RECAP: Red Bull New York Put Out the Fire-Chicago Style, 3-1
The Red Bulls, in their fourth-to-last game before the World Cup break, traveled to Chicago to play the Fire in revenge for not making the postseason last season.
Last season, the two squads drew square in their two meetings, with each winning at their home stadiums.
First Half
This half was mostly even, with ebbs and flows of each having a good run to the goal. Though this was mostly underscored by the number of times that Dylan Nealis played the hero and made multiple stops in the way of Hugo Cuypers, Jonathan Bamba, and Philip Zinckernagel. The half started with a Chicago attack in the first minute, which is unusual for the Red Bulls. Two and six minutes later, Bamba was caught offside, and the last one led to the goal being disallowed. The VAR also checked this, and in the end, it was determined that the call was correct, even if it was by a fingernail.
In the 13th minute, the clearest option for the Fire came, and Maren Halle-Selassie headed the ball a little too high. In the 37th minute, the Red Bulls’ first attack reached the Fire’s goal, but Emil Forsberg missed to the right. Right before the half, Jorge Ruvalcalba scored his fourth of the season after being assisted by Forsberg, beating Chris Brady from the left side.
Second Half
The half started with Eric Maxim Chupo-Moting replacing Julian Hall. Hall, in the first half, didn’t play as well as he has in prior games. Four minutes after the half started, the break was on by having Robert Volonder clearing the ball to Ronald Donkor, who then assisted Cade Cowell for his first of the season. Then, from the 49th minute towards the 73rd minute, both sides exchanged equal fire, making the game go into a lull.
Then, in the 74th minute, Adri Mehmeti was fouled by Brady inside the penalty area. Originally, the referee ruled it was a corner kick, which the VAR reviewed and determined the referee needed to go to the monitor to review the play again. For the first time this season, a call was overturned in favor of the Red Bulls, as Brady’s action was excessive and late to get the ball. In this action, Brady extended his arms too late and tripped Mehmeti. Chupo-Moting, who came on at halftime, scored the penalty kick to put the score to 3-0 in the 81st (the replay review took four minutes).
In the 88th minute, as the game was coming to an end, Cuypers finally broke the clean sheet, which would’ve been the first since the second game of the season against New England.
Final Thoughts
This game broke an almost month-long winless streak for the Red Bulls and also counts down to the World Cup break. Next week, there are two games at home in which the Columbus Crew will come to Harrison for the midweek matchup, and the revenge game against NYCFC in Harrison will be next Saturday.
This game was the first game that Justin Che was able to come in and play some minutes since his injury against Toronto. This was also Nealis’s best game of the season, as he was able to contain Cuypers and company to just one goal instead of three or more.
Discover more from New York Sports Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.