Red Bull New York desperately needed to get a positive result after dropping four of their previous five matches prior to Saturday’s meeting with third-place Chicago Fire FC.
A rare sixth substitute’s immediate impact earned the Red Bulls a 1-1 draw.
Substitute Harper Makes Immediate Impact Off the Bench
Cameron Harper provided late drama to earn New York a point by heading in an 86th-minute equalizer after coming on as a substitute just one minute earlier.
“Every single time we step on the field, we give everything that we have for each other, for our team, for our club, for the idea of our football and who we are,” head coach Michael Bradley said during his postmatch press conference.
“I do that with the players that I have at any given moment. I said to these guys before the game, I said to them after the game, I love our team. I’m so proud of them.”
Harper connected with a precisely placed cross by fellow sub Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who saw his first significant action since May 9 away to Chicago.
“Very, very happy for Cam,” Bradley said. “It’s been a long — last June to now, what is that? Fifteen, 16 months, right? So it’s been a long, long road for him. Obviously, in this last stretch, he’s been back and he’s been on the field in a few moments and he’s been close. But for him to then be able to come on the field tonight and make such a difference, score a really, really good goal, really happy for him. He deserves that.”
Chicago Controlled the First Half but Red Bulls Roar Back
Fans came out in their droves to see Poland international striker Robert Lewandowski in his first match as a visiting player at Sports Illustrated Stadium.
Though Lewandowski started the match on the bench, the Fire jumped out to an impressive start in the first half by dominating possession and spent long spells in the Red Bulls’ final third.
Maren Haile-Selassie scored an incredible curling effort to give the Fire a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute. Chicago owned 55 percent of the first half possession and outshot the Red Bulls 7-3 across the opening 45 minutes.
Bradley countered by making a triple substitution to open the second half. Jorge Ruvalcaba, Mohammed Sofo and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty replaced Cade Cowell, Mijahir Jiménez and Matthew Dos Santos.
Marshall-Rutty lined up at left-back briefly before moving to right-back 11 minutes later when Omar Valencia replaced Dylan Nealis and Choupo-Moting relieved captain Emil Forsberg.
Lewandowski would enter the match in the 65th minute to large cheers as Poland supporters filled Sports Illustrated Stadium.
Harper Celebrates Emotional Moment With Family
But it would be Harper’s night and he was able to celebrate with his family after a long recovery from an MCL injury suffered last June.
“This is just another checkpoint in my return,” Harper said. “Just to get a goal and honestly, just to check that off is just a crazy good relief. I’m kind of on the comedown right now, but it was just everything I could ask for.
“Tonight [was the] first game I played in front of my dad for a long time.”
Bradley Provides Cade Cowell Concussion Update
Cowell was substituted due to concussion protocol. Bradley shared that the concussion doesn’t appear to be severe.
“It doesn’t seem like it is a severe concussion, but obviously we will do everything necessary and everything possible to make sure that he is back 100 percent feeling good,” Bradley said. “Obviously, the league has a pretty rigorous concussion protocol that he’ll have to work through with our doctors and with our medical team.
“The positive news at the end of the night was that he was already feeling better and our doctors and our medical team didn’t think that it was on the severe side.”
Red Bull New York will host the Philadelphia Union next Saturday with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
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