The usually solid New York defense finally broke as the Red Bulls fell to Chivas USA 3-2. After participating in a friendly against the Montreal Impact, the New York Red Bulls had been weakened. Chivas USA took full advantage of this as Justin Braun collected three goals to lift the team to victory.
After a 30 minute delay due to a power outage at Red Bull Arena, the scoring opened up early in the 6th minute of the game. Justin Braun managed to sneak the ball past keeper Bouna Coundoul to give Chivas the early 1-0 lead. New York was able to bounce back 15 minutes later thanks to a pass from Rafa Marquez to Thierry Henry. Henry collected the ball and put it past keeper Dan Kennedy with ease. The scoring continued in the 31st minute after a Chivas free kick taken by Heath Pearce. Pearce placed the ball into the box where he found Ante Jazic. Jazic carefully kept it inbounds and passed it to the feet of Justin Braun. Braun once again found the back of the net to give Chivas the lead again. The scoring did not stop there. New York ended the scoring in the first half after Luke Rodgers was taken down in the box. Heath Pearce pushed Rodgers from behind to give New York a penalty kick. Dwayne DeRosario comfortably took the penalty kick to complete New York’s goals for the night.
Set pieces proved to be too much for New York as Chivas USA scored once again off of a free kick to ultimately win the game. The free kick came in the 56th minute as Justin Braun found a loose ball after it had bounced off the bar. Braun took advantage of the loose ball and easily kicked it past Coundoul. Clearly, a problem that New York must now fix is their ability to defend set pieces. New York must address this problem quickly as they head out on the road to Houston this upcoming weekend to face the Dynamo.
The game was a slight bump in the road for New York. However, they still remain in 1st place in the Eastern Conference. Even with the win, Chivas USA sit in 7th place in the Western Conference.
(image courtesy of Getty Images)
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