Even from the No. 1 overall seed, the New York Red Bulls were always going to have an uphill climb to advance through the MLS Cup Playoffs. On Sunday the playoff run begins at Saputo Stadium with a road match against Eastern Conference No. 5 seed Montreal Impact.
While the Montreal Impact may have been the preferred opponent for the Red Bulls two weeks ago, it's hard to feel super confident after seeing how they left DC United absolutely shell-shocked with a 4-2 clobbering in the knockout round.
Didier Drogba was watching from the stands as star attackers Matteo Mancosu and Ignacio Piatti took over the game and made quick work of one of the most prolific scoring teams of the past two months - on the road no less - becoming only the third road team in MLS Cup history to win in the knockout round.