The Chicago Fire put forth a solid defensive effort and nearly escaped Giants Stadium with a hard-earned point Saturday night. But New York Red Bulls star Juan Pablo Angel made them pay for leaving him open for a split-second in the second half and the goal stood up, handing the Fire a disappointing 1-0 loss.
With just seven points separating the teams in the Eastern Conference standings (Chicago has a game in hand), the match figured to be a tight affair from the start.
Red Bulls forward John Wolyniec, starting in place of injured teenage star Jozy Altidore, out with a sore calf, had perhaps the best chance of the opening half. Twenty minutes in, Wolyniec received the ball with his back to goal, made a clever turn past a defender and unleashed a 30-yard drive that sailed just wide of Matt Pickens' right post.
Later, the home team nearly got on the board off a fluky play. Clint Mathis served in a cross from the endline that the Fire's Logan Pause got a foot on, and the deflected ball was heading into the net before Pickens hurried back to tip over the bar.
The Fire's best opportunity came when Paulo Wanchope was fouled on the right side of the Red Bulls area. Mexican star Cuauhtemoc Blanco sauntered over to take the free kick and Bakary Soumare did well to get a boot on it inside a heavily congested box. However, the midfielder's effort bounced helplessly wide of New York backstop Ronald Waterreus' near post.
Seth Stammler got a final chance for the Bulls on the stroke of halftime off a corner kick, but the defender flashed his header wide.
New York also had the better of the second-half chances. The first came when Blanco's ambitious drive from distance was blocked and Richards played a quick long pass to release new signee Francis Doe on the left. Doe showed some fancy footwork in the box and got off a cross, but it was too high for Angel, who had made an intelligent run to the back post.
Richards had a decent chance of his own moments later, but his low shot from the right side was smothered by Pickens. Looking for a spark an hour into the tilt, Fire coach Juan Carlos Osorio brought on Calen Carr for an ineffective Chris Rolfe, lined up to start at a somewhat unfamiliar role wide on the right. But it was Angel who finally broke the stalemate.
Richards picked up a ball in the midfield, rode a tackle and found the Colombian making a run unmarked in the left side the area. Angel took a touch, looked up and coolly slotted past Pickens for his 14th goal of the season, for the moment tying him with D.C. United's Luciano Emilio and Kansas City's Eddie Johnson atop the MLS scoring chart.
Chicago pressed for the tying goal for the final quarter hour, and their best chance to tie came when they thought they had won a penalty kick after Mathis' clearing attempt appeared to carom off Chris Leitch's arm inside the box. But referee Terry Vaughn was unimpressed and signaled play on.
With the loss, the Fire fall to 7-10-5 with 22 points. They remain in sixth place in the tightly packed East. They will have a chance at revenge when they take on the Red Bulls in two weeks' time at Toyota Park, but first both teams have road games ahead, the Red Bulls traveling to face Chivas USA next Sunday and the Fire taking on the Crew in Columbus next Saturday.
Doug McIntyre is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
