FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – In a match that head coach Jay Heaps likened to a heavyweight fight, it was his New England Revolution that strapped on the title on Saturday night after withstanding a flurry of blows from the New York Red Bulls.
Despite coming into Saturday’s second leg of the Eastern Conference Championship with a 2-1 advantage on aggregate goals, the Revs were forced to absorb some vicious gut punches, but came out standing tall with a ticket to MLS Cup 2014 thanks to another show of resolve after a 2-2 draw.
“In the end, we didn’t follow exactly what we wanted to do,” Heaps said. “But I really like the way we responded. It shows a lot of hunger in our guys and we’re excited to be able to get through.”
Playing in place of Budweiser Golden Boot winner Bradley Wright-Phillips, who was serving a yellow card accumulation suspension, Tim Cahill made his presence felt early for New York.
After a few warning shots, the Aussie hit the back of the net in the 26th minute after expertly bringing down a Thierry Henry offering in the box and flicking it past goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth for a 1-0 lead.
The Revs still held the advantage with their two away goals from Leg 1, but they were up against the ropes for a sustained period following the Cahill strike.
“It looked like we had the first goal handled and then Tim Cahill got his foot in and scored a big goal,” said Heaps. “It’s who he is. You could tell how he celebrated, how the group went with him. They really rallied around Cahill.”
Although they were on their heels, the Revs were able to respond before the halftime bell, implementing a bit of sweet science off of a short corner kick routine which was hammered out during the week of training.
From the left side Chris Tierney delivered the final ball into the box where Charlie Davies finished with a header in traffic.
“We were bending,” Heaps said. “Then we started to get a bit more of the game after that and then I liked we were able to get a set-piece goal. That was something we worked on all week, that exact play.”
But New York scored again shortly after the start of the second half, erasing the Revs' first-leg aggregate advantage thanks to a Peguy Luyindula strike in the 52nd minute, which set up a potential extratime scenario.
Yet the Revs had more fight in them and in the 70th minute it was again the 1-2 combo of Tierney and Davies who hooked up on what turned out to be the series clincher and ultimate knockout blow.
“It was dicey,” Tierney said. “We found ways to just grind it out. We just manned up and won battles, fought and scrapped and that’s the way you get results in the league. We’re just excited to have the opportunity to play in a final.”
Craig Forde covers the New England Revolution for MLSsoccer.com.
