Only One Football

The sub-.500 New York Red Bulls pulled off a major upset in the MLS playoffs today, defeating the Houston Dynamo in Houston three goals to none.  The result was so unlikely that if you were cheating at Football Manager, you’d probably have to restart the game 20 times before you got the same result.

It was also possibly the least convincing 0-3 win in the history of soccer.  While the Red Bulls looked the stronger team in the first half, it is amazing that they survived a second half avalanche of shots on goal.   Danny Cepero, their second choice goaltender who made himself famous by scoring an 80 yard goal on his debut, made acrobatic save after save to keep the clean sheet.  At times Cepero seemed to be his own worst enemy, making a handful of situations more dramatic than they needed to be, but his survival of everything and the kitchen sink being thrown at him by the Dynamo earned him a Man of the Match rating in my book.

While Dwayne DeRosario’s side might have looked the better group during the second half, the nail was hammered firmly in the coffin by Jamaican winger Dane Richards.  Richards, the other Red Bull standout in the game, looked like a poor man’s Shaun Wright-Phillips flashing past the Dynamo defense in the first half for the opening goal and creating the final goal with his speed and a simple pass to finisher John Wolyniec.

As I watched the Dynamo dominate the Red Bulls despite the score, I was reminded of yesterday’s Sunderland v Portsmouth match.  Sunderland were the better club that day but lost 1-2 on a wonder goal from Nadir Belhadj and a 90th minute penalty given away on a bonehead tackle by El Hadji Diouf.   Regardless of which continent you play your football on, having chance after chance is meaningless unless you capitalize.

The defending MLS champions are now out of the playoffs. Thanks to Major League Soccer’s wild card format, a team from New York faces Salt Lake to see which club will represent the Western Conference in the MLS Cup.  If the sub-.500 Red Bulls could hang three goals on Houston in Houston, Real Salt Lake is no sure thing to advance to the final.  What a sight it would be to see, a team with a sub-.500 regular season record winning a North American sports championship.  It will only take a few more games where the best team doesn’t win.