CHICAGO FIRE v NEW YORK RED BULLS
TOYOTA PARK, Bridgeview, Ill.
7:30 p.m. CT (FSC/FSE)
Sept. 15, 2007 (WEEK 24) / MLS Game #156
A week after a crucial victory at Columbus to pull into eighth place in the MLS overall standings and the final playoff spot, the Chicago Fire face another huge conference game as they play host to the New York Red Bulls at Toyota Park. The Red Bulls knocked off the Fire 1-0 at Giants Stadium two weeks ago, but lost for the third time in four games last weekend at Chivas USA - all on the road. The Fire have alternated wins and losses over their last five games but have still pulled a point ahead of both the Crew and Colorado Rapids in the overall table, while also having a game in hand over both of those clubs.
REFEREE:
Baldomero Toledo. SAR (bench): C.J. Morgante; JAR (opposite): Peter Manikowski; 4th: Ricardo Salazar
MLS Career: 41 games; FC/gm: 28.2; Y/gm: 3.9; R: 12; pens: 13
Games involving Fire: P10 W4 L4 T2; FC/gm: 30.8; Y/gm: 4.4; R: 2; pens: 5
Games involving Red Bulls: P9 W2 L2 T5; FC/gm: 31.4; Y/gm: 3.3; R: 5; pens: 4
INJURY REPORT:
CHICAGO FIRE - OUT: DF Osei Telesford (L groin strain); MF Justin Mapp (R ankle sprain); QUESTIONABLE: DF Jeff Curtin (R groin strain); PROBABLE: MF Chris Armas (R ankle sprain); MF Ivan Guerrero (L ankle sprain); DF Diego Gutierrez (R foot contusion) ... NEW YORK RED BULLS - OUT: MF Chris Karcz (L knee); MF Santino Quaranta (R toe sprain); DOUBTFUL: FW Elie Ikangu (R quadriceps strain); QUESTIONABLE: FW Jozy Altidore (L lower leg injury)
SUSPENDED:
CHI: Bakary Soumare (through Sept. 16; five cautions)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CHI: Calen Carr, Diego Gutierrez, Dasan Robinson, Gonzalo Segares
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: CHI: C.J. Brown, Chad Barrett ... NY: Jozy Altidore, Kevin Goldthwaite, Joe Vide
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (30 meetings): Fire 15 wins (0 shootout), 45 goals ... Red Bulls 10 wins (0 shootout), 37 goals ... Draws 5
AT CHICAGO: (14 meetings): Fire 8 wins (0 shootout), 24 goals ... Red Bulls 3 wins (0 shootout), 13 goals ... Draws 3
• This is the third and final league meeting between the teams this season, the lone meeting at Toyota Park. The Red Bulls took both games played at Giants Stadium, first in late May, then two weeks ago.
• A year ago, the Fire won the season series, taking both matchups at Toyota Park. The Red Bulls won one of the two games at Giants Stadium, with the other a draw.
• The Fire have lost just once at home to New York in the last four seasons. Since a 1-0 MetroStars win on June 22, 2002, Chicago has won five times in the Heartland, with three draws and a MetroStars win at Soldier Field on May 14, 2005.
• The two teams also met in the only cup final the New York club has ever reached, the 2003 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, but the Fire claimed the 1-0 victory at Giants Stadium.
• Coaches record: Juan Carlos Osorio vs. NY: P1 W0 L1 D0 ... Bruce Arena v CHI: P6 W5 L1 D0
2007 (MLS):
5/24: NY 3, CHI 0 (Altidore 1; Angel 3, 68)
9/1: NY 1, CHI 0 (Angel 75)
• The Red Bulls won the first meeting of the year between the clubs, a 3-0 win on May 24 on MLS Primetime Thursday. Jozy Altidore gave the home side the lead after just 55 seconds, the fastest goal in New York club history. Then barely two minutes later, Juan Pablo Angel ripped a low drive inside the far post to double the New York lead with the game in just its third minute. The Red Bulls put the game away at the three-quarter mark as Angel wrong-footed a defender and the Colombian toe-poked it home from close range.
• The early goals tied an MLS record for the two fastest goals scored at the start of the game. D.C. United did it in a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Aug. 9, 1997 and the Galaxy scored twice in the opening three minutes in a 4-4 tie with the Tampa Bay Mutiny, May 9, 2001.
• Two weeks ago, the Red Bulls got the game's lone goal in a defeat of the Fire of the Meadowlands. The Red Bulls had most of the run of play, but nothing to show for it, until they finally unlocked the Fire defense with 15 minutes to play. Dane Richards rode a couple of tackles in the center of the park before sliding a pass to Angel on the left, and he sent a low shot past Chicago 'keeper Matt Pickens inside the far corner for the game-winner.
• Here's Arena's team (4-4-2): Ronald Waterreus - Chris Leitch, Jeff Parke, Seth Stammler, Dave van den Bergh - Dane Richards, Claudio Reyna, Joe Vide (Mike Magee 69), Clint Mathis (Carlos Mendes 89) - John Wolyniec (Francis Doe 63), Juan Pablo Angel. Substitutes Not Used: Jon Conway, Kevin Goldthwaite, Dema Kovalenko, Sinisa Ubiparipovic
• Here's Osorio's team (4-4-1-1): Matt Pickens - Logan Pause, C.J. Brown, Gonzalo Segares, Diego Gutierrez (Chad Barrett 89) - Chris Rolfe (Calen Carr 60), Bakary Soumare, Chris Armas, Ivan Guerrero (Mike Banner 66) - Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Paulo Wanchope,. Substitutes Not Used: Jon Busch, Bruno Menezes, Brian Plotkin, Dasan Robinson
CHICAGO FIRE
The Chicago Fire rebounded once again from a loss, answering their defeat in New York with a win in Columbus against the Crew, a 1-0 decision on Saturday night at Crew Stadium. With the victory, the Fire moved into eighth place in the MLS overall table with 29 points from 23 matches and into the final postseason spot, a point ahead of both the Crew and Colorado Rapids.
LAST MATCH
• The Crew came into the game still grimly hanging on to the final playoff spot, despite not having won since July 22, while the Fire were looking to continue a turnaround that had seen three wins and a draw in their last six games.
• The game was delayed for more than a half-hour at the 38-minute mark as lightning storms and torrential rains rolled through the Ohio capital, nearly leaving the field flooded.
• But there was no abandonment, and the visitors scored the game's lone goal in the 65th minute, just seconds after Marcos Gonzalez had hit the post at the other end for Columbus.
• The newly acquired Wilman Conde flighted a long ball from the Chicago half over the top, and Paulo Wanchope ghosted behind the Crew back line to get onto the end of it. Crew 'keeper Will Hesmer slipped as he tried to come off his line, and that gave Wanchope the opening to curl home a shot for his second goal with the Fire.
• Fire head coach Juan Carlos Osorio made two changes to the team that lost 1-0 to the New York Red Bulls the previous Saturday. Wilman Conde made his MLS debut and Dasan Robinson came back into the back three, as Gonzalo Segares was away on international duty with Costa Rica and Ivan Guerrero was supposed to be with Honduras, but was injured.
• Here's Osorio's team (3-4-1-2): Matt Pickens - C.J. Brown, Wilman Conde, Dasan Robinson - Logan Pause, Chris Armas, Bakary Soumare, Diego Gutierrez (Mike Banner 62) - Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Paulo Wanchope (Chad Barrett 72), Chris Rolfe (Calen Carr 82). Substitutes Not Used: Jon Busch, Floyd Franks, Bruno Menezes, Daniel Woolard
• "They are a good team, and a good team at home, with the same thing on the line that we had on the line," said Chicago captain Chris Armas. "There still are a lot of points out there to gain. This is the first real chance for them to see us and we can get us a playoff spot. We treated it like a playoff mentality and a playoff game - I know that they did."
TEAM NEWS
• Osorio had two chances at making adjustments against the Crew - and they both worked. The weather delay gave him one chance, and he saw improvement, then there was the usual halftime break.
• "I told them that we have to keep warm and we have to keep moving and to be fair, the last five minutes [of the first half], they played better. For the second half, I said a few things at halftime that I would prefer not to repeat, but we had a good second half," Osorio said. "We started very bright and I think in the end, it was a well-deserved three points for us."
• It was another clean sheet for the Fire, who have posted shutouts in five of their last seven games - with four wins and a draw in that stretch. But it was their first 1-0 win since the fourth match of the season.
• "All week we worked very hard on the tactical side of things because we knew that today could be the decisive moment for us. I think it worked well for us today," Osorio said. "We limited a very good team going forward to few chances and we waited patiently for our chance and when it came our way, Paulo put it in very well."
• There has been a noticeable change in Chicago since the arrival of Osorio, who brought with him Wanchope and Conde, both of whom had played for Osorio in different leagues.
• "I should give all the credit to the players," said Osorio, "because my responsibility is to bring in good players and good professionals, and I think [Wanchope and Conde] are very good players and professionals."
• The Fire have four of their final seven games at Toyota Park. But the next four games on their schedule are against teams that are currently holding spots in the playoffs, and they still have two games remaining against overall league leader D.C. United.
• "I thought we earned the points tonight," Armas said. "There is starting to be a belief in this locker room that we can get into the playoffs and make a run."
NEW YORK RED BULLS
The New York Red Bulls lost for the third time in four games - all on the road - as they crashed 3-0 to Chivas USA last Sunday evening at The Home Depot Center. The Red Bulls have 36 points from 24 matches, still sitting in third place in the Eastern Conference and sixth in the overall table, still six points behind East second-place side New England.
LAST MATCH
• Chivas USA saw their three-game winning run come to an end, despite coming back for an historic draw on Thursday against D.C. United, while the Red Bulls had stopped a two-game slide with a vital home win against Chicago the weekend before.
• Chivas USA got the quick start they were looking for. A cross from Ante Razov over the goalmouth found Sacha Kljestan on the right, and after nutmegging Kevin Goldthwaite as he challenged, Kljestan drove in a low cross that Galindo knocked home first-time for a fourth-minute opener.
• Galindo then doubled the Chivas lead in the 57th minute. Racing onto a long ball from the Chivas half, he outfought Seth Stammler to latch onto it before racing into the area and then chipping the ball over a recovered Stammler and New York goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus for his 11th goal on the season and fifth in the last five games.
• Chivas put the game away 20 minutes from the end when substitute Laurent Merlin was bundled over the area. Ante Razov stepped up and converted the first penalty awarded to the Red-and-White since October of last year, his seventh of the year and now the 106th of his league career.
• Red Bulls manager Bruce Arena made one change to the team that defeated the Fire 1-0 at Giants Stadium the weekend before. With Dane Richards suspended, Kevin Goldthwaite came back in at left back and Dave van den Bergh moved forward to a wide midfield role.
• Here's Arena's team (4-4-2): Ronald Waterreus - Chris Leitch, Jeff Parke, Seth Stammler, Kevin Goldthwaite (Francis Doe 46) - Clint Mathis (Mike Magee 37), Joe Vide, Claudio Reyna, Dave van den Bergh - John Wolyniec (Dema Kovalenko 62), Juan Pablo Angel. Substitutes Not Used: Jon Conway, Hunter Freeman, Carlos Mendes, Markus Schopp
• "We had our chances. If we had gotten a goal early in the second half or in the first half, the game could have looked differently. We have nowhere else to look but inside," Arena said. "We made some mistakes that were obviously crucial to this game and we were punished for them. They are a good hard working team."
TEAM NEWS
• On the offensive side of the ball, the Red Bulls outshot Chivas 11-8; however, only three of those shots were put on frame. Juan Pablo Angel was held quiet for most of the match and was most dangerous on two free kicks three minutes apart midway through the first half. The first attempt was saved by Brad Guzan and the second was sent just over the crossbar.
• "We had a few chances but we didn't convert them," said Angel. "It's hard to take positives from a result like this but we played well and created chances in parts of the game and we could have converted one or two of them." Said Arena: I think we actually played pretty well in spurts and it was a very lopsided score given the quality of play. I think we created most of the chances in the game and made some individual mistakes that resulted in goals."
• There was one thing the Red Bulls were trying to avoid - conceding an early goal. "Coming here, we knew exactly what they wanted to do and, unfortunately, we played right into their game," said midfielder Dave van den Bergh. "We just gave them the game in the fourth minute like they wanted. We gave a goal away too early and that's when they're at their best, when they can defend a lead. When they have to make the game they're not so great."
• The Red Bulls attack also suffered a blow when Clint Mathis was forced off with an injury before the first half was over. Then Arena put on Liberian striker Francis Doe to start the second half as he readjusted his tactical scheme.
• "Injuries are a part of the game, it happens. To make a change in the first half is difficult and to start the second half with a change is tough," Arena said. "... Give them credit - you have to jump on opponents' mistakes and they certainly did that."
• Now seven points ahead of the Fire as the teams meet this weekend, van den Bergh said he is confident that the Red Bulls will make the playoffs and does not feel a sense of urgency in the team.
• "If we stand our ground and pick up the points that we can starting next week in Chicago then I'm not worried about making the playoffs," he said. "The urgency is in Chicago, Columbus and Kansas City. Not on us."
