Dane Richards vividly remembers what happened the last time the Houston Dynamo played the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium. As for the final game of the regular season last Thursday in Chicago, not so much.
"I don't even remember about the last game," he said. "I don't remember what happened."
Richards isn't the only one. The Red Bulls are embracing the "clean slate" they have entering the MLS Cup Playoffs and don't want to look back at the embarrassing 5-2 defeat to the Chicago Fire.
The season might not have finished the way they would have liked, but New York is one of eight teams vying for the MLS Cup. And right now, that is all the Red Bulls are concerned with.
"Every team starts from zero. We have the same chances as the other teams," Juan Pablo Angel said. "We know that we couldn't have a harder draw for the first game, but if we want to win this competition we've got to beat everyone."
Angel doesn't remember much about his first MLS playoff experience, either. He suffered a concussion early in the second half of a tight conference semifinal series last year at Gillette Stadium and didn't see the Revs score the winner before then-Red Bulls coach Bruce Arena could bring on a substitute for the forward.
"I don't try to look back much," Angel said. "That's part of the history that is gone and what's going to happen this Saturday is the most important game of the season."
The Red Bulls are heavy underdogs heading into the Western Conference Semifinal Series against a Dynamo team that has won back-to-back MLS Cups and is the top seed in the West.
"I don't pay much attention to what people expect or think of us." Angel said. "What I do think is everybody has the same chances as we have. It's basically up to us to prove people wrong."
Already without suspended starters Jon Conway and Jeff Parke, the Red Bulls were dealt a crushing blow when versatile Seth Stammler underwent season-ending surgery on his right knee on Thursday night after playing with a torn lateral meniscus since late August. He will be out 2-4 months.
Juan Pietravallo was one of several Red Bulls players who struggled against the Fire, but with Carlos Mendes recovering from sports hernia surgery and rookie Luke Sassano lacking experience, the feisty Argentinean will likely start in Stammler's place as the team's defensive midfielder.
What other changes are in store for Juan Carlos Osorio's lineup? The Red Bulls coach never shows his cards, but did hint at a different team taking the field against Houston than played against Chicago.
"I just think there is no time for me to keep giving players more opportunities, they have to step up to the plate and perform," Osorio said. "They failed to do that so I have to do something about it and I'm going to do it."
If Osorio goes with the lineup he used against Houston at home on Aug. 24, then the backline will consist of Kevin Goldthwaite, Andrew Boyens, Diego Jimenez and Chris Leitch.
Dave van den Bergh was on the left side of midfield with Stammler and Pietravallo as co-anchormen and Richards was on the right. Mike Magee played behind Angel, who served as the lone forward in the 4-4-1-1.
The biggest questions heading into Saturday's match are at the attacking midfield role between Magee and Jorge Rojas and if Osorio opts to go with Mac Kandji and Angel up front or again play Angel as the lone striker.
Whatever the case, Osorio knows his team has its hands full against the Dynamo.
"They are, in my opinion, the best well-balanced team in the league," he said. "There are other teams in the league that attacking-wise bring a lot, a little bit more to the table, but defensively they are not as sound as Houston. They defend very well, the back four and (Ricardo) Clark as an anchorman, they attack with five players and they have plenty of options."
If there is an Achilles heel, though, the Red Bulls hope to exploit, it's that Houston is 0-6-6 in MLS games on artificial surfaces in the past three years. That includes back-to-back losses at Giants Stadium.
On Aug. 24, Houston took a seven-match unbeaten streak into the Meadowlands and suffered a 3-0 defeat in what was arguably the Red Bulls' best performance of the regular season. Richards had his way with Wade Barrett that afternoon, scoring a goal and setting up another. And the speedy Jamaican winger is looking for more of the same Saturday.
"Personally, I'm going to try and run that left back to the ground because he don't like the turf. Brian Ching, one of their top strikers, he definitely don't like the turf," Richards said. "We were really physical with (Dwayne) De Rosario last time and he doesn't like it, he came out early in the second half. They don't like the turf and we're going to use it for us."
Considering the Red Bulls woeful road form this year -- they have one win in 15 games away from home -- a good result at Giants Stadium is an absolute must if they have any hope of advancing to the Western Conference Championship.
"We've matched up well against them in the past and I think we can do that again on Saturday," Boyens said. "It's not too long ago we beat them 3-0 at home and that will be fresh in their minds and it's fresh in our minds. We need to go out there and do the same things we did that game."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
