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Red Bulls midfielder Tim Cahill says. "We have to believe, regardless of the players who are playing, man for man we are pretty good."

(Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)

So the Red Bulls blew a two-goal lead in the second half and had to settle for a 2-2 tie in the first game of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Houston Dynamo.

No problem. They will play the decisive second leg Wednesday night at Red Bull Arena, a building where they posted an 11-2-4 record this year, where they scored a league-high 34 goals and where a raucous home crowd will rally behind them.

Just to be clear. That’s a good thing, right?

Well, not so fast.

The Red Bulls have never won a home playoff game at Red Bull Arena, going 0-3 the past three years. Even worse, they had to watch the San Jose Earthquakes (2010) and D.C. United (2012) celebrate playoff-series-clinching victories on their home turf.

In between, when they played the first leg of their playoff series against the Los Angeles Galaxy at Red Bull Arena in 2011, the 1-0 loss ended in a brawl at midfield.

Can it be the franchise that seemed cursed until this season brought with them the bad luck from Giants Stadium?

"Seriously, does anybody believe in a curse?" Red Bulls coach Mike Petke asked following yesterday’s practice at the team’s facility in Hanover. "I know it’s a question we have to ask and I know it makes a great headline, but this is not last year’s team. This is not the previous year’s team. It’s far from it. What happens (tonight) has nothing to do with a curse or has nothing to do with anything but getting ourselves prepared for the game.

"At the end of the day I have confidence in my guys and these guys have confidence in themselves. ... This is a different team with a different mentality and we have different goals. It’s a brand new year."

Still, the three home playoff losses have been crushing.

The 3-1 loss to the Earthquakes followed a 1-0 Red Bulls win in Santa Clara, Calif. The winning goal in the clincher came with nine minutes to play.

The brawl with the Galaxy, started when Red Bulls midfielder Rafa Marquez threw the ball at the Galaxy’s Landon Donovan, and that loss set up a game in Carson, Calif., which the Red Bulls lost, 2-1.

The game last year with D.C. United followed a 1-1 tie in Washington when the venues were switched due to Hurricane Sandy. After a snowstorm postponed the game at Red Bull Arena for a day, the Red Bulls lost, 1-0, on a goal in the 88th minute.

Petke, an assistant coach the past two years, vows it won’t happen again.

"Our team has been prepared this year, tactically, mentally and physically better than any team I’ve been a part of," he said. "So read between the lines on that. I’m not going to point to last year and say out of my mouth that we weren’t prepared, but perhaps I am saying that with my answer.

"My team is prepared."

But the Red Bulls will have to play without their best defender as Jamison Olave sits out with a suspension following a red card in the first leg.

"We have to believe, regardless of the players who are playing, man for man we are pretty good," said Tim Cahill, who had a goal and an assist in the first leg. "When you win a Supporters’ Shield it’s not by fluke, it’s from consistency, and also the way you play throughout the season."

Petke agrees, and admits this team has more depth than those that lost those home playoff games.

"You can take a number of players and say if we didn’t have them it would be a disadvantage," he said. "I think we’ve proven this year, with our depth, that we’re more than capable and more than prepared to insert people in and keep the same level of consistency.

"Olave’s a big player for us. He’s one of the best defenders in the league, but we have guys sitting behind him that we can make adjustments and not skip a beat."