Red Bulls’ Five-Match Winless Streak Snapped in Win at the Chicago Fire

By Daniel Feuerstein | Chicago, IL | May 9th, 2026

Red Bull New York were looking to get back to their winning ways and tried so desperately to end their five-match winless streak, and six in all competitions. Their trip to the Windy City and face a difficult Chicago Fire team was their next opponent inside Soldier Field. All of a sudden, things started to click, and the Red Bulls finished the match with a very strong performance late and took the full three points as they doused the Fire by a final score of three goals to one.

Game Recap

The opening 44 minutes looked like a slog, as the Red Bulls played defense and couldn’t conjure up multiple scoring chances to make the Fire feel uneasy on their side of the pitch. It was all Chicago in the first half with multiple chances. Even when it looked like they scored the first goal of the match in the seventh minute, it was wiped out for an offside flag. Then, within the final minute of regulation, something harmless turned into something deadly, and that was the start of something wonderful.

Adri Mehmeti in the midfield moved up the ball to Emil Forsberg inside the center circle, then Forsberg dribbled with it, till he went to the far side and saw Jorge Ruvalcaba all alone inside the Chicago area. A defender ran up to him and started to mark him, then a quick cut back to his left and moved toward his right. Then Ruvalcaba wasted no time as he smashed the ball inside the back post and defeated Chris Brady for the opening goal in the 45th minute. With two minutes of stoppage time added, the halftime whistle blew, and both sides went back to the locker room.

Before the second half began, Michael Bradley made a substitution to bring on Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting for Julian Hall and save some legs due to the workload this week with a midweek match at home against Columbus, and then the next Hudson River Derby. But that move energized the Red Bulls to make another attacking run to the Fire’s net. Robert Voloder headed the ball away and somehow landed in front of Ronald Donkor. He makes a fantastic run towards the area, then slips a pass in front of Cade Cowell, takes it one time, and scores his first Red Bulls goal in the 49th minute.

“It’s always good to score your first goal this season. It is a little later than what I wanted. But I feel like I’ve been playing well previously. We’ve been playing well as a team. It’s still new; this is my 10th game, my 10th league game with the team. And for a lot of guys, too, so we’re just building chemistry still, day by day. And I think we’re coming a long way. And I think today was a big result for us,” said Cade Cowell

As the match continued, the Fire made a mess of things on their side of the pitch with some bad passes and a terrible distribution from Chris Brady. Mehmeti stripped the ball away from the defender and attacked the loose ball that entered the Chicago area. Brady came off his line to take it away, but when he dove towards the ball, he took down Mehmeti, and the original call was no penalty. But VAR called Referee Allen Chapman to the monitor and showed him that Brady did take down Mehmeti, and the call was overturned. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting was at the spot and converted the chance in the 81st minute. Even though Hugo Cuypers’ chance was credited to Dylan Nealis as an own goal to end the clean sheet attempt, the Red Bulls finally got the win and their second road win of the season.

Dylan Nealis protecting Horvath’s back

Dylan Nealis is a very dependable defender, either as a right fullback or a centerback. In this match, he moved back to the right side of the backline, and Tim Parker was the starting centerback with Robert Voloder. In the second half, up two goals to nil, Nealis was going to make sure the Red Bulls weren’t going to concede any goals against the Fire, and he placed himself in a perfect position to prevent two clear-cut chances. Two minutes after Cowell scored, a cross from the near side by Philip Zinckernagel toward Cuypers at the far post, and Nealis positioned himself perfectly to block the shot, and the ball was cleared in the 51st minute.

The second time Nealis made a beautiful defensive effort was later in the match. Anton Saletros moved the ball down to Jonathan Dean down the near side, then a quick pass to Puso Dithejane as he turned the corner and took a run inside the Red Bulls area. He ripped the shot for the far post, and out of nowhere, Nealis once again comes up big with an amazing defensive effort as he leapt in the air and cleared the ball over the crossbar to keep the clean sheet in the 67th minute. A huge moment for the Massapequa, Long Island native.

“On a day like today, it’s not an easy day to play. It’s Soldier Field, a great stadium. But on an afternoon like this, the field is in good shape, but very dry, it’s very windy. And so it’s not a day that’s going to be conducive to just putting together all sorts of great football, and so the part of having resilience in the group, the collective mentality that just says, on days like today, you’re going to find a way, you’re going to make the plays that you need, and then you’re going to close up shop. That part is important. And so we’re really, really proud of the group. It’s an important three points,“ said Michael Bradley

JORGE RUVALCABA: Fourth goal this season

CADE COWELL: First goal of the season, 11th career MLS Goal

ERIC MAXIM CHOUPO-MOTING: Second goal of the season, 19th Career MLS Goal

EMIL FORSBERG: Fourth assist of the season. Has become the 7th player in club history to earn 20 career goals and 20 career assists with the club as either the MetroStars or Red Bull New York. He joins Bradley Wright-Phillips, Thierry Henry, Clint Mathis, Amado Guevara, Dane Richards, and Lloyd Sam.

ADRI MEHMETI: Earned his fourth assist of the season

ROBERT VOLODER: Earned his second assist of the season, his fourth career MLS assist

RONALD DONKOR: Earned his fourth assist of the season, his eighth career MLS Assist

Red Bull New York finally breaks their five-match winless streak and takes down the difficult Chicago Fire at Soldier Field in downtown Chicago.

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