Luke Rodgers scored his third goal of the season and Bouna Coundoul kept his third-straight clean sheet, as the New York Red Bulls defeated Sporting Kansas City, 1-0, on Saturday night at Red Bull Arena in front of 20,636 spectators. The victory regained the top spot in the East for the streaking Red Bulls, who now have 14 points off a 4-1-2 record and a one point lead over the Philadelphia Union. The Red Bulls earned a penalty kick in the 14th minute of the match, but were unable to convert. Off a throw in, Thierry Henry controlled the ball near the touchline and chipped it into the path of Dwayne De Rosario, who was taken down by Stephane Auvray. Rafa Marquez stepped up to take the penalty, but his low shot towards the right post was saved and controlled by Jimmy Nielsen. Eight minutes later, New York took the lead. After Dane Richards earned a free kick near the midway line, Marquez slid a quick free kick to Henry. Henry then found De Rosario behind the Kansas City defense and the Canadian crossed it from the right wing to a streaking Rodgers, who put it into the back of the net. The Red Bulls kept pushing for the rest of the half, and twice were denied by Nielsen before the break. In the 39th minute, Nielsen stopped De Rosario's curling effort from 20 yards out with a diving, left-handed parry. On the ensuing corner kick, Marquez's out-swinger found the head of Tim Ream, but Nielsen was able to keep out the United States defender's headed effort. Sporting had a chance to level the score in the 61st minute. Michael Harrington crossed from the right side of midfield into the box, where the ball deflected off of Ream's head and onto the foot of Graham Zusi, whose volley sailed just over the bar. In second half stoppage time, Coundoul ate up a cross by Ryan Smith right to preserve the shutout. New York heads to the road to take on the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday, May 7 at 11:00 PM ET at The Home Depot Center (TV: ESPN2/ESPNDeportes; Radio: WADO 1280 AM). The Red Bulls return home the following week on Sunday, May 15, hosting Chivas USA at 7:00 PM. Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling 1.877.RBSOCCER or by logging onto www.newyorkredbulls.com.
