History is Made as Patryk Klimala's Brace Helps Red Bull Come From Behind Against the Chicago Fire at Soldier Field

Can we say that the game we just watched between the Red Bulls & Chicago at Soldier Field was one of the craziest games we have seen in the 27-season history of the franchise?

This game had everything you could possibly see in a game. Two penalties, two red cards, a goal disallowed by VAR, a weather delay, and a winner in stoppage time to propel Red Bull to victory.

A victory that made some history as the New York Red Bulls have won their first five away matches, tying a 25-year record set back in 1998 by the LA Galaxy.

This match also saw Patryk Klimala find the back of the net, not just once but twice, after not scoring since matchday one against San Jose. The second goal and eventual game-winning goal came in the 91’ after the Polish ST was fouled inside the area leading to the referee pointing to the spot after VAR stepped in.

This was much needed for Klimala to see those two balls hit the back of the net after not scoring for seven games and hearing it from the fans during the drought. It's an amazing feeling, you celebrate with your fans, with your brothers, it's what you're looking for. Klimala later in the press conference said, “I scored two goals, I’m happy. It’s good for me, good for the team, win five games in a row on the road”. Great to see Patryk get off the schneid.

Let’s start from the beginning though, how did we get to Klimala being the hero of the night in Chicago? Well, here’s how Gerhard Struber’s men lined up to begin the match. The same exact lineup as their 3-0 victory down in Orlando a week ago.

The game did not start pretty for Red Bull, as they gave Chicago a chance inside 1’ by way of Jhon Duran, who split Sean Nealis & Aaron Long. Thankfully Carlos Coronel is in the net, and he made a key save early in the match.

But things did not get better after the referee awarded Chicago a very suspect & weak penalty after Rafael Czichos struck a rebound from outside the box off a corner and it hit Ashley Fletcher in the arm. The only problem for the official was that Fletcher's arms were tucked into his body.

Neither the less the penalty stood after a VAR check, a BIG theme of the game and Chicago star Xherdan Shaqiri stepped up and beat Coronel who jumped out of the way, 1-0 Chicago after only 16’.

But Red Bull's fortunes would change just two minutes later after Lewis Morgan lobbed a ball into the box off a FK from near midfield and Tom Edwards half-volleyed it off the post and in to draw the game level, the first goal of his MLS career. Or so we thought.

According to VAR, the play was ruled offsides, not because Edwards was offsides, but because Aaron Long was offsides. For a goal to be ruled out because of a player who was not even in nor affected the play seems very harsh from the Pro Referees. Here’s their statement on the call.

https://twitter.com/MLSVAR/status/1520561367950020608?s=20&t=QPj2SbdloQjO095WycE9sA

The last chance of the match fell to the foot of Fletcher, but he could not redirect Cristian Casseres’ lovely cross from atop of the box, on frame as the Englishman just put the ball over the crossbar. The luck was not on the Red Bulls side in the first half.

But like the head of a coin, their luck flipped after a massive weather delay just before the first-half whistle. After almost an hour and a half delay, the players were back on the field.

https://twitter.com/hernanespn/status/1520575264878702593?s=20&t=34OBD4Gdk4ed5IPCC06r_g

Once the second half started, Struber went to his bench bringing on Patryk Klimala for Omir Fernandez who was quiet in the first half, and in the 56’ Tom Barlow replaced Ashley Fletcher.

It was evident once the players got back onto the pitch that this would be a totally different game than the first half. After an hour of rain, Soldier Field's pitch was soaked and pretty dreadful to play on as it was visibly waterlogged.

That did not hold Red Bull back from creating chances when Luquinhas played Barlow 1v1 with Gabriel Slonina on the left side of the box in the 61’. Barlow, unfortunately, did not fancy his left foot and instead tried to open his hips and nutmeg Slonina, which the Polish American keeper easily saved.

Red Bull would finally find their breakthrough in the 75’ and tie the game thanks to some lovely play started by Dylan Nealis. Dylan shook his defender to get free down the RW and feed a ball in behind to Luquinhas to create.

The Brazilian took one touch to get inside his defender and chopped back inside and played the ball to a wide-open Klimala, who hit the ball first time past Slonina at the far post and into the net to snap his seven-game goalless drought. Red Bull was back in the game and had all the momentum with the luck now on their side.

Chicago over a three-minute span in the 80’ would fall off the tracks. The Fire, consecutively, picked up two red cards from Jhon Duran (80’) & Rafael Czichos (83’) to reduce Chicago to nine men for the remaining seven minutes plus stoppage time.

Things got even worse for Chicago and GREAT for Red Bull in the 86’ when Klimala lost possession of the ball but was subsequently taken down in the box by Miguel Ángel Navarro that was not spotted by the referee.

VAR would intervene for a second time in the match, this time in favor of Red Bull, after referee Jon Freemon pointed to the spot after a lengthy review. Without Lewis Morgan on the pitch, after he was subbed off in the 63‘, Klimala was set to step up to the penalty spot and redeem himself from his miss against Minnesota on matchday three.

Klimala looked confident and with his patient stutter run-up, he sent Slonina to the left while putting the ball to the right for a 2-1 lead in stoppage time as he celebrated with a slide in the water-filled grass of Soldier Field and let out a victory scream.

And after six minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew his whistle for full time and the Red Bulls were victorious. Red Bulls with the victory are now one point behind Philidelphia for first place in the Eastern Conference, as they sit with a record of 5-2-2 (17 PTS) after nine match days.

New York is still perfect on the road, winning five out of five games to start the 2022 season. Along with the 1998 LA Galaxy, they are the only two teams to accomplish this feat in MLS history.

After the match, manager Gerhard Struber loved everything he saw from his boys in a very difficult match. “We left everything on the field today. It was not easy to play on a pitch (waterlogged after weather delay) like that. We were sharp like a knife again; we showed our strong mentality.”

When asked about Klimala’s performance the Austrian said, “I feel happy for him. Sometimes it’s necessary to go one step back and go two steps forward. We had good communication the last couple of weeks, he was sharp today.”

As always after a win, captain Aaron Long was very amusing towards the media, making jokes and giving everyone a laugh. When asked what it was like to grind out a win like this in the type of conditions Red Bull faced in the second half, Long responded with, “That was a crazy one, it turned into a bit of a battle after the delay, and it was tough. It turned into a game of long ball and who wanted it more. It was great to manage to win like that.”

Talking to Patryk Klimala postgame, he was visited by Poland's national team coach Czesław Michniewicz this past week in New York City, and he said the two had a great conversation. Klimala, according to Michniewicz, is in his top-six of the ST depth chart for Poland at the moment and could see his first senior call-up during UEFA Nations League in the Summer for the "White Eagles".

https://twitter.com/pvtmcbain/status/1518726910095863808?s=20&t=QPj2SbdloQjO095WycE9sA

Talking to Patryk Klimala postgame, he was visited by his national team coach Czesław Michniewicz this past week in New York City, and he said the two had a great conversation. Klimala, according to Michniewicz, is in his top-six of the ST depth chart for Poland at the moment and could see his first senior call-up during UEFA Nations League in the Summer for the "White Eagles".

Klimala stated that Michniewicz’s main comment to him was, “we need more goals from you to call you up to the national team”. Patryk after scoring a brace said he, “hopes he was watching tonight”.

Also, an interesting storyline coming out of this game was Klimala and Gabriel Slonina embracing after the match and having a laugh. Slonina, born in the US to Polish parents, is currently rumored in conversations with Poland to join up with the National team over the US.

Klimala on his interaction with Gaga, Patryk said that the 17 Y/O keeper asked him “which way he was going” with his penalty and Patryk responded with “I showed him right and I went right. I don’t know why he did not listen”. Slonina said post-game said to Patryk that “you lied” in Polish, as both players shared a laugh and a handshake. Klimala responded, “he should go watch the tape”

Now with Chicago in their rear-view mirrors, Red Bull heads back home to take on the 10th place Portland Timbers, who only have 11 points after 10 games. Red Bull will be looking to get their first win in front of the home fans Saturday night after starting the season 0-2-2 RBA. Hopefully, this is the game they get the three points, for all of our sakes.

https://youtu.be/3MlWDTiynuk

Match Stats

Final Score: NY 2, CHI 1

Possession: NY 56%, CHI 44%

Shots (On Goal): NY 14 (4), CHI 7 (3)

Fouls: NY 16, CHI 23

Corners: NY 6, CHI 4

Saves: NY 2, CHI 2

Next Game: May 5th, vs Portland Timbers, 7:00 PM EST