The Red Bulls have suffered more agonizing losses at the hands of rival D.C. United than any other team, and last night’s will be at the top of that heap of misery.
The Red Bulls’ title drought reached 17 years and counting after their 1-0 defeat in the second leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals, having a goal waved off and a star player sent off.
For the Red Bulls, chasing an MLS Cup has been like Sisyphus pushing his rock, or Ahab chasing his whale, an exercise of futility, and that’s despite having three designated players and a bloated budget.
This loss brought new twists, with Kenny Cooper’s penalty kick waved off for encroachment, followed by Nick DeLeon’s 88th-minute tally for their archrivals.
“I’ve been here for three years, playing in every [profane] game, and I haven’t won [anything]. It’s [screwed] up,’’ midfielder Joel LIndpere said.
“Only one team is going to be happy at the end of the season,” Thierry Henry said. “We will be a team obviously that didn’t win. … It’s not good enough. We want to win. But as I said, only one team is going to win.
“Whenever you play well and you go out in a competition like this, you’re always upset at the end of the day.’’
Encroachment, elimination, and abject frustration. After tying 1-1 in the road leg on Saturday, this will be a particularly bitter pill to swallow for a team that piled up a club-record 57 points, but has now bowed out of the playoffs in the conference semifinals for the third straight year, a failure likely to cost coach Hans Backe his job.
“We have to wait and see,’’ said Backe, whose team outshot D.C. United 18-8 and peppered both goalkeepers, first Bill Hamid — who took Cooper down in the box to concede a penalty and get sent off — and then Joe Willis, who got beaten by Cooper for a penalty kick, only to see if waved off and then saved on the second attempt.
Rafa Marquez drew a 61st-minute yellow card for a forearm to the face of Chris Pontius, yet another Marquez blunder that came back to haunt the Red Bulls. Eight minutes later, Henry passed to Dax McCarty, who played Cooper in on goal with a one-touch pass that split the back four. Hamid tripped up Cooper, who had been a perfect 10-for-10 in his career on penalty kicks.
Cooper beat Willis in the 73rd, but it was waved off in the midst of the Red Bulls’ celebration for encroachment, Henry leading several players into the box too early as Cooper stutter-stepped. His second attempt was saved, and two minutes later, Marquez drew his second yellow for a sliding tackle on Pontius to get sent off.
D.C. United withstood a barrage over the final 20 minutes, and against the run of play, defenseman Robbie Russell played DeLeon through and Connor Lade kept him on for the winner.
“I’m gobsmacked,’’ midfielder Tim Cahill said. “We obviously could’ve won the game. We know it. That’s probably why it hurts so much.’’