The New York Red Bulls pulled off a smash-and-grab 1-0 win against the reigning MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew on Tuesday night. The job isn’t done yet, though — they need one more win to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2018.
In a packed Lower.com Field, the Red Bulls learned from their mistakes 10 days earlier and pushed hard for the early goal, registering four shots until the breakthrough in the 25th minute. Columbus was unable to clear a corner, and Christian Ramirez was caught ball-watching as Felipe Carballo managed to get in front of him to volley the match-winner home.
Columbus became the first higher-seeded team to lose their opening playoff match, while Wilfried Nancy lost his opening playoff match for the first time in his MLS coaching career. The Crew, who were second-top scorers in the league this season with a club-record 72, struggled to score for the first time in eight matches.
Sandro Schwarz and his men executed their tactics to perfection, letting a Crew team who love to hold onto the ball have 73% of the possession and hitting them on the counter-attack.
“We had our moments in the transitions, and I think we could’ve scored the second goal,” Schwarz said. “In the end, it’s great to have a clean sheet against Columbus but now it’s over, the job is done. Our main focus, our clear concentration is on Sunday.”
It was a risky game plan as Columbus peppered Carlos Coronel’s goal 15 times — he had to bail his team out with eight saves, including a point-blank save to deny DeJuan Jones in the 83rd minute. It was the first time Coronel had kept a clean sheet since July in the Leagues Cup and the first time he had to make eight saves since 2021.
Defensively, Schwarz switched to a back-three of Andres Reyes and Sean and Dylan Nealis, and it paid off for the first time this season as the Red Bulls went man-for-man across the pitch.
The back-three and the wing backs John Tolkin and Cameron Harper were brilliant off the ball — winning the majority of their duels and restricting MLS MVP finalist Cucho Hernandez to just four shots all game.
The front three of Lewis Morgan, Dante Vanzeir, and Emil Forsberg were not on the scoresheet but so important in defending from the front. They kept organized in the team’s low block and tirelessly made runs in behind throughout the 90 minutes. Forsberg’s experience showed as he kept things simple in the middle of the park, slowing the game down when needed and playing incisive passes to his two forwards on the counter.
“You need everyone in when you want to be dominant off the ball,” Schwarz said. “It’s not only the jobs of our center-backs when you stay a little deeper, you have to do it together and it was very good.”
It will be hard to do the same on Sunday. Second-top goalscorer Diego Rossi is expected to return after a back injury ruled him out, and Hernandez has not gone more than a game without a goal contribution since August — scoring or assisting in his last four games for Columbus. The Crew also hold the third-best away record in the MLS, winning 9 of the 17 games on the road this season.
If the Red Bulls pull off another upset on Sunday, they will advance to play the winner of FC Cincinnati or New York City FC.
