On a brisk early afternoon day at Red Bull Arena, the New York Red Bulls came home to try and stop their early funk to start the season, and they did so by defeating the Chicago Fire by a final score of two goals to nil. The Red Bulls started to turn it on as the second half whistle blew. Goals from Cristian Casserers Jr & Caden Clark spring the Red Bulls into the lead and the win to break the skid.
The early goal in the second half came from the Venezuelan International Cristian Cassererrs Jr. as he smashed the ball past three Chicago defenders. A lovely ball to Fabio as he past a defender and then held it, to asses a play along the near side. He fed a beautiful ball back into the area where Casserers Jr. was trailing the play and then smashed it home for his second of the season in the 47th minute.
The Red Bulls would double their lead as the wonder kid Caden Clark continues to show his magical scoring touch as he smashed his second of the season and the second for the Red Bulls in the 64th minute. Sean Davis stole the ball away from the Chicago defender and crossed it to Fabio. But Fabio decided to chest it towards Clark, with a hop and a right foot, he beats Bobby Shuttleowrth to make it two goals to nil.
Head Coach Gerhard Struber was smiling and satisfied with the performance on the day and in his third regular season match, he finally earns his first win at MLS.
“It’s a good feeling right now for my whole coaching staff, my whole team, for every single player today” said Struber, “I think the last few games were very close in the end, and we pick up not the right results, and today the first win gives everyone a very big belief in our way, and especially the performance shows one more time that we are on the right way.
“Today is different in that from the first whistle to the last whistle we have many, many things in our control and I can feel a big focus, a big concentration in every action and I think today this was the next important step in our way. “
Once again the Red Bulls played a good 1st half at home with solid defense and attacking down the north side of the Arena. Two big chances for the club as Fabio nailed the back post by shooting it through four Chicago Defenders and then Tom Barlow who had a great chance in front of goal pulled it wide past the far post. While the goals are being converted, the club can finally breathe a sigh of relief to finally get the full three points and earn a win. But this is still a young team that still needs time to gel and making sure they understand what the tactics are and how they will translate all of it into a possible winning streak.
Struber is very proud of the club’s performance and he is hopeing that he will get more in the next home match in the following week.
“Yeah, very proud. Very proud of every single player. We have young players, we have players with more experience, yeah of course, I expected from our players today that we make the next step. For me it’s not always a topic between young or old players.” said Struber, “We are ready for professional jobs or we are not ready. Today my boys show me a big professional performance, and also the boys they have not so much experience in MLS or in professional football but right now I can see that we made the next step and I am happy about that.”
Now the Red Bulls need to add on and continue to win games to add to their confidence. Until PAtryk Klimala gets his visa and ITC settled, everything should be fine, but for now enjoy the celebrations for the clubs first three points of the season. Time for them to get ready for Toronto FC.