Red Bull Take Care of Toronto FC

The New York Red Bull entered the match needing yet another win in the final stretch, they will have perhaps the easiest opponent in the league not named Colorado for the task. The two teams have some history with the #RBNY holding a (5W – 0L – 3T) record in the last eight meetings between them. Earlier in the season the teams played to a 0 – 0 draw in Toronto. NY entered the match winless in their last 3 matches (1T – 2L), and Toronto entered having lost its last 15 of 16 matches.

Toronto settles in fairly quickly which is a rare sight to see, in the 17′ Daniel “Star-Lord” Edelman had to make a last-second slide tackle in the box to prevent a solid chance for Toronto just 12 yards from the left of the goal. The ball ended up going just inches shy of the 2nd post.

A few minutes later, it is captain Sean Nealis who ends a Toronto run down the right flank with players heading free into the box. Not the start the Red Bull faithful want to see with their playoff appearance streak on the line.

“I’ll actually start there with Nashville because that’s going to be something that we have to look at ourselves and say we need to have a very good defensive output in this match away from home at their place. From the standpoint that we want to try to limit them in transition, in set pieces they’re incredibly dangerous. They have great service and great targets, so we’re going to have to shore that up. And then I love the way that we’ve made opponents uncomfortable lately, you know, we aren’t allowing them to get settled in the game. So that’s the thing that I was a little bit disappointed with in the first half. Toronto was settling into the game a little too much. But more times than not lately, we’ve been on the front foot and that’s very positive.”

Troy Lesesne HC RBNY on Nashville FC match.

In the 45′ of the half Elias Manoel finds Tom Barlow’s foot and banks the ball off Barlow for the much-needed lead. This match before the goal was looking exactly like the match in Toronto earlier this season when Toronto was still hopefully of a good season with all the talent this team has. For Barlow, it is just his 3rd goal on the season and his first goal in his last 1125 minutes of MLS play at home. It was his first MLS goal overall including neutral site games in his last 1,344 minutes of play. It was his first goal in 1,704 minutes of play including Leagues Cup matches (1,605) at home during that span. It was also his third goal against Toronto in his career. Good to see Tom find the back of the net because they will need it against Nashville a team he has never scored against.

What can we say about the first half, the team was energized and playing the style they love chaos. They love to have possession and make other teams work hard to take over a match. It’s Toronto FC, not the most challenging team in the league to dominate, and yet they did struggle against them earlier in the season. It’s a style of play that needs to evolve from its dinosaur egg and hasn’t yet. There is such a thing as playing high pressure and scoring a ton of goals as well. Unfortunately, the lather is not the Red Bull’s way which is disappointing to the fans who want to see victories and goals. The building was shy of a sell-out but was a solid 90% capacity for the match. At times it got loud in the arena, even if it was largely due to the absurdly loud DJ during goal celly’s.

New York started the second half off getting a quick goal this time it was the Brazilian Luquinhas who got on the board. When the man stays on his feet, he is a dangerous player in the league, unfortunately, for Red Bull fans he prefers diving more. Which is now well known throughout Pro Referee and the league, it has cost the team many times when it comes to fouls and penalties. For Luquinhas it was just his second goal on the season in the 49′, the goal was assisted by Elias Manoel also from Brazil.

Both teams would settle in for a bit after the second goal was scored early into the second half. Luquinhas wasn’t done scoring on the night though as he netted home his third of the season for a brace in the 65′, the goal was assisted by Kyle Duncan who had himself a night tonight in front of the home crowd. It was the type of game he needed to show the front office why they should resign him in the offseason.

“I’d really like to thank our supporters. You know, tonight was our last regular season home match. And we want to recognize them and all the support that they’ve given us this year, through again, maybe the most difficult season in Red Bulls history in the last 10-12 years. But I also want to say that hopefully we’re going to provide another home match for them, and that could look like us potentially hosting a play-in match. It could look like if we progress in the first round, it’s a home and away-fixture. So, our goal is that we’re not done yet. We want to provide another home match.”

Troy Lesesne HC RBNY on club Supporters

The Red Bulls needed a fourth goal to help on decision day when it comes to goal difference a key component of the tie-breaking system. The path for the Red Bulls after this win remains the same needing a win and praying for the proper results from around the league. They still don’t have full control over their destiny and playoff streak. Toronto FC and Inter Miami are now eliminated from the playoff race. The race for the final spot is between D.C. (the league lists them as eliminated despite they hold the final playoff spot right now), NY Red Bulls, Chicago, Charlotte, and NYCFC.

The Southward following the game awarded John Tolkin with the Supporters Player of the Year Award. John was extremely emotional winning the award, you can tell it meant the world to him and he loves the Red Bull faithful.

Photo Credit: NY Red Bulls

Post-game the media spoke with Daniel Edelman about the layoff between matches and how the team stays focused on MLS decision day. “We have to keep the energy and the focus at a high right now. We can’t drop off and think that it’s a two-week break, let’s just chill out and relax. There still needs to be work done and we still need to be focused and driven and work in training on how we’re going to approach this Nashville game and things we can still tidy up. We won 3-0 tonight, but there are still things we can improve on. Maybe Toronto didn’t take advantage of a moment tonight that other teams might be able to in other moments. We’re still going to look back at the film, watch it over, and really try to just be better and get ready for Nashville.”