A fortunate goal at the beginning by Kenny Cooper and a brilliant save near the end by goalkeeper Ryan Meara helped the New York Red Bulls defeat the Houston Dynamo, 1-0, in an MLS match Wednesday night at Red Bull Arena.
The victory was the third straight for New York (6-3-1, 19 points), all by clean sheet. The Red Bulls are now in second place in the Eastern Conference. Houston is 2-3-2, 8 points on the season.
Cooper scored just seven minutes into the game. After losing possession of the ball, Cooper followed a pass back to Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall. When Hall attempted to make a sliding clearance of the ball, it deflected off Cooper and into the net for what would turn out to be the game’s only score.
Meara, the rookie goalkeeper from Fordham, came up huge for the Red Bulls in stoppage time. Meara parried a header from Houston’s Will Bruin into the air, chased it and tipped it a second time before finally hauling the ball in. Meara made three saves on the night in recording the clean sheet.
The Red Bulls had expected to get Rafa Marquez back from a two-game suspension on Wednesday. Marquez, though, ended up unavailable due to an ankle injury reportedly suffered during practice on Tuesday. The Red Bulls are without several players due to injury, including star striker Thierry Henry.
The Red Bulls play their third game in eight days on Sunday when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Philadelphia Union.