NYRB defeat Fire, Dax emotional
Dax McCarty almost stole the show and a point in his return to Red Bull Arena, but the New York Red Bulls once again found a way at home.
The Red Bulls used a 71st-minute goal from Kemar Lawrence to beat the Chicago Fire, 2-1, in a tight Eastern Conference affair on Saturday night. The Fire had pulled level earlier in the second half after McCarty fed Nemanja Nikolic in impressive fashion, but Lawrence’s slotted effort from the left proved to be the difference.
The highly anticipated match marked McCarty’s first trip back to Red Bull Arena and first game against New York sincethey traded him to Chicago this past January.
The Chicago Fire head to Red Bull Arena for the first time in 2017, and while that means Bastian Schweinsteiger will visit the Big Apple for the first time as an MLS player, the spotlight will be on another Fire central midfielder, Dax McCarty.
McCarty, who was surprisingly dealt to Chicago in the offseason after five-and-a-half years of service with the New York Red Bulls, was a fan favorite, captain and a key part of the Red Bulls’ runs to Supporters’ Shield titles in 2013 and 2015.
“I’m going to try to enjoy it,” McCarty said of his return at training on Tuesday. “Obviously the 90 minutes on the field are going to important and we’re going to try to win, but I’ll to try to enjoy everything before that.
“I don’t think I got a chance to say a proper goodbye to a lot of the guys on the team and I don’t think I got a chance to say a proper goodbye and thank you to the fans for the way that they treated me when I was in New York. So I’ll soak in the environment, I’ll soak in the moment, hopefully I don’t get too many boos, but we will certainly enjoy the moment. ”
As far as the current edition of the Red Bulls are concerned, the team seems to be back on track. They’ve won two straight and have played well in three straight, with the only real ding being their continued profligate finishing.
Chicago, meanwhile, finally got brought down off of cloud nine last weekend with their loss at Toronto FC. Still, it’s plain to see they’re a much better team now with than they were at the start of the season. It’s just a difficult thing to go on the road and get a win in MLS.
And thr New York Red Bulls go back to the 4-2-2-2 and take a look. But for now, expect the Red Bulls to stick with the 4-2-3-1 that they swapped back to three weeks ago, as the familiar and comfortable formation seems to have propelled them on this recent run of good form and improving results. It was around this time last year that RBNY really got cooking, and it was for a similar reason.
Playmaker Sacha Kljestan has looked more comfortable and decisive in his play, which is a big key, and both wingers –Daniel Royer and Alex Muyl – have been more dangerous recently while flanking star center forward Bradley Wright-Phillips. It’s a formula that’s proved tough to beat, especially at Red Bull Arena where the hosts are unbeaten in 18 games (15 wins, 3 draws) with 12 shutouts. They’ve yet to concede a home goal in 2017.
Notes: Kljestan has created 212 chances since the start of the 2015 MLS season, the most of any player in the league. The next closest player has 176 (regular season only)… RBNY have won three of the last four home games against the Fire and have outscored them 13-9 along that run.
While Chicago Fire competed, but couldn’t quite keep up with TFC last week as the Reds finally started to look like the MLS Cup favorites they’ve been billed as. Schweinsteiger and Dax McCarty had their typical solid games, and David Accam got a goal off the bench, but the front line had trouble connecting and weren’t as opportunistic as they’d been in their previous three outings, all at home.
Exactly where Chicago stand in the current Eastern Conference hierarchy is difficult to suss out given a couple of outlier results – their 4-0 loss to Atlanta back in March, and their 3-0 win over New England in mid-April. What’s clear is that the central midfield is the strength of this team, and if they’re to build success for 2017 it’s going to come from that part of the pitch.
