LOS ANGELES: Sacha Kljestan scored the game winner in the 73rd minute and Brian Rowe recorded his 17th career shutout as Orlando City SC edged the New York Red Bulls 1-0 on Saturday.
Kljestan’s first goal of the Major League Soccer season came against his former Red Bull team and it ended a four-game skid for the Lions at Red Bull Arena. New York suffered a rare home defeat having gone 6-1-2 in their previous nine games at home. They were 14-2-1 at Red Bull Arena last season.
Rowe had to make just three saves in the first half and none in the second to preserve a clean sheet in front of a crowd of 15,000. In four contests this season he has 17 stops. Kljestan blasted a shot inside the right post and past goalkeeper Luis Robles for the winner and his 38th career MLS goal. Kljestan starred for the Red Bulls from 2015-17 where he finished with 16 goals and 51 assists. The Red Bulls best scoring chance came in the sixth minute when Alex Muyl’s header was punched away by Rowe.
Robles kept the game scoreless in the second half by making a superb sliding stop on Ruan near the six yard box. Elsewhere, Ryan Hollingshead drove home a rebound late in the second half as the short-handed FC Dallas defeated the Colorado Rapids 2-1. Hollingshead’s winner in the 82nd minute came off a rebound of a save by Colorado goalkeeper Tim Howard.
The goal came 13 minutes after Rapids’ Tommy Smith had levelled the contest 1-1 with a sliding shot that made it over the goal line before goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez grabbed it. The initial call was no goal but a video review reversed the decision. Michael Barrios scored the other goal for Dallas. Dallas were forced to use five young players due to missing several key performers who were called away to play in international games. They did not have high-priced starting midfielder Carlos Gruezo and Bryan Acosta and instead they inserted 17-year-old midfielder Thomas Roberts.