You have to see it to believe it.
The New York Red Bulls did not just win a playoff game on Sunday.
They did not just win a rare road game.
And they did not just record their first playoff road shutout -- ever.
They made MLS history.
Insert the most appropriate verb you want to use: The Red Bulls (stunned, surprised, jolted) the two-time defending champion Houston Dynamo in Robertson Stadium. It wasn't just scoring a lucky goal near the end of a tight encounter and managing to eke out a one-goal victory, it was a three-goal triumph on the road that ranks as the greatest upset in MLS playoff history. This happened in the opening round at the Dynamo's house. If there are any doubters out there, please name another. When two-time champion D.C. United was toppled in 1998, it lost to a worthy opponent in the Chicago Fire at MLS Cup.
Let's face it. Given the abysmal history of the Red Bulls/MetroStars, superlatives aren't usually thrown around the team. Definitely not these ones.
When the playoffs come around, the words usually used include early elimination, horror, collapse, disappointing, frustrating and playoff futility, among others.
In other words, the same old, same old.
This year promises to be different. It already is.
All of a sudden an appearance in MLS Cup is not out of the question. Real Salt Lake, the Red Bulls' opponents, certainly are beatable (and before anyone prints out this column and tacks it onto RSL's locker room wall, the Red Bulls certainly are beatable as well). Which makes Saturday night's winner-take-all Western Conference Championship that much more alluring. Regardless who emerges victorious, one thing will be certain -- a first time MLS Cup finalist will emerge and play at The Home Depot Center for all of the MLS marbles on Nov. 23.
If New York gets that far, the championship game scenarios certainly are intriguing -- the Red Bulls vs. the Columbus Crew (a rematch of the Oct. 18 match in which goalkeeper Danny Cepero scored a goal against the Crew in his MLS debut) or the Red Bulls vs. the Chicago Fire (a grudge match between the two teams). Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio was pried away from the Fire by the Red Bulls to coach at the Meadowlands, which did not make the Fire ownership and management very happy.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Let's talk about the present and even the recent past before we peer into the future.
You have to give Osorio and the Red Bulls credit, a ton of credit. They defied the experts and many of the team's faithful fans who felt that there was no way they could topple the heavily favored Dynamo.
But they did -- with a ton of grit and determination and with members of the team's no-name club, such as rookie midfielder Luke Sassano and second-year pro Sinisa Ubiparipovic.
The poster child of the "unknown brigade" has been Cepero, who is on the ride of his young life as the unlikely goalkeeper thrust into the spotlight after spending a good portion of the season in the minor leagues of U.S. soccer -- on loan with the Harrisburg City Islanders of the USL Second Division, two rungs below MLS. Now, he is only one game away from MLS Cup and two wins away from MLS glory.
And give the much-maligned Osorio a lot of credit as well. He has been bashed by fans and some of the media for his lineups and the foreigners he acquired midway through the season. They started out on an encouraging note, but have struggled lately.
For the first leg of the total goals series against Houston, Osorio benched Venezuelan international captain and playmaking midfielder Jorge Rojas, who was brought in to add some creativity in the midfield. He has benched Argentinean Juan Pietravallo, who got off to a promising start but has taken the hard role of a defensive midfielder way too seriously. And he has benched Venezuelan international defender Gabriel Cichero, who recently has been good for a goal a game -- for the opposition.
In his short stint with the Fire last season, Osorio forged a reputation as a master tactician in the first-round playoff series upset of Supporters' Shield winners D.C. United, moving players in and out of the lineup and around the field in various positions. It worked marvelously.
And so far, so very good with the Red Bulls.
Prior to the first leg against the Dynamo at Giants Stadium, while he was walking toward tunnel for pre-game practice, Osorio talked about his plans for using Sassano and Ubiparipovic in the central role over the aforementioned foreigners. A bold move indeed.
The exact words he used weren't recorded, but Osorio said something to the effect that we would now see how this tactician would fare with these moves.
It would seem he's done pretty decent, huh?
Sometimes the best moves you make are the ones that aren't made. Osorio, who has a history of tinkering with the lineup, let well enough alone for the second leg in Houston, using the same lineup as in the first game.
Osorio obviously understands the philosophy of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Today he is considered a genius.
Today his team is only two wins away from MLS Cup glory and making some more headlines and MLS history.
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