What was supposed to be a matchup of the two best defensive teams in Major League Soccer turned into a stunning rout. The Chicago Fire beat former coach Juan Carlos Osorio and the New York Red Bulls 5-1 at Giants Stadium Sunday.
It was one of the worst losses in the club's 13-year history, for a New York team that had conceded just six goals on the season coming into the match.
Chad Barrett scored two goals, Cuauhtémoc Blanco contributed one and added three assists, and Chris Rolfe and Gonzalo Segares found the back of the net as the Fire blew the game open with a four-goal burst in a 14-minute span in the second half. Mike Magee scored the lone goal for the Red Bulls.
The Fire picked apart the Red Bulls back four from the opening kickoff and before the game was 10 minutes old the visitors went ahead 1-0 on the first of Barrett's goals on the day. A Blanco cross went off Hunter Freeman's knee and right to Barrett, who beat Jon Conway inside the far post on seven minutes.
Four minutes later Barrett fought off Luke Sassano, turned to the outside of Jeff Parke and put a slow roller just wide of the far post. In the 13th minute the Fire nearly capitalized on a Kevin Goldthwaite giveaway, but Blanco put his shot high from the top of the 18-yard box.
The Red Bulls had a pair of scoring chances midway through the first half, but Claudio Reyna and Parke both missed the mark on attempted headers.
Three minutes after the half began, Chicago made it 2-0 when Bakary Soumare found Blanco, who crossed to Rolfe. He beat Conway with an open header for his second goal of the season.
Chicago continued its tear in the 54th minute, when Andrew Boyens took down Justin Mapp, leading to a successful Blanco penalty kick.
Barrett hit for his second in the 60th minute, diving to head home a Mapp cross from the left after Blanco held up the ball in the corner. Eight minutes later, Segares followed a Wilman Conde header off the post from a corner to make it 5-0.
Jozy Altidore, who came on as a second-half substitute, insured the Red Bulls would at least not suffer a home shutout, beating Jon Busch with a near post header in the 74th minute for his third goal of the year.
The Red Bulls welcomed Reyna back to the lineup after missing a pair of games with a strained left calf, but were without Dave van den Bergh, who was serving a one-game suspension after being sent off against Kansas City last Saturday and Altidore, sidelined with ingrown toenails.
Seth Stammler missed his third consecutive game with a lower back injury and Osorio was relegated to a Giants Stadium suite after being ejected late in last week's draw with the Wizards.
The Red Bulls went with a 4-5-1 formation, playing both Sassano and Carlos Mendes as holding midfielders behind Reyna, with Dane Richards and Danleigh Borman out wide and Juan Pablo Angel playing as the lone striker.
The back four consisted of Goldthwaite, Boyens, Parke and Freeman, each of whom were victimized by Chicago's potent attack as the Red Bulls' five-match unbeaten streak came to an end.
Denis Hamlett made one change from a team that lost to Houston last week as Conde made his first MLS start for Chicago, which moved into a three-way tie atop the Eastern Conference with New England and Columbus.
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
