The Red Bulls saw their six-game undefeated streak snapped in unceremonious fashion, handed a 3-1 loss at Chicago. They got a gift from the referee when he disallowed what should’ve been a Fire goal midway through the second half, then they coughed up two goals that stuck in suffering their first MLS loss since April.
Playing without stars Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez, they started out slowly the first 15 or 20 minutes. And despite equalizing they never really recovered in a flat performance that defied all logic.
“If you have an answer you have to tell me; I have no idea. But we didn’t show up the first 20 minutes. There was no real power in our action. As I said, too flat,’’ said head coach Hans Backe, who opted to use defender Heath Pearce at the bottom of a diamond midfield, to disastrous results.
“The first 20 minutes (were) horrible, conceding of course one early goal, survived the first half, bounced back quite well, get the score to 1-1 and then controlled the game. But I just felt that our defending game was too flat, couldn’t see the right attitude. That’s a starting point, to defend well and have a clean shape. When we got the 1-1, I thought we’d be able to win the game. But it looked too flat.’’
Midfielder Dax McCarty scored the only goal for the Red Bulls, who are third in the East with 26 points and an 8-4-2 mark. They’re two points behind second place Sporting Kansas City and four adrift of archrival D.C. United, whom they will host in their next home game this coming Sunday.
“For whatever reason we came out a little flat and they punished us right away,’’ said keeper Ryan Meara. “It’s tough to play when five minutes in you’re down 1-0. It’s unacceptable to come out that flat.’’
Officially it was five, when Pearce and the defense didn’t close down Sebastian Grazzini, and let him chip the ball into the box. Left back Roy Miller, whom Backe had said this week was fatigued following World Cup qualifying duty with the Costa Rican National Team, let Patrick Nyarko climb right over him for a headed goal.
They eventually shifted Pearce back where he belongs to left back at halftime and pulled Miller for Mehdi Ballouchy; and the latter set up a goal with his corner kick falling to McCarty for an equalizer.
The Red Bulls were lucky and Chicago robbed in the 64th minute when Chris Rolfe slipped Dominic Oduro into the penalty box and his shot trickled through Meara and toward the goal. Wilman Conde raced back to clear, and the ref ruled it hadn’t crossed the line – incorrectly ruled, we might add.
But the Red Bulls conceded four minutes later when Gonzalo Segares pounced on a rebound off his own shot, and Nyarko scored in the 81st.
“We’ve been playing good on the road, but that start away, in this heat, we can’t give up a goal in this heat. It’ll be tough to come back. We had a poor start gave up a goal and never came back from there,’’ said Dane Richards, whose team now prepares for a Wednesday tilt at Vancouver. “Six games without a loss and then we lose this, we need to rebound and get a victory on the road.’’