Photo: Leslie Smith
Chicago Fire FC 1-3 Red Bull New York
CHICAGO, IL–The New York Red Bulls haven’t played many good matches this season. On the road, the Red Bulls put together one of its best efforts especially on defense. It was more than enough for the Red Bulls to defeat the Chicago Fire 3-1 at Soldier Field on Saturday afternoon.
“I’m disappointed with the result,” Chicago Fire FC coach Gregg Berhalter said. “I think last week (against FC Cincinnati), we had the context that the performance was OK, and the result wasn’t good enough. But today, both of them were poor. I think when we look at the game. It was very similar to how Sporting Kansas City game started. Where, we had complete control of the game and then it was going to be about being secure in every single moment.”
The Fire had some misjudgments in the back on its defense that led to the Red Bulls goals.
“When you look at the first goal, it’s poor defending,” Berhalter said. “We gave them two shots in the first half. They scored on one of them and now we’re behind the eight ball.”
As for the offense for the Fire. There wasn’t enough making the opportunities in the final third of the field.
“The combinations were off,” Berhalter said. “I really don’t have an explanation for it I completely agree that we were one step slow. Maybe the first step was off. The weight of the passes off. The accuracy of the pass, we were a little bit off with the combinations. I want to give the Red Bulls a lot of credit, because they did a great job defensively, and when you look at their defensive records, it’s not good. They really defended well, so give them a ton of credit on the win.”
It looked like early on that the Chicago Fire would get on the board first. Johnathan Bamba headed the ball and beat the Red Bulls keeper Ethan Horvath near the back post, but it was waived off for offsides in the seventh minute of play.
Photo: Leslie Smith
New York scored the opening goal in the 45th minute. Emil Forsberg sent a cross from the right side. Jorge Ruvalcaba collected the pass and delivered a shot into the upper left corner of the goal for a 1-0 Red Bulls lead.
Red Bulls increased their lead to 2-0 in the 49th minute. Cade Cowell scored on a shot in the center of the box from a Ronald Donkor pass.
Bamba had a diving header that went off the crossbar from 8 yards out in the 52nd minute for the Fire.
Then, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting added a penalty kick in the 81st minute of play for a 3-0 Red Bulls advantage.
Hugo Cuypers scored his 11th goal of the season with a rebound goal that cut the lead to 3-1 in the 87th minute.
New York Red Bulls with the victory improved its record to (4-5-3, 15 points). Chicago Fire FC dropped their mark to (5-4-2, 17 points)
The Fire get back into action on Wednesday night traveling to play DC United at 6:30 CDT.
The Red Bulls will host the Columbus Crew also on Wednesday at 6:30 EDT.
SCORING SUMMARY:
RBNY – Ruvalcalba (Forsberg) 45′
RBNY – Cowell (Donkor) 49′
RBNY – Choupo-Moting (PK) 81′
CHI – Clcabauypers (unassited) 87′
BOOKING SUMMARY:
RBNY – Voloder (yellow, unsporting behavior) 18′
RBNY – Rubelcaba (yellow, unsporting behavior) 81′
CHI – Halle-Sassie (yellow, unsporting behavior) 81′
RBNY – Valencia (yellow, delay of game) 96′
CHICAGO FIRE FC: #1-Brady, #3-Elliott, #16-Waterman, #15-Gutman, #24-Dean (#20-Shockalook 80), #42-D’Avilla (#22-Pineda 80), #8-Saletros (#35-Oregel 80), #19-Bamba (#12-Dithejana 60), #7-Halle-Selassie (#27-Borso 88), #9-Cuypers, #11-Zinckernagel.
Subs not used: #44-Cohen, #4-Mkobazi, #8-Mueller.
RED BULL NEW YORK: #34-Horvath, #26-Parker, #6-Voloder (#2-Che 80), #12-Nealls, #56-Dos Santos (#5-Velencia 74), #15-Mehmati, #10-Forsberg (#4-Berggren 59), #48-Donker, #7-Cowell (#79-Mosquera 73), #11-Ruvalcaba, #16-Hall #13-Choupo-Moting 46).
Subs not used: #77-McCarthy, #3-Marshall-Rutti, #37-Sofo, #39-Benedetti,
TOTAL SHOTS: CHI 17-9 RBNY
SHOTS ON GOAL: CHI 5-4 RBNY
FOULS: CHI 7-10 RBNY
OFFSIDES: CHI 4-1 RBNY
CORNER KICKS: CHI 6-3 RBNY
SAVES: CHI 1-3 RBNY
Referee: Allen Chapman
Assistant Referees: Michael Berwagen and Gianni Fachini
Fourth Official: Sergi Boiko
VAR: Carol Anne Chenard
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and 71º
Attendance: 23, 647
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