HARRISON, N.J. – Some time has passed. The pain, disappointment, and frustration have not.
The New York Red Bulls’ season came to an abrupt and unexpected end on Sunday at the hands of the Montreal Impact in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, but the hurt from yet another early postseason elimination was still fresh four days later.
Fresh for head coach Jesse Marsch. Fresh for sporting director Ali Curtis. Fresh for the core group of players that once again fell short of their goal of an MLS Cup.
“It’s still tough to process,” said goalkeeper Luis Robles, one of a handful of players in tears following the weekend’s 2-1 loss in the second leg at at Red Bull Arena. “The last three days, I’ve had very minimal contact with anyone in the organization, only because I’m dealing with the entire experience. Just now we were doing [team] sound bites to finish the season and [we were] asked about the season, and the only thing I could think of was the way it ended.”
What rubbed even more salt in the wound were the incendiary postgame comments made by Impact playmaker Ignacio Piatti, who scored both Montreal goals in the decisive leg of the series. Piatti said the Impact had beaten a side that proved to be a good regular-season team but a weak playoff team during the past two years, and his comments grabbed plenty of attention across the league.
They also stung the Red Bulls, mostly because they were harshly accurate.
“Probably a little bit uncalled for, but I don’t think he’s wrong,” said captain Dax McCarty. “I think he’s completely fair in that assessment, because we haven’t won in the playoffs and we’ve been very good in the regular season.”
Still, midfielder Felipe wasn't in a mood to take the shots without firing back.
“They’ve got to remember things in their own house and worry about their own problems, because before they achieve anything they’ve got to look what we’ve achieved before,” said Felipe, who played for the Impact from 2012-2014. “I don’t think Montreal ever accomplished anything other than the Canadian Cup, and I won two of them too, scored in the final.
"I just think that they’ve got to look at themselves and start to worry about themselves because this is the only thing they worry about: talking about other teams.”
The pain will eventually subside. Still, the Red Bulls now head into the offseason with questions as to what to do to a roster that has achieved regular-season greatness – with a Supporters’ Shield in 2015 and a remarkable 20-game unbeaten streak this year – but failed in the postseason when things matter most.
Changes are coming. Such is the nature of MLS. Don't expect too many differences in the makeup of the squad, however, because New York want to give it another go with this core group despite the fact that it is aging.
“We do believe that continuity or consistency, however you want to call it, is correlated to success,” Curtis said. “I think having a group of people, staff and players, that have spent time with each other, been in the trenches with each other, that’s a good thing and that leads to success.
“We’ve got the challenge and the opportunity of how do we stay consistent? How do we give some of our younger players, who are probably ready, time? And just making smart and educated decisions going into the offseason.”
As to whether the 2016 season was a success or not, responses were mixed. Some members of the Red Bulls believed it was because they made it out of the first round of the CONCACAF Champions League, reached the 2017-18 edition of the tournament, put together that 20-game undefeated run that helped them finish atop the Eastern Conference for the second consecutive year, and had two players – Golden Boot winner Bradley Wright-Phillips and top assists man Sacha Kljestan – finish as finalists for the MLS MVP award.
Others, still obviously reeling from the pain of an early elimination, could not give the campaign such a flattering label. Not yet. Not now.
“Sooner or later, with time, I think we’ll take a step back and see that there were absolutely a lot of positives,” said Robles. “But right now it’s very difficult to look past how the season ended.”
