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Three Thoughts: New York Red Bulls snatch 1-0 win from Alianza and march toward CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals

RBNY's last-minute goal has probably clinched the team its first-ever CCL quarterfinal berth.

Fifteen minutes into this match and it was absolutely clear the New York Red Bulls would win it. Seventy-five minutes later, when Sacha Kljestan struck the 90th-minute goal that all but assured RBNY's passage to the next round of CONCACAF Champions League, what had unfolded was one of the most nail-biting, dominant home wins of the Red Bulls' tenure at Red Bull Arena.

If you said you knew that last-minute winner was coming, you're deluding yourself. The 1-0 win was deserved for the extended passages of heavy pressure on Alianza's goal; it was also entirely undeserved because Alianza held firm, fought back and made the Red Bulls sweat through several close calls in front of their own net.