The New York Red Bulls spent parts of this season displaying inconsistent performances at home. Another uneven showing at home could drop their seeding in the MLS Cup playoffs.
Decision day is here, and the Red Bulls will attempt to lock up the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference on Sunday afternoon when they host Charlotte FC in Harrison, N.J.
New York (14-11-8, 50 points) enters the finale holding the fourth seed, granting them a home game in the opening round. A loss and a win by Inter Miami CF over Montreal pushes New York into fifth.
New York can also get the third seed if it wins and NYCFC fall to the host Atlanta United.
The Red Bulls are 5-6-5 at home and are the only team with a home losing record that enters this week with a playoff spot secured.
New York is coming off consecutive road losses to the Columbus Crew and NYCFC. The Red Bulls dropped a 2-1 decision last week at Columbus when they squandered a one-goal lead with two minutes left.
“We have to correct it,” New York defender Sean Nealis said. “But we’d rather it happen here than in the playoffs. But ideally, we don’t want it to happen at all. We’re better than the result.”
Charlotte (13-17-3, 42 points) is completing its inaugural season by performing better of late. Charlotte is 3-0-1 in its past four games, a stretch that includes wins over first-place Philadelphia and NYCFC.
Charlotte saw its three-game winning streak end on Wednesday when it rallied for a 2-2 draw against Columbus in the completion of a July 30 match suspended due to inclement weather.
Daniel Rios scored four goals in the win over Philadelphia on Oct. 1 and then scored in the 58th minute Wednesday before Andrew Shinyashiki scored in stoppage time to secure the tie.
“The last game for us is important because we want to finish well and because morally, we need to honor the league and the clubs who are still in contention,” Charlotte interim head coach Christian Lattanzio said. “We need to try our best because we had this mini-season in mind, the last five games, and so far, we have three wins and a draw and we want to keep our momentum.”
–Field Level Media
