Firing Away: Chicago Fire at New York Red Bulls

I wouldn't say "back by popular demand," but at least one person has commented to me that they miss the gameday liveblogs, so here goes:

• [PREGAME] If only there were some narratives floating around for this match, something the media could use for added context. Nothing springs to mind.
• [PREGAME] Interesting lineup, a bit more defensive in the central midfield, but Hamlett has done that on the road before. Plus, putting Blanco up top may limit his wear and tear on the artificial turf.
• [2'] Not sure about playing Conde in the back and Gutierrez in the midfield. Watch Soumare to see if he responds as well to that pairing. Fire on their heels early on, a bit, gee, disorganized in the back. Who would have guessed?
• [4'] Mapp should have hit that one first-time. The cutback wasn't terrible, but Rolfe didn't have a lot of room to do anything with it, and the Red Bulls' backline did a good job stepping up for the offside trap.
• [7'] Beauty of a long ball out of the back finds Rolfe, but Barrett goes just high.
• [8'] GOAL CHICAGO! Blanco finds Barrett, who battles through the NY defender and finishes it off nicely into the bottom corner.
• [9'] Did Hueb just say "we all remember David Hayes"? Uh...
• [11'] Doran is exactly right on Barrett so far. When he's in full-on bulldog mode up top, he can be a force to be reckoned with. As long as he can finish.
• [13'] That seam up the middle has been available at least four times already. Blanco gets the shot off, but it's too high. Looking pretty good so far, but the defense hasn't really been tested yet.
• [18'] Chicago owning the run of play so far.
• [20'] There's Blanco's reputation preceding him. Should have been a penalty, but with a reputation for diving, you're simply not always going to get that call. And Chris? Angel can score from the 18, don't encourage him.
• [24'] Not a lot of buildup through the middle for the Fire, but with the Gutierrez-Pause tandem, that's not entirely surprising. They're both going to take up more defensive positions.
• [27'] "A little bit of contact from behind." Well-played, sir.
• [28'] Segares winning the battle with Dane Richards by a wide margin so far. Great to see Sega playing so well this year. No sooner said, Gonzalo underestimates Richards' speed or overestimates how fast the ball will move on the artificial turf and New York gets a rare half-chance on the resulting cross.
• [32'] Angel checking way back to run the offense, but that leaves him vulnerable to getting his pocket picked by Gutierrez in the midfield.
• [34'] Rolfe with some nice individual moves, but somebody should have found Justin Mapp off to the right instead of trying to work through all the defensive traffic, so it goes nowhere.
• [36'] Poor decision from Soumare in the back, trying to shield the defender from Jon Busch, but the Chicago goalkeeper knocks it out of danger in a three-man pileup in the goal mouth.
• [39'] Looked like another strong tackle from Segares on Richards, but the extracurriculars afterwards might have ultimately cost him the call from the far side assistant referee.
• [40'] New York finally showing some signs of life following that free kick, with Borman taking a nice first-time crack that goes over the frame.
• [44'] Dane Richards is very, very fast. Don't know if any of you knew that.
• [45'+1'] I don't think Logan Pause was releasing pressure on the defense. I think Logan Pause watched David Beckham's stoppage time goal last night and though "I can do that."
• [46'] Hamlett has noticed the lack of touches in the central midfield, and wants to fix it. That said, and given all the times I've grumbled about 4-4-2 formations with two d-mids, the Fire have done a good job of working the flanks, which is how you have to play it. Chad Barrett starts the second half with a blast that just goes high.
• [47'] GOAL CHICAGO! Where was New York's left back? Blanco gets a long ball with all kinds of space and finds Chris Rolfe on the far post. Easy pickings for the Fire.
• [49'] It looks like Blanco is going to completely own Goldthwaite here in the second half.
• [50'] Pause lets Reyna get in for a header that goes wide, and maybe needs to do a little better with his marking. And watching the replay of the goal, lots of credit to Chad Barrett for dragging two defenders to the near post, totally freeing Rolfe up at the far post.
• [52'] New York seems to have move Parke into more of a man-marking situation with Blanco, after the Fire forward abused Goldthwaite. Mapp gets bowled over by Andrew Boyens and it's a penalty kick.
• [54'] GOAL CHICAGO! Temo converts. John Terry watches and learns.
• [56'] No graphic onscreen with the time, so I'm guessing. Altidore and Magee on for New York, but it may be too late.
• [60'] GOAL CHICAGO! More godawful defending from New York, Blanco to Mapp to Barrett makes them pay. I was hoping Mapp might get more involved, and he found Barrett while he was still onside.
• [63'] GOAL CHICAGO! Conde does a great job getting to the corner kick, and Sega buries the deflection off the crossbar. The rout was already on, now it's a bloodbath. Take that, Juan Carlos!
• [66'] Blanco continues to make the Red Bulls look silly, but can't keep the ball in bounds. And now we've got some pushing and shoving. Soumare shouldn't have taken that bait -- and it's not clear why he'd show Altidore when his argument was with Angel -- and gets a yellow along with Angel. New York with possibly their best chance on the restart.
• [70'] Gotta disagree with Doran on a five-goal victory not meaning anything if they don't get the shutout. Yes, the shutout would be preferable, but a big win is a big win. The shutout is certainly motivation for the last twenty minutes, but not getting it isn't going to make that much of a difference. Frankowski on for Mapp, following Stephen King coming in for Rolfe a few minutes ago.
• [73'] GOAL NEW YORK! Jozy Altidore gets just past Chad Barrett for a header off the corner kick, and Doran points out that King left the post really early on the play as well.
• [75'] Jozy begs for a trip in the box, but absolutely not. And isn't Richie Williams just the "acting" head coach, rather than the "interim" head coach? I'm just quibbling.
• [77'] Barrett can't quite reach a ball over the top into the box, and is starting to cramp up.
• [79'] I could see New York getting another garbage goal before this one finishes up. It's pretty sloppy at this point, and Hueb does a fine job of pronouncing Ubiparapovic.
• [82'] 1-v-3 and Frankowski is able to earn the foul. Nice.
• [87'] Woolard shows some wheels recovering from a push into the corner by New York. On the other end, King and Frankowski have been trying to combine and coming up just a bit short.
• [89'] If you chose "technical player" in the Fire broadcast drinking game, congratulations, you're probably wasted.
• [FULL TIME] That's all she wrote. And all I'm going to write. A good old-fashioned thumping from the Men in Red puts us in a three-way tie for first. When do we play Columbus?