Final
Freeman blasts Red Bulls past Dallas again
Apr 27, 2007 - 4:29 AM FRISCO, Texas (Ticker) -- It has been said that great defense travels everywhere. Dallas is no exception.Hunter Freeman scored his first MLS goal in the 79th minute in front of his hometown fans as the New York Red Bulls recorded a 1-0 victory over FC Dallas, whose six-game home unbeaten streak was snapped.
Freeman used some excellent footwork in the 79th minute as he took Dave van dan Bergh's pass from the six-yard box past goalkeeper Shaka Hislop for the game's only goal.
"I had the exact same chance literally a minute before (the goal)," Hunter said. "(Dallas defender Chris) Gbandi slipped and it caught me off guard and hit me in the shin and bounced back (to Hislop). The next time, he kind of overran it and it came back to me. It took a perfect bounce and I just concentrated on hitting the ball as hard as I could.
"It was awesome. I couldn't ask for anything better. It was my first goal in MLS and to do it in my hometown, get a win and continue our shutout streak, you can't ask for any better situation than that."
The shutout was the Red Bulls' fourth already this season, which sets new club and MLS records for consecutive shutouts.
The 360 shutout minutes shatters the old MLS record of 343 scoreless minutes to start a season, set by the Dallas Burn - now FC Dallas - in 1999. It was also the second time in three games the Red Bulls have blanked Dallas.
"We play very well as a unit," New York coach Bruce Arena said. "It's our entire team that understands when the other team has the ball, we have to work together to get it back. Our ability to hold the ball is a defensive mechanism, as well. We continue to grow as a team and, obviously, we're pretty pleased with the win."
Three different times over the last four years, New York has been unbeaten through three games. But this season is the first time they were able to grab the fourth game.
In capturing this contest, the Red Bulls won for the first time at Pizza Hut Park.
FC Dallas, which entered this match as the highest scoring team in the Western Conference, managed only four shots on goal and nine total shots. They managed only two shots in each half and never seriously challenged New York goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus, who posted his third blank sheet.
"We created more chances and we very sound defensively. I think Ronald (Waterreus) only had one save to make," New York midfielder Claudio Reyna said. "That speaks volumes because Dallas is a good attacking team. Defensively, we have to be very proud with the way we played. We limited them and really controlled the game. Even when they threw everything at us at the end, we stayed strong."
New York star forward Clint Mathis, the second-leading scorer in franchise history, missed this contest after being issued a red card in the 36th minute Saturday for a reckless challenge on Houston's Ryan Cochrane. Mathis, re-acquired from Colorado during the offseason, also played for New York from 2000-03 and scored 33 goals in 67 games.
- MLS
NY RED BULLS 1
FC DALLAS 0 FINAL
Apr 26 10:00 PM - MLS UPDATE
NY RED BULLS 1
FC DALLAS 0
NY RED BULLS GOAL: Hunter Freeman in the 79th minute
Red Bulls vs. FC DallasApr 26 9:45 PM - MLS
NY RED BULLS 0
FC DALLAS 0 HALFTIME
Apr 26 8:55 PM
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