SANDY, Utah -- The music blared, the players danced and Juan Carlos Osorio was doused by some combination of water and Gatorade. Champagne? Nah, that's reserved for the MLS Cup Final.
Unlike last week at Robertson Stadium, when the Red Bulls were business-like after eliminating the two-time defending MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo, the players celebrated the first conference championship in club history in style.
"It's phenomenal," Juan Pablo Angel said. "That's what you work for. All the effort, all the training sessions, the hard work during the year and it certainly paid off. Nobody gave anything to us, nobody expected us to be where we are, but we're absolutely delighted."
Sure it could be weird that the Western Conference title goes to the East Coast team, but that didn't matter inside the locker room. The Red Bulls got to celebrate on a dais, pose with a trophy and book their ticket to The Home Depot Center.
"To get to the MLS finals and have a chance to win the MLS Cup, you don't really have words for it," defender Carlos Mendes said. "We've got one more game left. Obviously this is a big moment for the franchise, but we want to win it. We'll enjoy it tonight, but tomorrow we get back to work."
It was a difficult journey to their first-ever MLS Cup Final. After losing to Chicago 5-2 in its final game of the regular season, New York had to wait and hope that the Columbus Crew would beat D.C. United just to advance to the postseason.
And yet, against the odds, this ragtag group, which battled adversity for nearly the entire regular season, is in the final.
"It was like a second chance and we all realized that it was one," Dave van den Bergh said. "We just took it, took full advantage of it and for a lot of these guys it's the first final that they're in. It's just a great atmosphere right now in the locker room and around the team."
It wasn't easy on Saturday night, either. Real Salt Lake attacked relentlessly in the second half, desperately trying to net the equalizer. RSL had 16 of its 24 shots after the break, but the Red Bulls weathered the storm. It was a similar situation last Sunday when Dynamo peppered the Red Bulls net with chance after chance, unable to put anything behind Cepero.
"An ugly win is better than a pretty loss," Dane Richards said. "I'm so happy for everyone. Nobody had an outstanding game, but we defended with our life and we got the victory. ... It happened in Houston and I knew it could happen again. The important thing is that we got the lead."
The Red Bulls also got a bunch of luck along the way.
"We have to congratulate all the guys and the post," Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio said. "I have been disappointed sometimes with our luck, but I think we got it today. The man upstairs has helped us today, but I think in general the guys deserved it."
The Red Bulls got the only goal it would need from van den Bergh, who struck for his eighth goal of the year in the 28th minute. The Dutch midfielder started the sequence by playing a great ball up the left sideline to John Wolyniec, who ran free of an attempted slide tackle by Jamison Olave.
Wolyniec ran inside the box, crossed the ball from the edge of the six-yard box. RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando got a hand on the ball, but it trickled to van den Bergh, who hammered home the game's only goal.
"It was ugly, it was lucky, but this franchise is going to have to take it anyway it comes," van den Bergh said. "I tell you what, we won this title and next year around this time nobody will know how the game went. They'll just see the result -- New York Red Bulls won the Western Conference."
After surviving a few scares, especially late in the second half, the Red Bulls players let their hair down in the locker room, the Red Bulls will enjoy a chartered flight back to New Jersey. And somewhere over the middle of America, Osorio will start preparing for the biggest game in Red Bulls history.
"Jeff just told me that he had something to give me and he gave me the video of Chicago and Columbus' last game," Osorio said referring to Jeff Agoos, the club's sporting director. "We will watch the game and start deciding. We will go back tomorrow, recovery right away. There's not too much time to celebrate."
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