In the Red Bulls’ highly-anticipated tilt at Chicago that saw a record five Designated Players take the field — and one, Thierry Henry hobble off — it was Macoumba Kandji’s awful finishing and rookie Sean Johnson’s awesome keeping that had New York ruing a scoreless road draw that felt a lot like a loss.
A record crowd of 21,868 packed into Toyota Park last night to see a star-studded game featuring Henry, Juan Pablo Angel and debutante Rafa Márquez for the Red Bulls, and Freddie Ljungberg and newcomer Nery Castillo for the Fire. What they saw was the Red Bulls utterly dominate the game but get nothing out of it.
The Red Bulls outshot Chicago 22-5, including 16-2 in the second half after Henry had left with a groin strain that isn’t believed to be too serious. They held a 7-1 edge in shots on goal, but saw Johnson — a rookie making $55,000 — stone Angel with a diving one-handed save the other way, one of seven on the game.
But the most glaring blown chance was Kandji’s.
Dane Richards replaced Henry and had a solid game, not only repeatedly getting open down the right flank but putting in good low cross after good low cross, only to see his teammates squander them. Richards played a perfect one to Kandji, but he made a mess of an easy 47th-minute sitter, somehow missing the open net.
After a shaky start, Marquez settled down and was a stabilizing force in the New York midfield that is so often skittish. The Mexican National Team captain immediately took the ball from the back four, helped rookie Tim Ream and linked into the attack, until he finally gave way in the 61st minute.
The Red Bulls (8-6-4, 28 points) stayed in second place in the Eastern Conference, but they blew a golden opportunity to vault five points ahead of red-hot, third-place Toronto (7-6-5, 26), whom they host Wednesday.
Despite having three games in six days, they do get to play four of the next six at home, including Toronto and then the MLS-leading Galaxy Saturday. It remains to be seen just how serious Henry’s groin injury is, although the club would likely be conservative with their now 33-year-old franchise player.
Marquez’ El Tri teammate Castillo made his MLS debut as well for Chicago (5-5-6). The Fire had a hard time mustering shots against an organized New York defense, although Freddie Ljungberg — the first DP to ever get traded — looked dangerous, spry and fit, enough to imply that he was pulling a Vince Carter to get out of Seattle
