Photo: Courtesy of NewYorkRedBulls.com

In what will be shocking news to literally no one on the planet Earth, Metro limped out of the playoffs, losing 2-1 at Los Angeles and 3-1 on aggregate in the MLS Conference Semifinals.  A Luke Rodgers goal was made moot by strikes from Mike Magee and Landon Donovan.

New York had to come out guns-blazing after losing the first leg at home, and did just that by picking up a fourth minute goal from Rodgers.  Thierry Henry played an excellent ball through to the pint-sized berserker, who calmly slotted the ball past Josh Saunders to equalize the series.  Henry played ridiculously deep throughout the match, which afforded him the opportunities to play some great balls into space, but prevented him from having any chances on goal for himself.  It was an interesting tactical move that created some nice plays (and the only Red Bull goal of the series) but when you are losing a match you want a player like Henry as close to the goal as possible.

Metro's chances were struck a blow when Teemu Tianio suffered a hamstring injury and had to leave the game 17 minutes into the contest.  Auvrey, Tainio's replacement, played a decent match but didn't quite manage to fill to over-sized shoes of the Finnish central midfielder.  The match remained relatively quiet until the 42nd minute (save for a few solid Robbie Keane chances either missed or saved and a brief injury to David Beckham's hair), when Los Angeles tied the game and went up on aggregate.  If reading the following sentence gives you de ja vu, you need to only look back to Sunday's match report of the first leg: ex-Metro Mike Magee connected with Beckham on a set piece to score for the Galaxy.  Magee, who headed home a corner, was marked by Dane Richards, the shortest player on the team. Magee played for New York for six years.  He does not score with his head.  The only thing the part of his body on top of his neck is good for is winking at the ladies, which he undoubtedly did after celebrating his second goal against his former employer in as many games.  Still, the Red Bull's inability to mark up on set pieces leads to all kinds of unexpected goals.

New York's best chance to level things came in the 57th minute, when an excellent through ball from Dax McCarty split the defense and saw Rodgers once again one-on-one with the keeper, only for his shot to go wide.  It was the Red Bulls' last solid chance of the season.  McCarty was replaced by Juan Agudelo in the 64th minute, in what seems like the first logical substitution from Hans Backe in months.  He proceeded to disappear from the match instantly, possibly because he hasn't played significant minutes in ages.  To his credit, most of the Red Bulls pulled off disappearing acts in the second half, so he shouldn't feel too bad about it.  Or at least not worse than his teammates.

Los Angeles twisted the dagger in Metro's heart in the 75th minute, when Donovan easily converted a penalty to make the match 3-1 on aggregate.  The penalty was awarded when Beckham, with his back to goal, was pushed down and kicked in the ribs simultaneously by Roy Miller, which just gave concrete confirmation that New York is indeed one of the dirtiest teams in the league.  15 short minutes later and the whistle was blown on what can only be defined as a disappointing season for New York.

The honest truth is Metro really did not deserve to make the playoffs in the first place, and was lucky to make it into the second round at all.  For a team with so much talent and such a high payroll, the results this year have been simply unacceptable.  Although head coach Hans Backe and general manager Erik Soler both shoulder a good deal of the blame, the players are not without fault as well.  Now the difficult task of cutting the fat of an extremely expensive and top-heavy roster without entirely blowing up the team falls upon the front office.  Historically speaking, quiet offseasons are usually the best, but that seems rather unlikely at this point.

Dave Braneck for DailyHarrison.com