Red Bulls Hold on to a draw at Chicago

The Red Bulls knew in their road match down against FC Dallas that their two goal draw was a poor result, they had the man advantage and they had the lead twice. One before halftime and then after FC Dallas converted the equalizer.

But this time it’s a little bit different as Toyota Park has always been a house of horror’s for the Red Bulls till they finally got their first win two years ago as they celebrated a Supporters Shield Championship, then last year a Bradley Wright-Phillips late equalizer stole a point.

Well the Red Bulls did it again at Toyota Park as they stole a point from the Chicago Fire and ended this match with a one all draw. Bradley Wright-Phillips converted his 15th of the season early in this one and it was a fabulous goal.

In the 7th minute after the corner was delivered from the far corner, the ball was cleared out but not enough. Fidel Escobar delivered a solid cross to Sacha Kljestan who headed the ball across the area to BWP and all he had to do was side foot tap it in.

The Red Bulls would keep this lead into halftime and the start of the second half, till the dangerous Nemanja Nikolic found the equalizer in the 66th minute. After a corner kick was cleared out by Luis Robles, the Fire found a nice combination to level the score.

Johan Kappelhof who was near midfield sent the ball all the way back down to the Red Bulls side of the field. Michael de Leeuw got underneath it and popped it up to a wide open Nikolic who converted the equalizer.

But once again when there is a big moment to make a save and keep a positive result intact, Luis Robles is always there to make that save happen and two minutes later he stopped a dangerous moment.

The Fire were surging back towards the Red Bulls net and once again de Leeuw was the man who made a dangerous pass to Luis Solignac who shot it point blank and Robles made himself big to prevent the go-ahead goal.

After ninety minutes of play had ended, the New York Red Bulls took a point from Toyota Park and are currently on a three match unbeaten streak in Chicago and this draw was a good one to earn in a place they have had a hard time to get points in.

“I think a draw is a fair result. It’s always disappointing when you get the lead and you manage to give it up.” Said Jesse Marsch, “I thought that we battld through certain moments, we battled through some set pieces. We managed to deal with a lot of their long balls.

It's another team that when they play us, they decide that’s their tactic. We dealt with that well. The best part for me was when the game went to one-one, we actually got better and stronger. We didn’t buckle on the road, the crowd was getting into it, we never backed down.”

So with these two road games over with the Red Bulls are going to have a full week off and prepare for the Philadelphia Union on Sunday, then travel to Kansas to face Sporting Kansas City in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup final, then another quick trip to Columbus, Ohio and face the Crew.

Silverware is on the line on Wednesday, September 20th and we shall see what type of a lineup Jesse Marsch will throw against the Union and prepare for a cup final that hasn’t been reached since 2003.