Former Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski scored two goals in his home debut for the Chicago Fire in the American Major League, and they proved decisive for the team's 2-1 victory over Charlotte. It also became the first victory for the Chicago team since before the break due to the World Cup, BTA reported.
Lewandowski, a former player of Borussia (Dortmund), Bayern (Munich) and Barcelona, arrived in Chicago in June as a free agent. And in two matches already, his performance shows that he will be of great benefit to the team, which is approaching a point from the top 3 in the Eastern Conference.
The Charlotte team, which had its fifth match as a guest, opened the score in the 18th minute through Pep Beal. He made a double pass with Eden Toklomati in the penalty area, outpaced his personal keeper and sent the ball into the lower right corner of the goal, guarded by Chris Brady.
But the Polish superstar responded two minutes later with an equalizer, scoring his first goal with the Chicago team. Jonathan Bamba played a long ball into the penalty area for Philip Zinkernagel, who, however, saw the inclusion of Lewandowski and continued with a header. He controlled it and shot with his right foot unsaveable into the upper left corner.
Former Ludogorets (Razgrad) goalkeeper Christian Kahlina, who guards for Charlotte, saved another shot into his own goal from Lewandowski in the 56th minute, again after a combination with Zinkernagel, but in the 68th he had to get the ball out of his net again. Andrew Guttmann passed to Robin Lod, who found Lewandowski, who was speeding into the penalty area, and the defender did not find his way and left the Pole alone in an empty net. Lewandowski had no problem scoring for 2:1. Then goalkeeper Kahlina stepped up and made three more saves to keep the home team's lead at just 1 goal.
Another European star - Bayern Munich legend Thomas Muller saved his team Vancouver Whitecaps from defeat against Los Angeles FC, and his late penalty made the final 1:1 in another MLS match, which also turned out to be a derby at the top of the Western Conference, watched by 40,086 spectators.
The Whitecaps team controlled the match quite seriously before the break, but shortly before the end the guests from Los Angeles took the lead in the score with a goal from Hyun Min-sung. Goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka was also to blame for the goal, as he failed to make a solid save and the ball went through his hands. Muller earned his own penalty in the 78th minute after being brought down in the penalty area by Evgen Cherebko. He then stood behind the penalty spot and made no mistake in his execution.
After this match, the two teams remain in the first two places in the West with 34 points each and a better goal difference for Vancouver.