When the New York Red Bulls signed Emil Forsberg and Lewis Morgan, while also naming Sandro Schwarz Head Coach there was a ton of hope and buzz and optimism that surrounded the team.
All throughout the 2024 season the guys showed the quality and calibur of play that they could potentially have, and then just when they needed it the most started putting on clutch performance after clutch performance to get to the MLS Cup Playoffs.
It was when the slate was wiped clean and things began fresh was when the guys had the best performances, as they knocked off the Columbus Crew first, then Metro Area Rivals NYCFC next to set the stage for an epic clash against Orlando that took place on Saturday.
In front of an arena full of packed fans of both Red and Purple, both the Red Bulls and Orlando put on one heck of a match to determine the reprentative of the East.
At the conclusion of it all it is the New York Red Bulls, the underdogs of the MLS Cup Playoffs heading to California to see if they can wrap up the storybook ending in of all places ironically in a place that is close to Hollywood and a place where feel good stories come to life.
Scoring the lone goal for the Red Bulls is Andres Reyes as he had a tremendous assist from John Tolkin in the 46′.
Reyes’ scoring his first MLS Cup Playoff match and the second in the season across all competitions, became the third defender in the history of the Red Bulls Organization to score a goal in the playoffs.
Carlos Coronel etching his name as one of the top goaltenders in the MLS Cup Playoffs made some tremendous saves during the team’s shutout of Orlando.
Some other impressive stats compliments of the Red Bulls PR Department is the fact that Coach Schwartz is the 12th coach in MLS history to lead a team to the MLS Cup to the first season in charge. Schwarz becomes the fifth since 2004 to accomplish the feat and the fourth Eastern Conference Coach.
With the assist in the match Tolkin recorded his third career MLS playoff assist, and the 17th assists across all competitions. Tolkin now ranks tied for fourth in franchise history for most playoff assists by a Red Bulls player.
Up next is going to be an epic clash between the Red Bulls and the LA Galaxy as these are two MLS teams with plenty of history to back up a claim a spot in the finals.
The Red Bulls overall won three Supporters’ Shields and making 15 appearances in the MLS Cup Playoffs are going up against an LA Galaxy team going for a possible sixth MLS Cup Title after the franchises victory against the Seattle Sounders.
Leading the way in the Galaxy victory was Dejan Joveljić goal in the 85th minute. Overall Joveljić leads the scoring with 20, while Pec follows with 19.
There is going to be a ton of excitement and anticipation that is building to the MLS Cup Championship match between the Galaxy and the Red Bulls to be played at Dignity Health Sports Park on 12/7 with the match to be played at 4:00 p.m.
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