Late tying goal by N.E. Revolution ends Red Bulls season
FOXBOROUGH - Thierry Henry finally stepped foot on the dreaded Gillette Stadium turf, but his presence wasn't enough to keep the Red Bulls' season alive, and it may mean the end of his career.
The French star, whose chronic Achilles issues kept him off the turf here over fear of long-term damage, assisted on a goal and nearly set up a few more, but the Red Bulls could only muster a 2-2 draw in the second leg of the two-game, aggregate-goal Eastern Conference Final, and the New England Revolution advanced to the MLS Cup Final, 4-3 on aggregate, before a Gillette Stadium crowd of 32,698.
The dagger was a Charlie Davies headed goal in the 70th minute off a Chris Tierney cross, tying the game 2-2 and giving New England the series lead and perhaps ending the career of the 37-year-old Henry, who may retire as his contract expires at the end of the season.
Peguy Luyindula's goal in the 53rd minute gave the Red Bulls a 2-1 lead in the game, tied the aggregate 3-3 and cancelled out New England's away-goals tiebreaker, putting the series completely up for grabs. Lloyd Sam's cross intended for Tim Cahill, who replaced suspended forward Bradley Wright-Phillips in the lineup, deflected off of New England defender Andrew Farrell and Luyindula cleaned up the mess for his third goal of the playoffs.
Wright-Phillips, who tied the MLS single-season scoring record with 27 goals and had four playoff goals, was suspended for yellow-card accumulation after encroaching on Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth in the first leg. Wright-Phillips had said he was unaware of the yellow-card accumulation rule, which Red Bulls coach Mike Petke took blame for.
The Red Bulls took the lead in the game and tied the aggregate in the 26th minute when Cahill, normally a midfielder who was back in the starting lineup after coming off the bench for the previous three games, scored on a left-footed shot between New England defender Jose Goncalves' legs. Henry lobbed a pass to Cahill to set it up, earning his league-leading fifth assist of the playoffs.
Though the aggregate was 2-2 after Cahill's goal, the Revolution still held an advantage because of the away-goals tiebreaker after scoring two goals at Red Bull Arena last Sunday.
Had the Red Bulls been able to convert one of the handful of quality scoring chances they engineered earlier in the match, they could've been leading. The most scintillating was a Lloyd Sam ground cross in the sixth minute in the direction of Peguy Luyindula, who charged into the penalty area and nearly reached the ball with an open left side of the net in front of him, but he slid, stuck out his right foot and was unable to connect.
New England tied the game in the 41st minute on a Davies snap header. Tierney played a give-and-go on a short corner kick, and Tierney's cross made its way through a gaggle of Red Bull defenders in the box before Davies got his head onto it and gave the Revolution a 3-2 aggregate lead.
Still, the Red Bulls needed just one goal to put them at least in a position to advance, though at that point it would have forced extra time rather than giving them an outright lead in the series. They got that goal from Luyindula and continued to press on in attack in search of a go-ahead goal.
Cahill was set up beautifully by a cross from Henry in the 66th minute, but Cahill's volley after streaking by a pair of defenders went high over the crossbar and he buried his face in his hands in disappointment.
Tierney and Davies' second connection four minutes later ultimately sent the Red Bulls packing.
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