Frustration had been building toward quite the crescendo for New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel.
In Game 2 of his side’s first-round playoff series against the Columbus Crew on Sunday night at Red Bull Arena, hopes of a regular-time victory that would have punched New York’s ticket to the Eastern Conference semifinals via a massive upset evaporated in the sixth minute of stoppage time in the second half when Christian Ramirez’s header off a corner sailed over Coronel’s outstretched hands and into the net, tying the game at two apiece.
Going directly to a penalty shootout, Coronel was then unable to save each of the Crew’s first four spot kicks while defender John Tolkin missed New York’s second attempt. One more conversion by the reigning MLS champions would force a Game 3 and send things back to Columbus, where the Red Bulls’ hopes of an upset could very well have been snuffed out.
“I started very frustrated,” Coronel said. “I was not going to the right corners.”
But then it all came together.
Yevhen Cheberko tried to go to Coronel’s left, but the Red Bulls’ keeper parried it away. Emil Forsberg, who gave New York a second-half lead from the penalty spot in the 80th minute, leveled the shootout moments after.
Coronel guessed right again, this time on Maximilian Arfsten, by making a lunging save to his right just inside the post.
Sean Nealis squandered the Red Bulls’ first chance to win it when his attempt was saved, but it was Coronel to the rescue again, going low to his right to deny Alexandru Matan.
“From the last three saves, we analyzed almost every play from Columbus,” Coronel said. “For sure, I must give a little credit to [our goalkeeping coaches] because this was a lot of teamwork. I did not start how I wanted to, but I finished very well. We analyzed Columbus as a team together, and in the end, that’s what worked.”
Fittingly, the ball fell to the feet of the young holding midfielder, Daniel Edelman, whose last penalty ultimately cost the Red Bulls their place in the Leagues Cup back in July when he sent a potential game-winning spot kick well over the crossbar against Toronto. The Canadian side went on to win the shootout 5-4 to eliminate the Red Bulls.
“I’ve been begging for a moment like that to redeem myself,” Edelman said. “I’m a guy that, despite the difficulty of missing the penalty versus Toronto in the Leagues Cup, I want it. I want those moments… [Coronel’s] saves were everything and so vital to like, give me confidence, and to be able to know that I have Carlos’ backing, that he’s going to make the save.”
There was no nonsense from Edelman this time around. He thumped his chance into the top-right corner of the goal to send the Red Bulls to the conference semifinals. Within seconds, his shirt was off in the corner of Red Bull Arena as he was mobbed by his teammates.
“It just shows I stay locked in, and I’m super proud of myself to be able to step up there and to have the team trust me in that moment as well, to step up and bury it,” Edelman said. “I’ll be honest. I don’t even really remember what happened [after I scored]. I think I was talking with Dennis [Gjengaar] after the game. He said it was like the head off a chicken cut loose, and that was just on one corner, and then I was on the other side of the field. Just a really special moment for me, I think, as well in a playoff game against that level of a team. After, I buried it. It was a full circle moment because I missed earlier this year, and I wanted that moment to be right there on, and I stepped up. Now it’s on to the next.”
