Sacha Kljestan scored a goal and provided an assist to help the New York Red Bulls win the Supporters’ Shield as Major League Soccer’s regular-season champion with a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire on Sunday night.
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New York Red Bulls, who signed BWP in 2013, needed to beat Chicago Fire in Chicago in order to claim the prestigious MLS Supporters’ Shield.
Interim head coach Brian Bliss made his statement clear regarding the Men in Red’s poor mentality during last week’s 4-0 defeat to D.C. United, and implemented a handful of personnel changes, with goalkeeper Alec Kann deputizing for Jon Busch. A few close, precise passes around the Colorado penalty area led to Nagbe finding Jorge Villafana on the left side of the box.
The Red Bulls struck quickly in the eighth minute when Kljestan lofted his corner to Sal Zizzo, who headed the ball to Bradley Wright-Phillips.
Ninety seconds later, a familiar scenario came back to haunt the hosts. That Chicago v Red Bulls game has been moved to the evening to coincide with the Dallas kick off, and we’ll keep you informed of what’s going on there as well.
And with three wins in their last four, New York will feel extremely confident of securing their second Supporters’ Shield in three years here.
After maintaining 59 percent of possession in the opening 45, the Fire emerged from the halftime interval with their backs still against the wall.
ROUND-UP and HIGHLIGHTSDidier Drogba scoring for Impact de Montréal is becoming a formality, the 37 year-old scored both goals in Impact’s 2-1 win over Toronto FC – including a cheeky back-heeled effort minute after his first. Doody streaked down the left flank and sent a looping ball toward the back post. Kljestan lined up the opportunity, doubling the Red Bulls lead.
Despite throwing numbers forward in the latter stages, Bliss’ group was unable to pull level.
A penalty kick from Sébastien Le Toux was enough to end Orlando City’s inaugural MLS season, but they’ll look to improve next year on what was an exciting campaign.
San Jose’s Matias Perez Garcia was issued a straight red card in the 67th minute after delivering a blow to the back of Diaz’s head near midfield. He finished his first MLS season on top of the goals and assists chart. Clint Dempsey got it done with two goals in a 3-1 victory over Real Salt Lake.
It is Seattle’s seventh consecutive playoff appearance. However, at the moment New York is ninety minutes away from clinching home field advantage throughout the playoffs and earning the right to host the MLS Cup Final if they make it that far. And now we’re going to the West to try and settle the wide open array of playoff places still up for grabs beneath Conference winners FC Dallas.
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Vancouver earned a first-round bye in the playoffs with a second-place finish in the Western Conference after Kekuta Manneh and Kendall Waston scored in the second half to give the Whitecaps a 3-0 win over the Houston Dynamo.
