New York Red Bulls: It is MLS Cup Champions or bust for the Red Bulls

The New York Red Bulls are indeed the regular season champions. In most soccer leagues, they would be just the champions. However, the Red Bulls have one thing left to win or the season is a bust.

The New York Red Bulls had the best MLS regular season ever in 2018. It truly has been remarkable from the goaltender, Luis Robles all the way up the pitch to star striker Bradley Wright-Phillips.

The season has been a season of ups. For once, barely any downs.

To make a list of what the Red Bulls have accomplished in 2018 and what their players have accomplished individually would need to be a separate article in itself.

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Even if you religiously support this team, the list of every club first for the club, MLS’ best ever list, whatever list to show how much they have done this year, would bore even you. That’s how long it is.

To start, let’s just go with this, Bradley Wright- Phillips scored 100 goals in the fastest pace ever, Aaron Long won defensive player of the year, Luis Robles set records for both his longevity and his 2018 season.

As a team, they once again won the Supporters’ Shield but this time it was by having the most regular season points ever. They barely lost at home, 14-2-1 on the season, and they made the playoffs for the ninth straight year.

Those accomplishments are just the beginning of the list.

But now, it could all not matter. I do not mean not matter like the accomplishments would all go away and the Supporters’ Shield is still a major trophy, but if they do not win the MLS Cup, it’ll feel like a waste.

It is easy to look at the Red Bulls and think they do not need the MLS Cup. They make the playoffs every year, have home-grown talent taking the league by storm (like Long), they have a state of the art arena and a solid ownership.

Yeah, that stuff is great and it ensures that the Red Bulls are here to stay in the New York market and will be able to produce great players for years to come and always be worth watching, but there is a problem.

Soccer culture in America is tough to build. The MLS already barely gets the credit it deserves as a league. The MLS is unique in its own right and the Red Bulls need to learn how to play that.

There is no promotion or relegation in American soccer. There is no season that ends without playoffs.

The Red Bulls, in Europe, or other soccer markets, might have already won the ultimate prize, that is one of the reasons why the Shield exists.

But, in this country, in this culture, with the MLS being the way it is, if the Red Bulls truly want to produce a bigger audience, if they want the respect in the media that they deserve, they need to win the one thing left to win.

They need to win the MLS Cup.

No if, and, or buts.

“That is what the Red Bulls need to avoid. Becoming pointless trivia.”

The New York Red Bulls need to win the league’s championship. That’s it.

Soccer is so unique and beautiful that some of the purest things about it belong in MLS. Like the playoff format that involves aggregate. Also, reaching out and finding young local players to be part of the club.

But there is one thing about soccer in America that needs to stay, that needs to be unique. Winning in the playoffs.

That will never change.

Do you think it matters that the Jacksonville Jaguars, Colorado Rockies, Winnipeg Jets, or Milwaukee Bucks, for example, made the playoffs?

Okay, it matters per se, but 10 years from now their most recent completed season will be nothing more than trivia.

Why? Because they did not win the Championship. Sure, they played well, sure it was encouraging, but not what people will remember.

That is what the Red Bulls need to avoid. Becoming pointless trivia.

10 years from now, or however long their points record holds, if they don’t win the MLS Cup they will be remembered as the club “that didn’t win the cup,” not as the club that did all those other things.

Championships win fans. Fans want titles. The Red Bulls will have their fans who are proud of them no matter what. People will support them no matter what. That is soccer that will not go away.

But, for the growth of soccer, in order to truly make it, they need to win the MLS Cup. They need to be Champions of the MLS.

That will win people over, that is the dream, the goal, the prize.

No, I am not saying that the Red Bulls are not doing great things if they don’t win, it would just be the same story, another year.

They have never won an MLS Cup, yet they are still here. So, that is not the point.

What is the point, is that the MLS Cup is the ultimate goal.

There is no way around it.

Yes, it is soccer and there are many other things going on to be considered a successful club, but this is also American Sports.

They need to win. They need to prove they can win, and they need to forever be a champion of the MLS.

That is it.

That is how they will grow, that is how fans will forever stay, new fans will come, and nothing can ever take it away from them.

The Red Bulls already have their backs against the wall the year in the playoffs too.

They are down 1-0 to the Columbus Crew and need to win 2-0 to advance to the East Final. That match is on Sunday at 7:30 at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey.

So, the timing of this article, piece, rant, whatever you want to call it could not be more relevant.

All of the great things the Red Bulls have done this year, all the players that put the country on notice, all that there is to be proud of, there is one thing left to win.

The Red Bulls, the New York Red Bulls, the Red Bulls of New York, The Metros, RBNY, whatever you call them, have one thing to win, the thing that matter the most.

The MLS Cup.

If they do not, are they really the best team ever?

No, not based on every other standard of American Sports.

Next. Best New York athletes to never win a Championship. dark

Content but not satisfied. I think the players and coaches would tell you the same thing. Let’s bring it home.

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