BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP)—Chris Armas and Thiago each scored to give the Chicago Fire to a 2-0 win over the New York Red Bulls on Sunday night.
Playing in front of 20,133 spectators at Toyota Park, its new soccer-specific stadium, Chicago (3-5-5) won its first game since May 20 and moved into fifth place in the Eastern Conference. The Red Bulls (2-3-7) dropped to last place in the East.
Armas scored his first goal of the season in the 12th minute, grabbing a deflection and shooting past Red Bulls goalie Tony Meola.
In the 67th minute, Calen Carr entered the game for Justin Mapp and a minute later, sent the ball back to Thiago. Thiago made a run and drilled a long shot into the bottom right corner of the net for a 2-0 lead.
The Red Bulls’ Seth Stammler left the game in the 14th minute with a right quad contusion.
Chicago returns home for its second game of a nine-game home stand Wednesday against Real Salt Lake.
Toyota Park is the fourth soccer-specific stadium in use in Major League Soccer, following Crew Stadium, The Home Depot Center and Pizza Hut Park. Two more soccer-specific stadiums are scheduled to open in 2007, for the Colorado Rapids and Toronto FC.