was Bradley Wright-Phillips' only successful knock-down. And it was Henry's only chance to go at Franklin in isolation.
Because of the away goals rule, RBNY could play for that one special moment. It didn't really matter that Henry, who's been so brilliant for the past two months, was mostly non-existent at RFK. The one moment he did most definitely exist gave New York all the padding they needed, and now they're into the Eastern Conference championship for the first time since 2008.
