Klimala leads Red Bulls past Fire for 5th straight road win

May 1, 2023, 05:20 am

CHICAGO -- — Patryk Klimala scored two goals late in the second half and the New York Red Bulls became just the second team in MLS history to open a season with five straight road wins after rallying for a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire on Saturday.

Klimala netted the game-winner for the Red Bulls (5-2-2) on a penalty kick in the first minute of second-half stoppage time — taking his own shot after he was fouled in the box.

The Fire (2-3-4) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute and ended a 385-minute goal drought when Xherdan Shaqiri nailed a penalty kick after Ashley Fletcher was called for a handball in the box.

The Fire held the lead until Klimala scored the equalizer in the 75th minute. Chicago lost Jhon Duran to a second yellow card in the 79th minute, then watched Rafael Czichos leave for the same reason three minutes later — leaving the Fire two men down when Klimala nailed the game-winner.

Halftime was just three minutes long after an 80-minute weather delay in the first half.

The LA Galaxy opened the season with five straight road wins in 1996 and 1998.

The Red Bulls outshot the Fire 11-7 and had a 4-3 edge in shots on goal.

Carlos Miguel had two saves for the Red Bulls. Gabriel Slonina saved two for the Fire.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.