I almost fooled myself into thinking Round One might not be interesting. Well…

This is about the most surprising First Round result you’ll find. Red Bulls averaged 0.67 points per game after the League Cup. Only Chicago had a worse record in that span. And yet…

I messaged the Group Chat about 15 minutes later saying I felt something. closed For Columbus. It all started with the announcement of the starting lineups. Diego Rossi’s absence has caused some concern, but it’s nothing the Crew hasn’t addressed before. However, it later turned out that the Red Bulls were bothering Columbus. They moved to five at the back, focused on taking Emil Forsberg and Lewis Morgan out in transition and, most importantly, found a way to ensure the Team did not look confident in the friendly.

Do you know how many teams last year tried and failed to get Crews hesitant in preparation? Like all of them. I’m sure it’s all of them. But last night the Red Bulls found a way. Then Felipe Carballo scored from the corner. And then they found a way to endure the first real upset of the First Round.

The question now is whether they can do it again. Frankly, I like the First Round Best of Three format at this point. You can’t catch a great team off guard at the beginning and get rid of them. Great teams should be allowed to be horror movie villains. If you’re going to escape, you’ve got to really earn it.

Red Bulls have a real chance here. Despite the abysmal record over the last few months, they have outstanding numbers. Emil Forsberg is healthy. And now they return home only to draw and win the penalty shoot-out. It’s not a long shot.

We know the crew will adapt. New York threw a curveball and Columbus whiffed. This doesn’t happen very often. For this to happen again, the Red Bulls will need to put in a great performance.

But for the first time in a long time they have momentum and confidence. We are on the verge of something special… Remember that the Crew does not die easily.

For a while it looked like we might not be able to win away from home in the first part of the First Round matches. Then we got two in one night.

However, this did not surprise as much as the Columbus-New York result. Minnesota has been doing this dangerous thing for several months. RSL struggled to look like an early season version of itself.

The flaws we have seen since Andrés Goméz’s departure were revealed in small ways last night. So in the simple fact that RSL could not find a breakthrough in the attack. There were still chances, but they couldn’t break and beat the Loons.

A few missed opportunities and Dayne St. A couple of saves by St. Clair and Minnesota bring home a 1-0 lead. RSL still has a chance to improve of course, it’s really hard to bet against the Loons right now. Everything seems to be going well at the right time. Don’t be surprised if this ends like a party where someone blasts their acoustic guitar: “Wonderwall” plays right before everyone leaves.

Good luck there. Make every day of the week better than the last.