WIN AND THEY ARE IN!

Well before Columbus dropped a 3-2 decision to DC United thus clinching the Red Bulls playoff hopes, New York was surprisingly upbeat about their result.

By night’s end, their barrage on Sporting KC earned the team what was perceived to be a vital point, though the Crew’s result rendered that a moot point. Effectively, the league’s richest roster backed into the playoffs – but no one was complaining about it after the match.

Even the usually unimpressed Thierry Henry was a glow about the result. “I thought we did better,” he said. “I’m never happy if we don’t win, but sometimes you have some draws – especially the way we have played against top teams since the beginning of the season, if you remember when we played against Seattle here, when we played against San Jose, we scored but we never controlled the game. The way we played against them the other day and at their place, we were never in control of the game. I thought tonight we were in control of the game”

Put into full context, it is easy to see why the locker room was so upbeat. The news of Erik Soler’s firing started a domino effect of terrible news for the franchise that drained the life out of the team going into the international break.

The time off seems to have done them some good and now the playoffs are in full focus.