New York Red Bulls 1 -Atlanta United FC 0
On Thursday night at Red Bull Arena Atlanta United FC proved tht the old adage is true: results aren’t everything. Despite losing 1-0 to the New York Red Bulls in the second leg of the MLS Eastern Conference Finals the Georgia side did just enough to move on to the 2018 MLS Cup. After two legs Atlanta moves on via 3-1 aggregate score.
New York’s goal was scored by Tim Parker in the fourth minute of extra-time, narrowing Atlanta’s lead but proving to be too little, too late. Credit to the Atlanta defense led by Michael Parkhurst, Jeff Larentowicz, Greg Garza, Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, and Franco Escobar for holding back the Red Bulls attack and keeping their shots to mostly long distance efforts.
Although Red Bulls supporters will feel like it is another lost season there are plenty of positives to take from the 2018 campaign. The club did earn their second Supporters Shield and seem to have found the right coach in Chris Armas. Losing Tyler Adams will hurt but with Kaku and another strong cast of young players coming up the future seems bright at RBA.
As for Atlanta they will be moving on to face the Portland Timbers in the 2018 MLS Cup. The match will take place on Saturday December 8 at 8pm EST/5pm PST.
Please enjoy some of our photos from the match courtesy of photographer Joseph Misseri. You can find him on Twitter @JM8999
New York Red Bulls
