In the interest of jump-starting my interest about the Fire's tenth season, it's time to liveblog the season opener. Mostly for my own amusement, but if anyone checks it out later, that's fine, too.
- Opening remarks? Dema vs. Blanco. Keep an eye on that.
- OMG. Aside from the volume balance between the music and the announcers, did they spell Huebner's name wrong on the screen? And isn't this the Fire's 10th season, not last year?
- OMFG. They just showed Andy Herron and said he was Denis Hamlett. Somebody at My50 would get fired if anyone was watching this. And "several" stints as interim head coach? I don't think coaching when the head coach is suspended really counts. Terrible toss to Not Sarah Kustok, to boot.
- Prideaux and Soumare starting in the backline? Interesting, but CJ and Dasan are both still nursing injuries, so not entirely surprising.
- 3' Nominally a four-man backline, but it already looks like Segares is pushing up to allow Justin Mapp a little more freedom, with Gutierrez sliding out wider.
- 6' First good chance of the match -- probably second, as I didn't really see that last wide shot -- on a nice cross by RSL.
- 9' Bakary Soumare hasn't gotten much more composed with the ball since we saw him last. No one really making much of an impact yet, but Logan Pause has been solid so far. And Blanco is wearing the armband. Doran just said that C.J. has been named captain of the squad, but this is the first I've heard of it. Good for him, he deserves it.
- 12' Good support from the midfield in the buildup leading to Blanco's hopeful attempt for the far post. I think it went Mapp to Segares to Pause to Blanco across the width of the field.
- Pickin' on Hueb, Part 1. "It would nice to see Chad Barrett score in the double digits, or maybe more." Yes, it would be awesome if Chad Barrett scored a hundred goals this season, I totally agree.
- 15' Didn't see who let RSL get in alone like that, but nothing came of it. Probably dodged a bullet there.
- 18' Never mind the Dema-Blanco matchup I mentioned earlier. Dema's not in the lineup. Long shot from Beckerman, no problem for Busch, after a busted corner kick for the Fire almost finds some luck at the far post, but I didn't see who got the foot on it.
- 22' Was Justin Mapp unable to outrun Andy Williams -- and Chris and Fred would like to point out how much they really like Andy Williams -- a few minutes ago? That's, like, the slacker Olympics or something.
- 24' Yeah, that's a foul. Blanco just misses with the 12-yard approach.
- 26' Soumare just got lucky. That could have gotten called, but Terry Vaughan has been consistently letting them play so far.
- 29' Segares can't contain Espindola, but Busch is there to stop the shot.
- 31' Whatever his other faults may be, Terry Vaughan is being remarkably consistent on tackles so far. None of them are apparently illegal.
- 34' Rolfe with a defensive play deep on the left side ultimately finds Frankowski in the corner, who finds Blanco, but his pass to Barrett is too hot for Barrett to handle, and ends up with an offside call.
- 36' If anyone picked 36 minutes for how long it would take Jon Busch to get injured, pick up your prize. I think he may have strained an abdominal muscle, and we'll see what they decide about it at halftime.
- 39' Chris Doran says "we" with regard to the Fire in this broadcast, but he seems to be rooting for RSL. What the hell? And isn't Segares falling down relevant to that play? Perhaps deserving some mention. Soumare is passing better out of the back, by the way.
- 44' Rolfe and Mapp seem to have switched sides. And Vaughan isn't calling anything.
- 45' More good lateral movement through the midfield -- Prideaux is the catalyst this time -- leading to a flurry of activity for the Fire to close out the half, but nobody is on the far post. Twice.
- HALFTIME The big fear of this particular 4-4-2 is that Logan Pause has way too much ground to cover in the middle of the field, and that's exactly what started to happen later in the first half. Something to keep an eye on in the second half. On the plus side, there have been a couple of opportunities where the Fire did a good job of linking up through the middle of the field. In both cases, the outside backs were involved. On the other hand, Frankowski and Barrett don't seem to have a good idea of where the other one is going to be, and there have been a couple other instances of guys zigging when their teammates thought they would zag. Defensively, there have been a couple of breakdowns, but they all seem to lead to long-distance shots that posed no problems for Jon Busch. For a season opener on the road, it's going mostly as you would expect.
- 46' That little Daryl Shore soliloquy makes me think Chris Doran is somehow paying tribute to former color commentator Kenny Stern. And Blanco made a bit too much of a little bit of contact in the box. That call wouldn't get made even if Terry Vaughan had brought his whistle.
- 49' Rolfe, Mapp and Blanco all overloading the right side to start the half, but it ends up with a dangerous counterattack that Soumare can't stop and that RSL should have done better with.
- 52' Sublime touch from Frankowski off a long clearance, nice touch to Mapp, who gets his legs taken out from under him. The assistant referee is right there, denying Vaughan the chance to not make the call and not give the card. Then, back the other way, another long shot from Williams.
- 53' It can't be persistent infringement if the ref doesn't call the foul in the first place, but yeah, it was a foul.
- 55' RSL with a great chance on the bicycle kick. King for Mapp has to be an injury. Has to be. Gutierrez knows exactly what he can get away with on that non-call in the box.
- 58' Or maybe not? Stephen King looks great with his first touches as a pro.
- 65' The game has taken a turn for the sloppy. Soumare with a nice little mugging on the far side touchline. Of course, he gets away with it. Segares with a weak cross that Rimando handles easily, but again, the play started on the opposite side of the field. Gotta do more of that.
- 68' Busch way off his line to intercept a long through ball, then Soumare can't stop Espindola from getting a good header off, but not good enough.
- 69' And here comes Dema.
- 70' In less than 10 seconds, Dema commits his first foul.
- 71' GOAL SALT LAKE. Dema crosses the ball to...Bakary Soumare? Um, oops.
- 72' Chris Rolfe and Chad Barrett are allegedly still on the field.
- 75' Seriously, do we even have a shot on goal yet? Possession in the RSL half has been few and far between. Doran is bored enough to be talking about fonts and margins.
- 76' Chad Barrett sighting! He wins a corner.
- 77' RSL defender Chris "Kip" Wingert's number is only seventeen. That is AWESOME.
- 78' That actually looked like a good yellow card for Findley for diving. Very little contact, if any.
- 81' Chris Rolfe sighting! Nice through ball for Herron, who replaced Frankowski, but a little too far ahead of him.
- 84' Carr on for Soumare. Findley's speed and that other guy RSL brought on could make us pay for that, but it's what the situation requires. Herron and Rimando crash, but there's nothing nefarious there. Aggressive forward meets challenging goalkeeper, but aggressive forward is down and hurting.
- 87' In the announcer parlance, Carr should have done better with that header, but he was pretty much making something out of nothing, so it's not like he really could. Good effort, though. Hopefully not too little too late with Carr's pace, but it probably is.
- 90' Vaughan finds his whistle and the yellow card in his pocket. 4 minutes of stoppage time, but there's been little evidence the Fire know what to do with it right now.
- 92' GOAL CHICAGO! I'm perfectly fine with being wrong right there. Calen Carr with a great run up the wing, and while the initial cross managed to avoid all four Chicago players in the box, it bounces out to Blanco, and he buries it. Blanco seemed to be dogging it earlier in the play, but hanging behind the play paid off handsomely.
- 94' "Kip" Wingert flattens Diego, no card. And there's your ballgame.
- FULL TIME. Way too few scoring chances in the second half, although we pulled the result out of our collective asses. I thought the outside defenders got turned a couple of times, but it almost seemed like RSL kept using the flanks because they were afraid of Baky Soumare in the middle for most of the game. Not sure if he deserves that level of respect, but I'll take it. Logan Pause has his work cut out for him, but once C.J. and Dasan are back, a three-man backline won't be out of the question, and that will give him more support. If we can build on those couple of times where we played the width of the field, good things will happen. That may be a big "if".