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Before the start of this match you had the feeling that either one side was going to continue a red hot start, or the other was trying to avoid a disaster into their third match to start this season. Well for Chivas-USA it was disaster averted when they got some help from Red Bulls keeper Bouna Coundoul.

It was early in the second half when Jesus Padilla fired a hard shot that did take a deflection of a defender and nailed the near post. Coundoul already dove to his right but never got the ball. The ball was spinning towards Bouna who was already on the ground and you thought it would be an easy pickup, but sadly Coundoul’s attempt spun off his fingertips and the entire ball crossed the goal line for a one goal lead.

That goal held all second half till Padilla got another chance in stoppage time & buried it for the two nil final. You could see the American Goats fighting hard and wanting every single possession to get that elusive first win of the season for themselves and their supporters.

Zach Thornton made key saves and commanded his area very well whenever there was a free kick or corner situation for RBNY. They would not be denied their victory and even though New York had the better of play in the second half, they couldn’t hit the target and Chivas-USA breathed a sigh of relief as they earned their first win of the season.

For the first time you saw New York barely passing well. You saw no rhythm on the field what so ever and the first poor performance of the season has come early. No service to Juan Pablo Angel all match long. None of their shots were on frame and if they did take shots, there wasn’t enough mustard on them to look a bit dangerous.

For Dane Richards his speed has been a deadly weapon and he can bring the ball up with ease. The only complaint has been getting pushed off the ball when he gets close to the opponents area. Well that has returned and sadly more came with it. His passing was atrocious, lost the ball all over the field & for some stupid reason he just didn’t look like he was into the match.

Sadly the offensive players didn’t look like they wanted to get involved till Salou Ibrahim was subbed into the match. He tried to get into position to score the equalizer, yet he failed to capitalize on his chances. The only positive for RBNY was seeing head coach Hans Backe on the bench for the club after recovering from his gallbladder removal surgery. He looked pretty good and chatting with him on the bench was Sporting Director Erik Soler.

Well if this was the first bad performance of the season for RBNY, then it’s a good thing that they got it out of their system now and head home to face FC Dallas. But if you’re concerned about some weaknesses being exposed, then right now you should be. Dane Richards is their only attack down the right flank, Soler is looking for a LW-Midfielder to fill in a hole & hopefully Joel Lindpere can regain his confidence after this bad performance.

Plenty of time to fill the holes for this side, hopefully the job can be done quickly before the two week World Cup break comes in early June.