Nearly 800 kilometres away from BMO Field, New York Red Bulls fans cheered for Toronto FC on Sunday night.

Chants of “T-F-C, T-F-C” reportedly rang out in the stands at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., as fans kept one eye on the field and the other on updates from Toronto, where the Reds were taking on Atlanta United.

A season-ending 4-1 win by the Reds over Atlanta United, which started the day atop the Eastern Conference standings, opened the door for New York to take the Supporters’ Shield with a 1-0 victory over Orlando City SC — for a league-record 71 points.

Last fall, Americans Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore were booed at every touch of the ball when Toronto and New York met in the East semifinal on the way to the Reds’ first MLS Cup championship.

While the regular-season finale was just the start for TFC in 2017, this season has been over for a while now. The Reds will miss the post-season for the first time in four years.

Beating one of this season’s Major League Soccer powerhouses with a dominant performance that included a pair of goals by striker Lucas Janson and one each for Marky Delgado and Sebastian Giovinco — who capped his campaign with a sublime volley at the back post, one of his best finishes of the season — was no more than a consolation prize.

“In a season that’s been challenging you look for small things, big things, whatever you want to call this, to be proud of,” TFC coach Greg Vanney said. “It’s the last day of the year and the other team had, in a lot of ways, a lot more to play for on the day than us. We showed some character and came out and outplayed them on a day when they had everything to play for.”

The league was so confident that Atlanta would come up with a result and seal top spot in the final standings that the Supporters’ Shield — won by TFC last season — was in Toronto, denying the Red Bulls the chance to pose with it.

The 23,895 fans at BMO Field — still launching flares, chanting and sticking around to applaud after the final whistle — witnessed a complete performance that was too rare this season. A select group of supporters got to line up at midfield and take the shirts off the players’ backs after the contest, a goodwill gesture at the end of a forgettable MLS campaign and before an off-season of uncertainty.

The frustration and embarrassment of a season gone wrong — the Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps will also miss the playoffs, leaving MLS without a Canadian representative — didn’t spoil the mood on fan appreciation day. TFC’s success in recent years hasn’t been forgotten. But the grind of back-to-back trips to the MLS Cup final and a taxing CONCACAF Champions League campaign this year took a toll on the club’s chances in league play this time around.

“I think our team needs a break,” said Vanney after the club finished 10-18-6 — one year after a record-breaking 20-5-9 campaign. “Mentally, physically, this year’s been frustrating for everybody. I think they need to clear their minds a little bit.”

The Reds plan to take a week off before reconvening for a couple of weeks to prepare for off-season training. The players learned the hard way about the importance of staying healthy to keep up with the demands of Champions League play while staying competitive in MLS.

“We’ll continue to try and get better, but the key is (to) prepare ourselves to be able to stay healthy and to be durable throughout the course of the year,” said Vanney, whose club allowed a franchise-worst 64 goals. “Just to finish on some positive note, despite everything that’s gone on … you take something from it, anyways.”

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