HARRISON, N.J. – Teal Bunbury likened Sunday afternoon’s Eastern Conference Championship first leg between the New England Revolution and New York Red Bulls to a track meet, both sides pushing their lungs to the limit during 90 minutes of end-to-end action.
In those terms, it was the Revs who got the late kick necessary to push into the lead down the home stretch. Jermaine Jones capped off a lethal counterattack in the 85th minute with his first-ever MLS Cup Playoff goal, earning the Revs a critical 2-1 win and an advantage to take into Saturday’s second leg in Foxborough.
The game-winning sequence started with league MVP finalist Lee Nguyen playing against the grain to spring Bunbury down the right side. With Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles charging, Bunbury calmly slipped a pass across the face of goal to Jones, who tapped into an empty net.
“Lee got on the ball and I wanted to get wide, pull their defenders apart,” said Bunbury. “He slid me the ball, I looked up and Robles came out really tight. I saw Jermaine, slipped it to him and went crazy.”
While Bunbury played a key role in the winner, it was his stunning opener which got the Revs off to a perfect start just 17 minutes into the game. After receiving a pass from Jones on the right wing, Bunbury cut inside and curled a perfectly-placed shot inside the far upper corner, rooting Robles to the spot.
It was a goal which settled New England’s nerves on a big stage and it ultimately helped them get into halftime level – after Bradley Wright-Phillips equalized in the 27th minute – on an afternoon when they admitted they didn’t have the sharpest of performances in the first half.
“Teal, that was a special goal by him,” said Scott Caldwell, who played a massive role in limiting the Red Bulls through the middle of the field. “It just helped calm us down a little bit with the way things were going and really just got us off to a good start.”
“I was fortunate enough to get matched up one-on-one,” said Bunbury, who used a step-over to create space before driving home his second goal of this year’s playoffs. “My left foot isn’t my strong foot, but I feel like I took it well. I’m just very happy with the result we got.”
The result means the Revs now will host the second leg of the Eastern Conference Championship on Saturday afternoon with a 2-1 advantage from the start, including two precious away goals. But while the Revs know they’ve put themselves in an advantageous position, they also know the job is far from done.
“To be able to score two goals on the road, it’s very crucial,” said Bunbury. “But we know that New York’s an unbelievable team. They have a lot of great players and they can make things happen at the drop of a hat. We have to be prepared for that.”
“It’s definitely great to get the result, but there’s still another leg left,” said Caldwell. “We’ve got next week and we expect another battle just like what we went through today.”
