Fire fight to tie after big saves by Johnson
With all the offensive firepower the Fire and the New York Red Bulls brought to their nationally televised match Sunday night, it was a rookie goalkeeper who stole the show.
Making only his second MLS start since replacing Andrew Dykstra, the Fire's Sean Johnson made 7 saves - including 2 excellent ones in the final minutes - and patrolled his penalty area well as the teams fought to a 0-0 draw in front of 21,868, the largest crowd to see the Fire at Toyota Park.
"Sean Johnson made very good work," Fire coach Carlos de los Cobos said. "He had 2-3 very important saves."
The scoreless game might have been a downer for ESPN2, but it was uplifting for Johnson, who withstood a second half in which the Red Bulls outshot the Fire 16-2.
The capacity crowd saw the first match for new Fire acquisition Nery Castillo, who made his debut in the 56th minute, replacing captain Brian McBride. It also was the home debut of former Swedish international Freddie Ljungberg, acquired in a trade with Seattle at the all-star break.
"The second half they really attacked us a lot," de los Cobos said. "They created a lot of opportunities. We defended a lot in the second half. But I had to take the risk to put Nery (Castillo) in because every time that we would get the ball in the air the ball would come back to us on the field. So I needed somebody who could keep the ball on the floor."
New York (8-6-4, 28 points) countered with celebrated forward Thierry Henry, signed two weeks ago, and defender Rafael Marquez, added last Monday. Those two Designated Players joined holdover forward Juan Pablo Angel to form a star-studded New York lineup. Marquez left the game in the 61st minute.
Henry managed 2 shots, 1 on goal. He left the game just before halftime, apparently because of a head injury suffered when he and McBride knocked heads on a Fire corner kick.
Ljungberg, who started at midfielder but later moved up top with Castillo, looked more energetic than he did last week at Los Angeles, when he came off the bench for the Fire (5-5-6, 21 points).
Ljungberg came close to connecting on a few dangerous passes to teammates near the Red Bulls' goal, and on a 32nd-minute breakaway run, he forced New York defender Tim Ream to take him down, a foul that earned Ream a yellow card.
In the 80th minute he drew a yellow card against Red Bulls defender Carlos Mendes.
"Freddie adjusted very fast with all his teammates," de los Cobos said. "He's a very good professional, and I'm looking at a very good future with Freddie on this team."