– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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HARRISON, NEW JERSEY — The New York Red Bulls’ pursuit of winning their first-ever MLS Cup may end up for naught once again in 2024, but, at the very least, they made sure that there will be a new champion in the league after one of the most stirring wins in franchise history — let alone one of the biggest upsets in Major League Soccer history.
Carlos Coronel made three consecutive saves in the penalty shootout that eventually led to Daniel Edelman’s game-winning strike from the spot as the No. 7 seeded Red Bulls, after a 2-2 draw in normal time, ousted the No. 2 seed and defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew out of the playoffs with a 5-4 win on penalties. Second-half goals from Lewis Morgan and Emil Forsberg, the latter on a penalty that he won, completed the comeback from a one-goal halftime deficit. Yet Christian Ramirez’s headed goal in the sixth minute of second-half injury time set up the dramatics that ensued in the penalty shootout.
At least the Red Bulls had wiggle room going into tonight after a surprise 1-0 win against the Crew in Columbus on Tuesday, and knowing that they had nothing to lose against one of the top teams in the league lifted some of the pressure off the Red Bulls, along with New York’s performance in a 3-2 defeat to Columbus on the final day of the season.
“I think that definitely helped us, the notion of us being the underdog team,” said the homegrown midfielder Edelman, who scored the winning penalty. “Columbus is an excellent squad and the best in the league, and we really stuck to our tactics and believed in our philosophy and the culture that we built throughout the whole year to have a performance like that.
“They’re such a tough opponent. They have so many skillful players. And I think on the day and in this series, we really just fought and won those little moments that really built up over time.”
Columbus was one kick away from forcing a Game 3, that after the Red Bulls’ John Tolkin missed the first penalty of the shootout and Columbus subsequently converted their first four attempts. Yevhen Cheberko had the opportunity to win the game for the Crew but was denied by Coronel, who dove to his left to stop the left-footed effort.
Forsberg then again was money from the spot, burying the ensuing kick to force extra rounds.
Coronel proved to be impenetrable in the additional rounds, stopping both Max Arfsten and Alexandru Matan to give New York two tries to advance. Edelman, after Sean Nealis was denied on te first game-winning attempt, slotted home the decisive spot kick into the top right corner.
“Just an unfortunate way for a season to end, considering all the things that we did this year,” Columbus captain and midfielder Darlington Nagbe said. “You look at last year, winning the [MLS] Cup and then we had two finals this year, losing one and winning one. Just a lot of great things happened this year … the club is going to grow from this, the players are going to grow from this and individuals are going to grow from this, the young guys especially.
“Proud of all of them. Proud of everyone that stepped up and played a part in the season. Definitely good things to look forward to.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Danny Suriel. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 22 pictures in total.
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