Joel Lindpere was the hero as New York Red Bulls beat Chicago Fire 1-0 to record their first ever competitive win at the new Red Bull Arena.
Estonian Lindpere – making his MLS debut – popped up in the 40th minute to crash home an emphatic volley. Man of the match Bouna Coundoul then produced a series of impressive saves to secure Red Bulls’ fourth consecutive opening-day win.
Saturday’s win comes hot on the heels of last week’s 3-1 friendly win over Santos, and confidence at the Red Bull Arena is clearly high.
24,572 fans had packed into the new stadium and when the game’s decisive moment came, they weren’t disappointed. Seizing on possession in midfield, Lindpere shipped the ball out to Danleigh Borman, whose cross was headed back by Juan Pablo Angel before the Estonian unleashed an unstoppable volley past Fire keeper, Andrew Dykstra.
And new signing, Linpere, has made an instant impression on his team-mates: “He’s a friggin' pit bull out there,” said right-back Jeremy Hall.
“Offensively and defensively he links up so well and does so many things for us in settling the team down.”
Hans Backe’s men were second best in possession for much of the game and had Coundoul to thank for securing the win. His most impressive save coming midway through the second half as he turned a Mike Banner free kick round the post.
Chicago were also unlucky to see Brian McBride’s bicycle kick come back off the post, while Patrick Nyarko wasted a golden chance late on to snatch a share of the points.
Backe’s side now travel to Seattle hoping to build on their win, however their new coach isn’t getting carried away: “We forced it a little too much in the attacking game. We had some unforced errors.”
The Swede did pay tribute to the home crowd, who he feels could be worth ‘six or seven points’ over the season.
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