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Now, they will need a historical
comeback in the second leg of the total-goals Eastern Conference
final against Atlanta United on Thursday to continue their
season.
New York enters the match at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J.,
down 3-0 after Atlanta's home victory on Sunday.
Atlanta is the fifth team to hold a three-goal lead after first
leg since the aggregate series was introduced to the MLS
playoffs in 2003. All four previous teams advanced to the next
round.
"We can't take our foot off the gas. We can't go up there and
just defend for 90 minutes," Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan said.
If Atlanta scores an away goal, the Red Bulls would need to
score four goals to send the series to extra time and five to
win it outright.
"We understand that we don't have to go win the game 2-0, 3-0,"
Atlanta captain Michael Parkhurst said. "If we get an away goal,
it's big, but first and foremost, of course, we need to keep
them off the scoreboard."
New York hopes to replicate the Eastern Conference semifinal
when the Columbus Crew won 1-0 at home before the Red Bulls took
the series with a 3-0 victory on their field.
"We put ourselves in a hole, but we came out of a series where
we scored three in our building," Red Bulls coach Chris Armas
said. "That is the goal. That's the starting point. We will
score the first goal, and the rest will follow. ... We are going
to go home, and we are going to get it done."
The series winner hosts the MLS Cup on Dec. 8 against the
Western Conference champ, either Sporting Kansas City or
Portland.
--Field Level Media
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