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New York hosts Philadelphia to determine playoff fate

Oct 19, 2011 - 11:55 PM Harrison, NJ (Sports Network) - Red Bull New York's playoff aspirations will culminate in its final match of the regular season when it hosts the Philadelphia Union at Red Bull Arena on Thursday.

The Red Bulls hold their destiny in their own hands, as a win over the Union would be enough to clinch a postseason berth. New York can still advance with a draw or loss, but other results would need to go in its favor.

New York will be without its star striker and leading goal-scorer, Thierry Henry, after the Frenchman picked up a red card in a 2-0 loss at Sporting Kansas City last weekend.

"He's our captain, our leader," said Red Bulls defender Stephen Keel. "He makes things go, so we're definitely going to miss him.

"But it's going to give a chance to other guys on our team. Whoever coach wants to bring in, he'll be more than capable when you look at our team from top to bottom. There are other guys that will be able to step in."

Head coach Hans Backe faces a selection dilemma ahead of the match, and has stated that he will be deciding between Luke Rodgers, Dane Richards, and Juan Agudelo to fill two striker spots.

"We have a lot of good options going into the game [Thursday]," Backe told MLSsoccer.com. "I have not decided, but those three guys are the options. We have Luke, Juan and Dane; two out of those three will start the game."

Rodgers, who is second on the team with nine goals on the year, is the most likely of the three to earn a starting role. The Englishman is confident that New York can produce a win against its I-95 rivals.

"In my eyes, we can't be in a better situation, we can only let ourselves down," Rodgers told MLSsoccer.com. "Win and you're in. It's up to us now, there's no more hiding. I'm focused. I'm quite positive we're going to win the game, and I'm really looking forward to it."

Philadelphia has already qualified for the postseason, but a win against New York could potentially see the Union clinch the top overall seed in the Eastern Conference.

"I think it's important from the standpoint that you want to have home games," said Union defender Danny Califf.

"I think that we would want to play a team from the East rather than from the West. Other than that, playoffs are a clean slate so it doesn't really matter how good the teams were in the regular season."

Philadelphia is tied with Kansas City for first place in the East. Should they remain equal on points after their final matches, the tiebreaker will go to goal differential and then total goals scored, as both of the matches between the two teams this season resulted in draws.

The Union have put together an eight-match unbeaten streak, the longest in the club's two-year history. They have posted a 3-0-5 record over that stretch.