Red Bulls captain Dax McCarty wants fearless attitude to defeat Crew

On Sunday night, the New York Red Bulls face off against the Columbus Crew at Red Bull Arena in the second leg of the Eastern Conference Championship. A spot in the MLS Cup Final is on the line, and the Crew hold a 2-0 lead from the first leg at MAPFRE Stadium.

It's not the best of circumstances for this trophy-hungry Red Bulls team, as club captain Dax McCarty stands firm in his dream of hoisting the MLS Cup at year's end. And, in this, an unprecedented year of dominance for the Red Bulls, a certain amount is needed on the day.

"Let's play with no fear. Let's not be tense, let's not be tight," McCarty told reporters, describing his team's mentality heading into this fixture. "We're certainly looking to make history. A lot of people are counting us out, and we're fine with that. That's what it's been all year and we're OK with that. We'll be ready to go, I promise you."

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For Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch, the fearless attitude McCarty describes - the same one that propelled his side to the MLS Supporters' Shield in 2015 - is the very attitude he's looking for from his team in this second-leg fixture.

"There's plenty of time in this game," Marsch said. "Honestly, if it's 0-0 into the 85th minute then we get a goal in the 86th minute, this series is all up for grabs. That's the key. It's up to us to stay focused on the details, on what we try to do when we play at home and how we play aggressively, but to be ultra-focused on all the little details to not let the game slip away."

McCarty agrees with his coach's assessment, and, with one eye on the final fixture of the year next Sunday, he's looking to cap off what has been an incredible year for his team with another key win.

"The main goal is still to get to MLS Cup and win it. I think that's still the barometer by which we'll set if we have a successful season or not," McCarty said. "Our mentality at home is to be really aggressive and to take the game to the other team, especially at home. That's not going to change. We have to be aggressive. We have to take the game to them."

The job is simple: Score two goals and the series is tied again; score three or more goals, you win. But, if the Red Bulls concede at home, then things get tricky. The Crew would have an away goal and an aggregate draw would go in Columbus' favor, no matter what. In that case, the Red Bulls need to score four goals or more to win.

"Yeah, we know the score line," Marsch said, when asked about the scenarios. "If we have score four, we’ll score four. Whatever it takes.

"It's definitely not an easy task, something that we have to be mindful," McCarty said. "We're not going to change the mentality. We know what we have to do. Our minds are clear and we're ready to go do it."