Some things never change.
In the most incredible fashion, the New York Red Bulls are headed back to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for a record-breaking 14th-straight year after defeating Nashville SC, 1-0, behind a dramatic injury-time Decision Day penalty converted by 21-year-old homegrown star John Tolkin.
The Red Bulls have made the playoffs in 24 of their 28 seasons in the league and extended the longest active playoff streak in North American men's professional sports. Plus, they have surpassed Seattle Sounders FC for the longest streak in MLS history. The last time RBNY missed the playoffs was all the way back in 2009.
“It honestly felt like a whole season's worth of ups and downs, crazy times, and hard work, and sorrow at times – just everything you know – came down to that kick,” Tolkin told reporters after the match, reflecting on his 94th-minute winner.
“It would either be pretty tragic, or it would be written in the stars. Luckily, it was written in the stars. It felt like a huge weight off our shoulders. I can’t really describe it, to be honest.”
For 94 minutes – and the entire season, for that matter – the Red Bulls were below the playoff line, tied on points with CF Montréal for the Eastern Conference's final postseason spot but trailing the Canadian side via tiebreakers.
They desperately needed to find a goal to keep their streak of consecutive playoff appearances intact. And they did.
“I’m ecstatic,” Tolkin told MLS 360 postgame. “Every single person in that locker room, we didn’t want to be that team to lose the streak. This is just a testament to all the hard work this year. Everybody deserves it, the fans, all of our families, the players, everybody in the club, so yeah, we’re ecstatic right now.”
He added: “Just keep hating on us. Everybody who I talk to is like ‘Red Bull, you guys won’t do it again. We don’t like how you guys play. And you guys are the worst.’ But that’s alright. That’s what fuels us. I think a lot of athletes around the world get motivation from that hate. Honestly, we love it. So, keep it up, and yeah, we’ll keep proving you all wrong.”
Lesesne not satisfied
Since taking over from Gerhard Struber in May, head coach Troy Lesesne has tried to establish a new standard at RBNY. Internally, he has raised expectations.
While making the playoffs and extending their streak was a significant accomplishment for the club, merely sneaking in on Decision Day is far from satisfactory for Lesesne.
“I want to be really clear about this: this is not a distraction from a season that isn’t acceptable for our fans,” said Lesesne. “… It’s not acceptable what happened this season, or really for that matter, the last four or five seasons. We need to do better as a club. This is a special club. I’m very happy to extend our history, but that does not distract us from the fact that we have to do better and put ourselves in a better position.”
Throughout the year and at various points, the Red Bulls playoff dream long seemed in doubt. In fact, it took a 4W-1L-2D run – including four wins in their last five matches – to close the season to vault themselves above the playoff line, leaving Lesesne feeling unfulfilled and bittersweet.
It's that type of standard and mentality that has his players backing him to remain as head coach beyond this season. Lesense was given the keys until the end of the 2023 campaign, and no official announcement or decision has been made publicly about his future.
“The biggest testament is to Troy,” said captain Sean Nealis. “He came in here, it wasn’t easy. He kind of changed the culture around. He’s done a great job, and the guys respond to him. The guys love him. I think he’s a great coach, you see [that] with the success he just [had]. I think the sky’s the limit with him.”
Tolkin agreed with Nealis’ endorsement of the RBNY head coach.
“First and foremost, Troy is the guy for this job. Like, no doubt about it … 100 percent he deserves all the flowers – and he deserves the job,” said the up-and-coming US international.
Red Bulls host Charlotte FC
RBNY finished eighth in the Eastern Conference and as a result, will host No. 9 Charlotte FC at Red Bull Arena in the Wild Card match on Wednesday. The winner will then travel to TQL Stadium to take on Supporters’ Shield winners FC Cincinnati in a Round One Best-of-3 series.
Given the form of late, especially defensively as they’ve conceded just once in their last three games, the Red Bulls are confident heading into the win-or-go-home showdown, but are also wary of the threat Charlotte possess. And for their head coach, it's also an opportunity to begin to turn an unsatisfactory season into a year that's more acceptable.
“I think we’re in very good form right now, but I think Charlotte’s in good form, let’s just be clear about that,” said Lesesne. “That’s what the test is that’s in front of us now.”
He added: “Ultimately, the job now at hand is to prepare to beat Charlotte. We’re not going to talk about MLS Cup. We’re not going to talk about MLS Cup yet or anything like that. That’s too far in the distance. We have too much work to do … Again, I’m hopeful that we cannot just look at this as a finish line tonight. We need to create a new finish line every round of the playoffs and that starts Wednesday at Red Bull Arena vs. Charlotte.”
