Red Bulls cause first playoff shock: “We just have to believe”

It took a week. But the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs have now delivered one of the surprising results that make them such a captivating fall spectacle.

There were plenty of reasons to discount the New York Red Bulls' prospects in the countdown to the best-of-three first-round series against the Columbus Crew. RBNY entered the postseason as one of the league's coldest teams, winning just two of its last 16 games in MLS and the League Cup. They had lost both meetings with the Crew in 2024, with the defending champions scoring three goals in both cases, most recently a 3-2 win at Red Bull Arena on decider day.

A familiar refrain had already begun: RBNY's lack of determination to take the next step as a club and lack of ambition in the summer transfer window was certainly a prelude to another playoff appearance.

However, Emil Forsberg and his teammates saw it differently. And head coach Sandro Schwarz had a plan.

“OK, we’re playing Columbus. It's a good team, but fuck it, we can win. Why can’t we?” the Swedish Designated Player told AMNY this week. “We have a fantastic team, fantastic coaches. We just have to believe.”

And so it was on Tuesday night at Lower.com Field, where a tactical masterstroke from Schwarz set the stage for a major upset – and an opportunistic early set-piece goal from summer signing Felipe Carballo, combined with an excellent shot stop from Carlos Coronel, delivered it .

A formation adjustment (RBNY featured a rare 3-5-2/5-3-2 formation) and a clever mix of high pressing and deep defending frustrated the team on their own field and led to a stunning 1-0 win, which will leave Columbus fighting for his life in enemy territory next weekend.

“I would say that we defend very well most of the time, that we find a good transition to be aggressive in the pressing and find the right moments. And that’s the main aspect when we look at the difference from last week’s game – finding the right moment for our pressing and not just staying in a deep block,” Schwarz explained in his post-match press conference. “We wanted to play very dominantly against the ball.

“And then we had some moments where we defended deep, but all together. That's the key, when you play against such a good team, especially in possession, then it's the key that you have to do everything together against the ball. If you do it alone and as a single player, it's very difficult. And yes, today was good.”

The Red Bulls had not conceded a goal in a league game since July 6th, over a period of twelve games. The well-playing Columbus was only suspended five times in 34 league games. An observer would hardly have suspected this, as the central midfield pair of Carballo and Daniel Edelman relentlessly pursued and harassed their teammates, while Lewis Morgan provided an important outlet with endless work up front.

Carballo's quick reaction to a Dylan Nealis header from a corner in the 25th minute proved he won the game, a timely moment for his first goal contribution at his new club, but just one element of his contributions.

“(He has) great experience and he showed that on the pitch today,” Schwarz said of the Uruguayan. “Very intense with Danny Edelman, both (No.) 6 positions, to be very aggressive and also find the right moment when we need to attack or stay in our block. And on top of that, he scored. So it’s a very good moment for the first goal in the first playoff game and it’s a very important player for us.”

Meanwhile, Coronel shook off both the individual and collective struggles of the last few months with perhaps his best performance in the RBNY colors, a man-of-the-match performance highlighted by a direct save deep from DeJuan Jones at the back post became the second half.

“The whole team is giving their best in this game today and we are investing a lot too, we had a great week before this game,” Coronel said after the game. “I think we played the 90 minutes with great concentration because we know all the mistakes against these teams, they have the quality to score a goal. And I think that was the big key today, how we play together, the focus and also the communication on the field.

“I think I wasn't at my best before the playoffs,” the Paraguay international added, “and this week I worked really, really hard and that was also the key for me to help my team today and then. “Of course I am very happy with my performance, but we know that this is only the first step. We have another big game on Sunday.”

Team boss Wilfried Nancy remained calm afterward, defending his team's performance and urging them to “accept this challenge” that an away win is needed to take the series to a third game when they play on Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET |. MLS Season Pass) meet again).

“We had many, many chances, so we should score at least one goal. I don't forget that they are behind too, it was clear that they might (still) be able to score a goal, but I think we can score at least one goal; After that we’ll see,” said the Frenchman. “We attacked the penalty area, they defended well. I think the ending could have been better in some moments.

“They're all competitors and that's why I told them to stay calm because of course we wanted to win and if we don't win we'll all be disappointed,” he added of his team's reactions to the result. “I don't think I'll sleep, I'll think about the game. It's normal. So the idea is: it's football. It's football. And I insist again that we played a good game. Now we have to adjust some things, but we were missing a goal and we will try to do well there.”