Forget all the mathematical permutations, all the equations tougher than anything in Good Will Hunting or a Beautiful Mind. The Red Bulls’ task is simple, if not easy; win at rival Philadelphia tomorrow (1:30 p.m., NBC) and they’ll essentially seal third place and a bye. If they don’t, they’ll be consigned to the capricious wild-card round midweek.
“It’s very crucial,’’ said coach Hans Backe, whose job status has come under constant scrutiny, and appears to rest on winning the team’s first-ever MLS Cup. “It’s good to know the conditions, that we need to win to finish third. That means we have a full week to the next week; otherwise we have to play a wildcard game on Wednesday. So it’s a massive game.”
The Red Bulls can clinch third with a win, coupled with any of the following: a Chicago loss against D.C. later today, a Chicago/D.C. tie (the Red Bulls must maintain its plus-nine scored advantage over the Fire), or a Chicago win (the Red Bulls must hold its plus-two goals scored advantage over United).
If they finish third, they’ll host the first leg of the Eastern Conference semis either Nov. 3 or Nov. 4 with the return leg on the road either Nov. 7 or 8. But if they fail to win tomorrow at PPL Park – a place they were thoroughly outplayed in May until a rampant Freddy Adu got sent off for an ill-advised second yellow – they’ll have to play the knockout round either Wednesday or Thursday.
“Apart from (the Galaxy last year), the two teams before that won the MLS Cup went through the wild card game, so it is possible,’’ said captain Thierry Henry. “But yeah, the only thing if we finish fourth or fifth, if we can go through after that is some of the guys that didn’t play a lot this season can have some minutes, but I guess everybody wants to finish third.
“Obviously, the best would be to finish third. But sometimes some of the players in our team didn’t play too much this season. At the end of the day, maybe if we don’t make it to third, it won’t be too bad if Rafa (Márquez) can get some minutes, if Teemu (Taino) can get some minutes, if some other players can get some minutes.’’