BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - This time there would be no second half collapse, no lost lead. This time, and for the first time this year, the New York Red Bulls lost on the road, and Sunday night's 2-0 defeat by the Chicago Fire at the grand opening of Toyota Park was about as bad as it could get.
"I think the worst game of the year for us, no question," Tony Meola said.
And that's saying a lot, since the Red Bulls suffered an embarrassing 4-1 thrashing at the hands of D.C. United at Giants Stadium April 22.
"We must have given away 50 to 70 passes tonight, which is just mind boggling numbers," Meola said. "We'd win it and we'd give it right back. Sometimes they were rolling to us and we'd give it away. It's crazy; it's got to be better."
At the grand opening of Toyota Park, and in front of an overflow crowd of 20,133, the Red Bulls were dominated from the opening kickoff to the final whistle and lost their first road game of the year after four draws.
While the game was much more lopsided than the final score indicated, the margin of victory might have reached epic proportions if not for the play of Meola in net. Under what seemed like a constant barrage from the Fire, Meola faced 16 shots and made five stellar saves.
If only the rest of his team had played the same way.
"We never took control of the game," Meola said. "I'd be interested to see how many times we put five passes together in the game. It's got to be better. Everyone has to be held accountable, everyone has to have a higher standard for themselves than that and we just hope that it's one bad game and we move on to Wednesday."
Understandably, the Fire came out, well, on fire but the Red Bulls didn't do what is necessary as a road team. They didn't keep possession and they didn't slow down the game. Instead the game plan looked like something out of the NHL, with the Red Bulls attempting to dump and chase.
That left forwards Edson Buddle and Jean Philippe Peguero to fend for themselves against several Fire players behind the ball. In fact, the Red Bulls found themselves under so much pressure, Buddle and Peguero had to track back so deep, they would receive the ball at midfield.
"It was very disappointing," Red Bulls coach Mo Johnston said. "I felt the first half was the worst we've played since the start of the year. We kept losing the ball at midfield and on the left hand side of the field."
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 mightily in the opening 45 minutes, Chris 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.
The Fire couldn't even be slowed by the halftime break as they again kept the Red Bulls on their heels, forcing Meola into more saves until Thiago finally broke through in the 68th minute to double Chicago's advantage.
"My head is still spinning a bit," defender Jeff Parke said. "It's tough because they set the tone right away and we couldn't keep up with it."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
