VANCOUVER, B.C. – There’s something about knockout soccer that bewitches the New York Red Bulls.
No one can quite put their finger on exactly what it is that seems to stop the Red Bulls from mirroring their excellent regular-season form when it comes to the knockout stages of competitions. But you can add this year's CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals defeat to the Vancouver Whitecaps to their growing list of disappointments.
Heading in to Thursday’s quarterfinal second leg, the Red Bulls knew they had to cancel out the Whitecaps’ away goal from the first leg. But Alphonso Davies’ close-range finish knocked them off kilter just five minutes after the opening whistle, and a Fredy Montero goal 14 minutes from time killed off the tie for Vancouver, dishing out 2-0 defeat on the night and 3-1 loss on aggregate.
Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch felt his team got what they deserved.
"[Vancouver] deserved the win and to move on in many ways, because I felt that their guys were up for the challenge," Marsch said. "They fought, they battled in 50/50 [challenge]s and tackles and fouls. Listen, they made the game ugly at some points ,but they were willing to show how much they were willing to fight for every play and we didn't meet that standard enough. We let ourselves down in that way."
New York have won two Supporters’ Shields and finished atop the Eastern Conference regular-season standings five times over the years, including the past two seasons running. But the biggest trophies have escaped them, with the team continuing to struggle in the knockout stages of the MLS Cup Playoffs and tournaments like the CONCACAF Champions League.
"It's frustrating," Marsch admitted. "We've looked at that carefully. We've thought about how to get better in some of these moments. We've tried to prepare our team to be up for the challenge in the biggest games. It's been a perplexing problem that we've had as a club, but it won't deter us.
"We'll keep finding ways to get better and get stronger. Everyone's putting so much in to it to try and figure out how to get this club over the hump. I feel that if one domino falls, a lot of others can start to move with it. These moments are hard to swallow, they are, but you have to find a way to be very resilient in this business and be strong when things are the toughest."
Marsch is hoping the Red Bulls can use these two matches against the Whitecaps to hit the ground running when their MLS season gets underway on Sunday at Atlanta United (7:30 pm ET | FS1 in US, MLS LIVE in Canada).
"It's great to play meaningful games before the season starts in terms of being prepared for the season," Marsch said. "We've got a tough turnaround. On Sunday, we've got to get back across country to play in a game that the Atlanta franchise is really excited about.
"But having two really competitive games under our belt will make us better for the start of the year, and I hope we learn from these experiences and [are] more prepared for what real games look like."
