BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - It was a night of firsts at Toyota Park Sunday night, but none the New York Red Bulls will be proud of. In a dominating performance in the grand opening of their new home stadium, the Chicago Fire handed the Red Bulls their first road loss of the season, a 2-0 defeat in front of an overflow crowd of 20,133.
After a lavish pre-game ceremony, Chicago attacked from the opening kickoff and never took their foot off the gas pedal, Chris Armas and Thiago providing the goals for the home side. If not for some stellar saves by Tony Meola, the Red Bulls could have been down three goals at the half.
Early on the Fire exposed the Red Bulls aging left side and, after a pair of point blank saves by Meola, the Fire deservedly took a 1-0 lead in 12th minute. Following a bad clearance by Steve Jolley, who struggled in the opening 45 minutes, Armas picked up the ball and Meola got a hand on his shot from 14 yards out, but it trickled into the net. It was the Chicago captain's first goal of the year.
Mo Johnston was forced to make an early substitution when Seth Stammler left the game with a right quad contusion in the 14th minute. Marvell Wynne came on to play on the right side of Johnston's five-man midfield.
In the 28th minute, a foul by Jolley set up a dangerous free kick for the Fire, but Nate Jaqua headed Justin Mapp's service over the crossbar. Four minutes later, Meola was forced to make a kick save on Thiago following a scramble in the box.
As bad as the left side was for the Red Bulls, the rest of the midfield was non-existent. On many occasions, balls were just sent up field where Edson Buddle and Jean Philippe Peguero were left to take on four and five Fire players behind the ball. On other occasions, the Red Bulls held the ball too long, as was the case several times by Youri Djorkaeff.
The only two quality scoring chances the Red Bulls had in the first half were put over the crossbar by Peguero in the 13th minute and Henderson in the 40th minute.
As a result, the Fire dominated possession and had the most dangerous scoring chances. They even were a bit unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty kick following a collision between Jeff Parke and Jaqua in the box in the 44th minute.
The Fire continued their relentless attack in the opening 10 minutes of the second half and Meola was again called into action. In the 54th minute Jaqua was freed towards goal by a clever Thiago chip. Facing an open net, Jaqua tried to place the ball towards the far post and Meola did well to come back and get a hand on it in the 62nd minute.
Amado Guevara, who has been suffering from a right strained hamstring, replaced Mark Lisi in the 56th minute and Mike Magee came on for Henderson in the 71st minute, but they couldn't stop the Fire.
The Red Bulls had a good argument for a penalty in the 64th minute when it appeared Edson Buddle was tripped up by Dasan Robinson three yards inside the box. But instead referee Jair Marrufo awarded a free kick at the top of the 18-yard box, and Djorkaeff's attempt deflected off the Chicago wall and was tipped over the crossbar by goalkeeper Zach Thornton, who was rarely called into action.
The Fire finally made it 2-0 in the 68th minute when Thiago dribbled and found space near the top of the box, pushing the ball past Meola to his left. As a result, the Red Bulls' stay out of the Eastern Conference cellar lasted just a week and the Fire moved into fourth place, one point ahead of the Red Bulls. New York returns to action Wednesday night when they host the Columbus Crew at Giants Stadium.
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
