New York Red Bulls lose 3-1 at home to San Jose Earthquakes
In one of the biggest upsets of the MLS playoffs so far, San Jose Earthquakes defeated New York Red Bulls on their own turf 3-1 in the 2nd leg of the playoffs to reach the next round.
In front of a large crowd a Red Bull Arena of 22.839, ex Reading winger Bobby Convey scored the 1st goal for San Jose in the 6thminute and added another in the 5th minute of the
second period before Juan Pablo Angel pulled one back for New York to level the aggregate score but Earthquakes took the lead again through Chris Wondolowski.
Red Bulls were leading the tie 1-0 after winning the away leg and had a great chance to reach the Eastern Conference final. Thierry Henry returned to the bench after being out for several weeks through injury.
San Jose Earthquakes started the match brightly and took the lead in the six minute through Bobby Convey when Ryan Johnson crossed the ball into the Bulls’ penalty area as the ball landed near the penalty area and Bobby Convey placed the
ball in the net with his left foot.
The Earthquakes almost doubled their lead a few minutes later as Johnson got the ball on a rebound from keeper Coundoul but the looping header skimmed off the far post.
After an early setback, Red Bulls started settling in but still could not possess the ball for long. Young striker Juan Agudelo looked lively but was unable to find a teammate with the final ball.
Earthquakes could have been 2-0 up in the 27th minute as Geovanni stole the ball from Chris Albright and centred it to Sealy who took a second too long to take a shot as Tim Ream slid in to snatch the ball out before
a shot was taken.
Juan Agudelo should have scored before half time but fired a shot off the near post from a very tight angle when he received a beautiful pass from Lindpere. The 1st period ended with San Jose Earthquake leading
1-0 as the tie was 1-1 on aggregate.
New York Red Bulls came out of the tunnel for the second period looking to take back the aggregate lead and piled pressure on the Earthquakes defence as Rafa Marquez and Roy Miller both got chances but couldn’t capitalize on them.
In the 60th minute Rafa Marquez crossed the ball into the San Jose box that was met by Agudelo and the 17 year old passed it to Mehdi Ballouchy whose shot was saved by a last-ditch tackle by Hernandez.
But all this pressure couldn’t give New York the goal and it was San Jose who took the series lead through Bobby Convey yet again in the 76th minute. Alvarez found space in the left flank and rolled the ball to
Bobby Convey whose shot went past Bouna Coundoul’s shoulder into the net.
But the joy was short lived as Juan Pablo Angel brought the aggregate score level to 2-2 two minutes later when Juan Agudelo’s cross was Lofted by Jason Hernandez and Juan Pablo Angel had an easy header.
But there was yet another twist in the match as Earthquake scored the 3rd and decisive goal in the 81st minute through Chris Wondolowski when Bobby Convey lofted the ball in the penalty area
for Wondolowski whose header took the ball into the upper corner of the netting.
New York Red Bulls piled up the pressure in the final stages but were not able to draw level. Thierry Henry got a glorious chance to draw level for the Bulls but his header skimmed just over the bar as the match finished 3-1 and 3-2 on
aggregate for San Jose Earthquakes.
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