The second leg of the MLS Conference Championship between the New York Red Bulls and the Columbus Crew SC will finally take place on Sunday, 7:30 p.m. ET. The last time the two teams engaged, Columbus had taken full advantage of their 2-0 first-leg win over New York in front of a sold-out Mapfre Stadium in Ohio. The Crew SC had advanced to MLS Cup for the first time since 2008 when it went against the Red Bulls and won the title 3-1 at The Home Depot Center.
Analysts say that the keys for Columbus SC to win are to score early and pressure the Red Bulls into committing mistakes. The Red Bull Arena will be jumping and rocking if Columbus can silence New York fans early into the game and get the Red Bulls playing from behind early on, according to the NY Daily News. They may have a good chance of moving onto the MLS Cup Final if they get the Red Bulls to turn the ball over a lot.
Though a lot of outsiders believe that the Columbus Crew is the favorite heading into Sunday's second leg of the two-game, MLS Eastern Conference final, the Red Bulls' spirits, on the other hand, have been high all week as they practice at their facility in Hanover, N.J.
The Red Bulls club will have some work ahead of them to compensate for their two-goal deficit at Red Bull Arena.They were 12-3-2 at home in the regular season. The Red Bulls scored two or more goals in 12 out of the 17 regular-season home games and ended the year having scored at least two goals in nine consecutive home games.
In an interview on Saturday, head coach Jesse Marsch said, "Everybody's writing us off, which I think motivates this group a lot. I actually think we're better underdogs than we are favorites. So, here we are. We'll be the underdog at our home arena, which for us I think is an exciting proposition."
For those who will opt to stay glued to their TV sets for Game 2 of the MLS Conference Finals featuring the Red Bulls vs. Crew SC can do so by switching to the ESPN, ESPN Deportes, or the Fox Sports 1 channels. They can also watch the decisive game between the two teams online by going to the official WatchESPN website and logging in with credentials from any major cable or satellite provider to access the live streaming video. Fox also has a similar service via the Fox Sports 2 Go site.
Another way to follow the MLS match online is to use Sling TV. It has an Internet package that includes ESPN along with other channels and is available for a one-week free trial. Users will need to register their credit card details, but they can cancel the 7-day trial before it expires. LiveSoccer TV also offers a list of free live streaming links for the Red Bulls vs. Crew SC game.
Soccer fans who would like to be kept updated by listening online can do so by checking out the dedicated MLS radio station on TuneIn.com via their desktop or laptop computers. For those on the go, they can still listen to TuneIn radio on their mobile devices by downloading it's Android or iOS application.
