Oh, how the mighty have fallen. A year ago at this time we were talking about Sporting Kansas City and the New York Red Bulls being the top teams in the Eastern Conference. In fact, they had finished with the top two point totals in the league. Sporting Kansas City, of course, went on to win MLS Cup, while the Red Bulls fell in the conference semifinals to the Houston Dynamo after winning the Supporters' Shield.
New York Red Bulls vs. Sporting KC, 2014 MLS Playoffs: The mighty fell
These were the top two regular-season teams in MLS last year.
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
One of them won't even get that far this year, as they'll be meeting in Thursday's Knockout Round match for the right to face D.C. United.
Neither team was really in much danger of missing the playoffs, but neither is likely happy with the fact that they are playing in this game.
Sporting KC’s struggles, though, have been more pronounced. The last time they won two straight games was back in late July and the most points they’ve claimed in any four games since then is four. In their last 10 games of the regular season, KC went 2-7-1, by far the worst close of any playoff team. During that time, they were outscored 18-12.
It was a remarkable collapse, especially considering KC was contending for the Shield and had allowed just 23 goals in their first 24 matches.
What happened? Injuries and absences basically caught up to them. They lost right back Chance Myers to injury early in the season, sold midfielder Uri Rosell over the summer and midfielder Jacob Peterson missed a bunch of time with injury. That all of these players were key components of Peter Vermes' high-pressure 4-3-3 clearly had an effect.
The Red Bulls’ problems are a little harder to pin down. After bringing back most of the same players that led them to their first trophy in franchise history, New York just never found its groove. Although they went a perfectly respectable 9-4-4 during the second half of the season, they also never won more than two straight. It was almost literally two steps forward, one step back all year.
They did, however, go 6-2-1 down the stretch, including a 2-0 win over Sporting KC on the road in the season finale. Bradley Wright-Phillips scored both goals in that game, allowing him to tie the MLS single-season goals record. They also still have Thierry Henry, who put together another fabulous season when he was inclined to.
Looking at their roster, it’s hard not to feel as though they should simply be better than they have been. Maybe this is the week they put it together.
Team News
Henry sat out the season finale with a nagging Achilles injury. The injury has been a persistent issue for several years and has kept it out of matches at various times. It really started to act up a couple weeks ago against the Columbus Crew, so the Red Bulls held him out last week with the hope he'd be ready to go on Thursday. Being as this could be his last game in a Red Bulls uniform, you have to think he'll play. How effective he can be, though, is obviously a question.
Projected lineups
New York Red Bulls (4-2-3-1): Luis Robles; Roy Miller, Ibrahim Sekagya, Jamison Olave, Richard Eckersley; Dax McCarty, Eric Alexander; Thierry Henry, Tim Cahill, Lloyd Sam; Bradley Wright-Phillips.
Sporting KC (4-3-3): Eric Kronberg; Igor Juliao, Aurilien Collin, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic; Lawrence Olum, Benny Feilhaber, Paulo Nagamura; Graham Zusi, Dominic Dwyer, Antonio Dovale.
Key Questions
1. Is this Henry’s final game? Considering all the hoopla around Landon Donovan’s retirement, it’s too bad that Henry has been unwilling to commit to his future. He’s been everything the Red Bulls and MLS could have possibly hoped and deserves to be recognized. Hopefully, he’ll be healthy enough to be a difference maker and it would be nice to see him get a couple more, especially with how he’s played at times.
2. Can KC put it together? The Kansas City collapse has been brutal to watch. Not only did they slide down the MLS standings, but they also got bounced from CONCACAF Champions League. The defense has received a rightful amount of blame, but the offense hasn’t exactly been lighting it up either. Take away Dom Dwyer’s five goals and the rest of KC’s players have just seven over the past 10.
3. Who gets a shot at DC? This is maybe a bit obvious, but the winner has a date with D.C. United. As good as United was, there are still doubts as to how much longer they can keep this up. Whichever team advances should give them a good test.
Prediction
Sporting KC played really bad down the stretch. Like, really, really bad. Remember when everyone was flipping out at how bad the Sounders were down the stretch last year? Well, they went 3-4-3 over their last 10. That’s 12 points. KC claimed seven. SEVEN. The Red Bulls haven’t exactly been world beaters, but they should be able to put KC out of their misery and win 2-1.
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