posted by kidpurple
November 2, 2007
After the Chicago Fire’s 1-0 win at their home in Toyota Park they had to go to DC, one of the toughest places to play in all of MLS. Expectations were high for DC United even though they were coming into the game down by a goal.
Chad Barret and Chris Rolfe both scored for the Fire in the first half and the season appeared to be just about over for DC United being down 3-0 on aggregate. The holders of the Supporters’ Shield was not ready to give up quite that easily. DC came out and tied the game up in the second half with goals from Clyde Simms and Christian Gomez and pushed hard for the third goal to tie the series. Christian Gomez even scored the series tying goal in the 92nd minute, but it was rules that he handled the ball prior to the goal. The replay showed it was probably a good call but in real time I had no idea why the ref was not allowing the goal.
The game ended 2-2 which was enough to send Chicago through to the conference finals on a 3-2 aggregate score.
posted by kidpurple
September 21, 2007
Last night was my first chance to see Blanco, Denilson and Wanchope in action as the Chicago Fire traveled to Pizza Hut Park to take on FC Dallas. This was a big game for both teams as the Fire are fighting for the last playoff spot and FC Dallas would like to get back up to the top of the Western Division.
Chicago has been on a good run recently and FC Dallas has been on a bit of a slide since their wonderful start to the season. I had predicted a Fire victory in this game and for a lot of the game it looked like I was going to be right. Chris Rolfe scored a really nice goal in the 56th minute which gave the Fire the lead well into the 90+ minute. Then finally Carlos Ruiz got behind the defense and tied the game in the 93rd minute. Both goals were very nice but Rolfe’s could be a goal of the week candidate.
As I said this was my first chance to see some of these big name newcomers to the MLS and none of them impressed me much. Blanco looked okay but just didn’t impress. I probably expected the most from him. Denilson did a couple fancy footwork moves that only ended in one of the Fire taking the ball the other way. He had one or two decent looking shots that usually got blocked before getting close to the goal. Wanchope looked like he was ready to play a full 90 minutes, but he was on the field the full 90. The most disappointing moment for the Fire was Wanchope and Calen Carr passing back and forth on a semi-break away that should have either resulted in a goal or probably more importantly one of them taking the ball to the corner and using valuable time. That probably would have kept a lead and a full 3 points for the Fire. Too bad for Chicago. At least Wanchope should have enough experience to know what to do in that situation.
