HARRISON, N.J. — This is a long, mean rivalry, one that dates back two decades and features many spikes-up tackles. On a Sunday afternoon with so much at stake, D.C. United was not about to make life easy for the Red Bulls, refusing to play pretty soccer against one of the more entertaining, attacking teams in Major League Soccer.

The result, a 1-0 win by the Red Bulls and a 2-0 victory on aggregate goals in the Eastern Conference semifinal series, was a homely affair that included tight marking, sharp elbows and nervous, wayward passes. Jesse Marsch, the Red Bulls’ coach, termed the match “chippy, just like we thought.”

Then, near the end, there was cathartic relief for the sellout crowd in Harrison when Bradley Wright-Phillips finished an easy setup in front of the net from the substitute forward Gonzalo Veron, beating D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid. The better team — both over the course of the season, and for these 90 minutes — had been rewarded.

“We adapt to it,” Wright-Phillips said of United’s physical, direct style. “But we don’t like it. We prefer to play football.”