CARSON, Calif. -- New York Red Bulls manager Juan Carlos Osorio appeared to have the right plan. But in the end, all the tactical tinkering in the world can't finish the job -- especially when a league MVP is wearing the opposition jersey.
The Columbus Crew playmaker made the difference, trumping all the Red Bulls tactical plans, as Guillermo Barros Schelotto's big afternoon helped the Columbus seize the day, claming the club's first MLS title.
But the afternoon could have unfolded differently -- and nearly did. The Red Bulls pressed the Crew early at The Home Depot Center, before Crew manager Sigi Schmid made a mark with some halftime adjustments of his own.
Here's how it all developed:
Schmid had watched the Red Bulls became the MLS Flavor of the Moment through defend-and-counter soccer. They eliminated two-time defending league champion Houston, and then Real Salt Lake, with brilliant execution of Juan Carlos Osorio's plan.
• Crew capture first MLS Cup
• MLS Cup Notes: Crew win Cup
• Schelotto named MLS Cup MVP
• Hejduk adjusts style in MLS Cup
• Lewis: Right team took Cup
• Davis: Tactics trumped by talent
• Wolyniec rewards Osorio's faith
• Red Bulls waste strong first half
• Cup win sweet for Crew's Moreno
• Red Bulls can't dodge final dagger
• Crew win Cup with team effort
• Crew notebook: Trio hope to return
• Red Bulls notebook: Still proud
MLS Cup Sights & Sounds
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Nov. 21 headlines
• Carroll is Crew's unsung hero
• Goldthwaite stabilizes Red Bulls
• Crew expect strong support
Nov. 20 headlines
• Backline is Crew's backbone
• Angel key to Red Bulls' success
• LA weather sweet as Crew train
SIGHTS & SOUNDS
So Schmid wanted the Crew, in their usual 4-4-1-1, to sit back a little more than usual. He wanted left midfielder Robbie Rogers to come back for the ball, instead of straying too far up field. He wanted Eddie Gaven to drop a little deeper on the right, and Schmid asked center midfielders Brad Evans and Brian Carroll to do the same.
The way Schmid figured, they needed to draw Osorio's Red Bulls out a bit. Well, they might have drawn them out a little too much.
By withdrawing the back four so close to goal, they gave Carroll and Evans too much ground to cover in midfield. That allowed the Red Bulls midfielders time and space to find Dave van den Bergh's smart runs down the left side. With Gaven still a bit too far forward, van den Bergh was matched one-on-one with Frankie Hejduk, and the Red Bulls service channels were open.
Van den Bergh had offered four enticing crosses within the game's first 30 minutes. Juan Pablo Angel was winning more than his share of headers as the Red Bulls played long balls into the attacking third. Sinisa Ubiparipovic was scooping up those second balls, usually channeling them over to van den Bergh.
That all served to keep Hejduk from being dangerous going forward. The Crew right back managed to get forward only on a couple of occasions before the break.
"We wanted New York to come at us a little, so they couldn't play so defensively and counter us," Schmid said. "We probably dropped off a little too much. We gave them too much of the game. They did a good job. They did a good job of spreading the game around."
The Red Bulls were in the same fairly straightforward 4-4-2 that had served them so well in the postseason, and things were looking good -- until Alejandro Moreno's 31st-minute strike against the run of play.
"I believe we were hard-done in the first half," Osorio said. "I believe we were the better team, with the better chances."
Schmid adjusted at the break, pushing his back line up a bit higher and compressing the field -- and getting back to what helped make Columbus so successful through the Supporters' Shield-winning campaign.
That also allowed Hejduk to get forward more in the second half.
"One of the goals we had defensively was to shut down van den Bergh, so Frankie was going to have to be a little more defensively inclined," said Schmid, who noted the change in Hejduk's ability to get forward after the break.
"I think he got two or three crosses in that were very dangerous, and that culminated in the goal," Schmid said of the Crew right back's 82nd-minute insurance strike. "I thought his timing today coming forward was very good."
The Crew had also asked left back Gino Padula to sit back and keep tabs on Richards, who did have a quiet afternoon. In fact, the one moment of danger Richards posed in the first half came on a dash down the left, as he momentarily switched sides.
Richards did create the Red Bulls' only goal -- ironically when Padula did exactly what the Crew staff had asked. They wanted Padula to push Richards to the inside, where the Crew left back would have help.
"We wanted to get Gino some help with Dane, we wanted to force Dane inside," Schmid said. "I thought Gino did a good job with him, kept him in front of him most of the time. ... Gino's an experienced fullback. He plays against guys who have more pace than him and he knows how to get in the right positions.
"Sometimes people think speed has to match speed," Schmid continued. "But sometimes fast guys aren't the best defenders because tactically they aren't as aware or as disciplined."
Padula went down briefly in the first half, prompting potential replacements Andy Iro and Ezra Hendrickson to get up off the bench and begin warming up. But he stayed on the field, and was there to see Schelotto feed Chad Marshall for the game-winner, and then feed Hejduk with that clever little chip for the late clincher -- so leaving Padula on turned out to be the right choice.
"There was no way he wanted to come out," Schmid said of Padula. "He basically soldiered through. There was a little break in the first half and he came running over and said, 'Don't take me out!'"
In fact, neither team made a change until the 78th minute, when Jorge Rojas replaced Red Bulls holding midfielder Luke Sassano. Rojas couldn't get much going against Carroll and Evans, however.
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