The hopes of the New York Red Bulls winning the MLS trophy came to an abrupt end on 3rd November last year when the lost their second leg tie to a California based team, the LA Galaxy. This was the Western Conference semifinal second leg tie in which the Californian LA Galaxy claimed a precious 2-1 win at the Home Depot Center based in Carson. This meant the LA Galaxy qualified with a 3-1 aggregate win because they had won at the Red Bull Arena in New York four days earlier.
Each team pulled on their home jerseys during that match. Unlike the ugly and hard fought match four days earlier, this game was played at a high tempo. The Red Bulls needed to win by at least a one goal margin to proceed from that match. The Red Bulls, who were staring in the face of elimination, were without one of their best defenders, Rafael Marquez who saw red during the first leg for a foul on LA Galaxy talisman, Landon Donovan.
The pressure on Red Bulls seemed to bring the best out of them. They played with passion, showing their desire to win as early as in the fourth minute. Thierry Henry gave a perfect pass to Luke Rodgers, who did some neat work, beating Josh Saunders, the LA goalkeeper, to give his team the lead and 1-1 on aggregate. The LA galaxy team was not finding their rhythm. The Red Bulls dominated the show completely until the 16 minute when Red Bull’s midfielder Teemu Tainio limped off with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Stephane Auvray.
In the second half, Luke Rodgers almost gave the Red Bulls the lead when he beat Omar Gonzalez before firing wide off the mark. Even though the Red Bulls were demonstrating massive work ethic, the Galaxy looked the team with the cohesion and experience to win the match. Things went to worse for Red Bulls when Henry saw yellow for another foul on Omar Gonzalez in the 61st minute. Galaxy got a penalty in the 73rd minute after Beckham was brought down by Roy Miller in the penalty box. Donovan converted the penalty for his team’s second and in the process became the leading play off scorer in the MLS with 18 goals. The Galaxies were now 2-1 ahead and 3-1 on aggregate.
In the final 15 minutes, the Red Bulls were at best average as their 2011 MLS season showed. Statistically, the Red Bulls were good but they could not win matches. The LA Galaxy held on to the lead in the nervy final minutes to proceed to the final. The Red Bulls hopes for silverware were ended for the second successive season by a California based team. The previous year, they lost to the San Jose Earthquakes at the same stage. This meant the Red Bull fans had to wait till 2012 to see their team in action.
