Firing Away: Chicago Fire at New England Revolution

There's a reason I don't call these liveblogs. I don't know the result of this one yet, but New England has been on a hell of a run lately, so despite our regular-season dominance over Steve Nicol's incessant whining, I'm hoping we might sneak out with a draw. And that may be optimistic.

• [PREGAME] Huh. Hadn't seen the standings in a while. We're doing alright. And if there's ever a time for New England to be overconfident, it's right when everyone seems to have noticed that 12-1-4 record in all competitions, including winning some tournament that nobody watched a few days ago.
• [PREGAME] Okay, I'll stop talking about how Tomasz Frankowski is going to surprise people with a late-season surge, now that every other forward has passed him on the depth chart.
• [PREGAME] Uh, where's Chris Rolfe? Pappa, Thorrington and Mapp behind Blanco could be interesting, though.
• [PREGAME] Maybe this is just me, but the cast on his arm isn't as interesting of a story for Gonzalo Segares as his getting snubbed by Steve Nicol at least twice for the All-Star team.
• [2'] I liked Pappa shielding off Shalrie Joseph over on the far side touch line, forcing a foul. Either he's a brave player, or he's blissfully ignorant of Joseph's reputation as a strong physical force in the midfield.
• [3'] GOAL NEW ENGLAND. Conde with a boneheaded giveaway. Here we go again. Pause gets overmatched by Twellman on the ensuing corner kick and we're already in a hole.
• [5'] Conde taking way too many touches, and gets another clearing pass blocked, this time out for a Fire throw-in.
• [6'] Pappa with a nice long ball out to Herron, who takes it outside and is unable to do anything with it. I would have liked to have seen a first touch bring the ball in toward the goal. I think he had enough of a head start on the New England defense to get away with it.
• [7'] Nice little sequence of passes from the Fire after some (gasp) strong defensive pressure from Justin Mapp, but the final ball is just ahead of Andy Herron. The important thing is the quickness of ball movement. I want to keep an eye on that today, because I think the team has finally gotten religion on one-touch passing, but I'm not sure.
• [9'] Wow, the ref actually gave Larentowicz a well-deserved yellow card for steamrolling Justin Mapp. Odds of Steve Nicol bitching about that call after the game are 4-1. Meanwhile, Nyassi picks Mapp's pocket again. Fool me twice, shame on Justin.
• [11'] Pappa returns the favor on the other side of the field, picking Castro's pocket like Castro was a tourist in Times Square. Pappa takes all the way upfield, fights through a double-team, and wins a corner kick. Well done.
• [13'] Well, that was a little too close for comfort. I'm going to guess that defending corner kicks is going to be a big part of this week's training.
• [15'] Another ball over the top finds Andy Herron, but again, he takes it outside, and he's a much better goal-scorer than he is crosser of the ball, and his cross is over Blanco. Prior to that, Mapp was being lazy off the ball after dishing the ball to Herron out at the near-side touch line, which handcuffed Herron, giving him nowhere to go with it.
• [16'] Great ball into the box, and Thorrington gets taken out by Jay Heaps. How is that not a penalty? Heaps didn't look to be anywhere near the ball. And it's been over two minutes with no replay. Going on three. What the fuck? There have been plenty of opportunities to show the play. Give me a goddamn replay. I swear, I could direct an MLS telecast better than these nitwits.
• [21'] Close offside call on Herron. I'll bet you we don't see a replay of that, either.
• [23'] Promising counterattack for the Fire is thwarted by...Andy Herron, who hits a ball off the back of Thorrington's boot. Also, Logan Pause seems to play the ball much faster than his predecessor, Chris Armas. Two touches and it's out of there.
• [24'] Cristman given way too much room in the center of the field, and almost makes the Fire pay with a long worm-burner. And that gets a replay. Are we using the New England local feed? That would explain a lot.
• [26'] A rapid succession of Fire chances all stemming from Andy Herron pressuring Matt Reis, but Blanco can't get good wood on Justin Mapp's cross at the end of the sequence, and Chicago is left wanting. And then again, after Blanco's dummy for Herron ends up hitting a Revolution defender, and Reis pokes it out before anyone can pounce. Still, that's positive stuff from the Fire, and if these guys can keep buzzing Reis' goal, good things will happen.
• [28'] And we even got some replays of that flurry of chances. Why do I picture someone in the truck, about twenty minutes into the match, asking "I wonder what this button does?" It's now been ten minutes since Thorrington was fouled in the penalty area, and no replay. That's downright insulting.
• [29'] More good pressure from Herron forces a turnover, but the Fire wait for a whistle when they've got the advantage, and suck all the momentum out of the attack, which culminates in a weak shot from distance from Gonzalo Segares. Who should want to make Steve Nicol pay, not that anyone has brought it up. Or where Chris Rolfe is.
• [33'] Mapp continues to get down the left side, but while I like Pappa trying to one-time it, he doesn't get a good shot off.
• [35'] Conde struggles with Cristman, and ultimately Segares saves his ass. Or, rather, Segares saves it with his ass. New England throw-in. Busch grabs the cross, and while Pappa loses it, Thorrington wins it back from Shalrie Joseph and tries to thread the needle to Blanco. No dice, Reis picks it up.
• [38'] Blanco finally getting some time on the ball, but no telepathy as Thorrington tries to anticipate a run he doesn't make after a nice little shot fake that gets him to the top of the 18.
• [40'] Conde with a big win of the ball and then a pass to Blanco, but the passing lanes get congested. Ultimately, Herron posts up, but can't get it through to Pappa, who tries to bring the ball down with his trailing arm and gets caught.
• [41'] Segares is down in a fetal position. This is probably not good.
• [43'] There's the downside of playing Thorrington as a central attacking midfielder with Blanco as a withdrawn forward, as they pretty much bump into each other to kill what looked like a promising attack.
• [44'] Good job by Thorrington going after a ball instead of letting it go out for a throw-in, but everybody's trying to make cute little passes to set people up for shots, only to have them make more cute little passes. In the end, no one shoots and New England clears.
• [45'+] It's not a Fire-Revolution match unless Fire defenders are fouling New England forwards at midfield.
• [45'+] Segares' ass makes another play, blocking a New England pass attempt.
• [45'+] Thorrington to Blanco, who's through-ball gets deflected. Pappa gets on to it anyway, and finds Herron just offside. Matt Reis is bitching to the officials...to make the call that they just made? It's not quite dissent, but can you give a yellow for just being dumb? Good chance, though -- I don't think you can blame Herron for not staying with the backline, as fast as that play unfolded.
• [HALFTIME] Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? The Fire actually played pretty well, challenging New England up high defensively, and then getting guys open in transition. If I may cue up the broken record from anyone who has watched this team through the dog days of summer, they just need to finish. And not make boneheaded giveaways out of the back. And try not to give up any more corner kicks.
• [HALFTIME] The big questions, though, are whether or not anyone is going to explain where Chris Rolfe is, and if they'll actually show the non-call against Thorrington. I don't even think Jay Heaps knows how to tackle legally, so of course it was a foul.
• [46'] Wait a minute, Denis Hamlett wants more passing up top? We seem to be making one pass too many when we should be shooting. And when did Dulé Hill (Psych, The West Wing) become an assistant referee? Remember that part where I said no more corners? Not off to a good start here.
• [48'] Conde tries to one-up his first half mistake by not picking up Adam Cristman, but Busch charges off his line to cut down the angle, and Cristman is forced wide. I have to wonder if Fred and Chris are allowed to point out that Conde is making some fairly massive blunders out there, or if they're instructed to be relentlessly positive, because Conde totally fucked that one up. Segares was on Nyassi, and Soumare was pressuring Twellman. Conde was lost in no-man's land, to the point where Prideaux, coming all the way over from the right side, ended up getting closer to Cristman than Conde did.
• [49'] Gee, you're making a big deal over Hamlett talking about going to his bench, how about telling us why Chris Rolfe isn't playing? Do you not think anyone wants to know? Is the most dynamic forward the team has getting benched somehow not news? Is he injured? Do you assume that it got mentioned somewhere on BigSoccer and everyone knows already? And would it kill you to show a replay of Thorrington getting taken out in the penalty box? Or would that just expose the fact that no one knows where they're supposed to point the goddamn cameras, so you don't have anything approaching a good angle on it?
• [50'] Seriously, Fred, the first guy you pick out from the subs list is C.J. Brown? Conde with a bit of a reckless foul on Twellman, which is par for the course around midfield, but not as advisable 25 yards from goal.
• [51'] Fifty-one minutes, and Chris Doran finally asks the question I've wanted to know the answer to since I saw the starting lineup. Why is Rolfe on the bench? Of course, he apparently didn't actually ask it of anyone in particular, because he doesn't give an answer.
• [52'] If you wonder why I sometimes get violently anti-Wilman Conde, it's the little things that totally piss me off. Just now, he pinched up high when he had no cover behind him, and New England got free on the wing as a result.
• [56'] Segares with a nice, big switch over to Mapp, whose cross is deflected right to Blanco, With a lot of bodies between him and goal, he waits, then tries to chip a pass right in front of Matt Reis for the onrushing Pappa, but Reis gets there first. On the one hand, I can't believe Blanco thought that would work, but on the other, it was unexpected enough that it just might have. Audacious.
• [58'] Bakary Soumare tries to intercept a through ball, but misses, and Twellman puts one wide. That wasn't a tactical mistake as much as he just didn't execute. It looked like he had a good shot at it, but again, just missed it. And while the broadcast team has gone easy on Conde, Chris is more critical of Baky, and I think he's wrong. He simply thought he could block the pass. It had nothing to do with holding the line. Joseph sees yellow, and Fred incorrectly calls it the first card of the day, unless the onscreen graphic in the first half was mistaken. I suppose anything is possible.
• [61'] Rolfe for Mapp. Yes, let's talk about his haircut, and not why he didn't start. Yes, I'm getting really fixated on this. I'm guessing Blanco drops into the midfield, Pappa goes to the left, and Thorrington to the right. John does a very good job of stretching the field when he's out wide, so he'll be one to watch now to see if the offense changes its dynamic.
• [62'] Someone was just offside, but there was a huge graphic on the screen, so it's anybody's guess as to who it actually was.
• [63'] Oh no! The onscreen substitution counter has not been decreased by one for the Fire! Heads must roll for this! Another big switch, this time from Thorrington, and the play ends up with Blanco on the end line, cutting it back for Pappa, who decides this one time not to make the run, so it's nowhere near him.
• [65'] Segares with a hard man's yellow to protect Blanco, the kind of yellow card that you hang on your refrigerator as a source of pride.
• [72'] Adam Cristman clearly has no Italian blood in him. His diving is terrible. He's lucky that flop was after the whistle, otherwise he might see yellow. Well, not really, but he does seem to be trying to make a point about diving very badly, kind of like that guy in Big who gets all bent out of shape about how Tom Hanks pointed out that his toy sucked, and so he simply parrots back the same line of criticism that Hanks used, despite the fact that it wasn't relevant.
• [72'] Meanwhile, back at the former CMGI Field, we really, really suck defending set pieces, but Joseph's header takes a big hop over the crossbar.
• [75'] Shalrie Joseph picks up a second yellow for interfering with a Fire throw-in. You may recall that same thing happening to Logan Pause a couple of years ago, but this one is much dumber than that one. Sorry, Chris, it's not harsh. It's exactly what's supposed to happen in that circumstance, and further, it's not a harsh red card. It's a yellow card. Fred originally saw the play correctly, but has since devolved into not knowing what the hell he's talking about. Don't either of these guys remember that Joseph was already carrying yellow? I'm not even going to lay odds on whether or not Nicol is going to whine like a little baby about this one. It's assumed.
• [76'] Fred asks if they missed a yellow on Joseph, which they did, and Chris immediately brushes him off.
• [80'] Rolfe with a nice turn in traffic right in front of Reis, but puts it wide.
• [81'] GOAL CHICAGO! Segares with space, takes a long shot that Reis mishandles. If only they had played up the whole All-Star snub story. And I think Fred's right that it at least may have deflected, because Reis seemed to flat-out miss it rather than mishandle it.
• [83'] Tough call against Soumare, and Busch bobbles the service into the box on the ensuing free kick, but ultimately holds on. Tenacious attacking the other way, as Chris Rolfe and Andy Herron force the ball through the penalty area through sheer force of will and bravery going into unlikely 50-50 challenges, but that doesn't result in enough velocity to actually get the ball over the goal line.
• [86'] Andy Herron's sprinting to the sideline to get Frankowski on belies any notion of the Fire playing for the tie here.
• [86'] GOAL CHICAGO! Pappa serves one into to Frankowski, and as he puts a shot on goal, a sliding New England defender puts Conde onside so he can tap in the rebound. At least I think it's an offside call that New England is bitching (and getting yellow cards for dissent) about. Maybe Reis is saying he had possession of the ball? The replay refutes that one, too. Probability of Steve Nicol whining about that one? 100%
• [88'] Good god, this broadcast team needs a spotter, if only to keep track of the yellow cards. After the goal, they said Larentowicz saw yellow (it was Ralston, although I thought it was Reis for dissent), so now Larentowicz actually does see yellow for tripping Logan Pause -- or maybe not, if the game summary is to be believed -- and I want red because I've been given bad information.
• [89'] New England with some pressure, but Busch is there to stop Nyassi, who might have done better to cut it back towards Twellman, but there were a lot of bodies in the box.
• [90'] Pappa with a great effort to the byline -- he's the man of the match, almost without question -- and Banner one-times a shot that forces Reis to make a diving save. You won't like him when he's angry!
• [90'] Rolfe with what should have been a tap-in goal, tries to put the ball across for Frankowski. I thought he was offside anyway, but apparently not.
• [90'+] Pappa with an ill-advised shot from distance when he should have just carried it into the corner. Now New England has a corner kick, where they're still dangerous. Still two minutes of stoppage time, so Matt Reis may stay back on this one.
• [90'+] Blanco with the butt-trap, then Conde with a huge (and legal) shoulder challenge to win it back.
• [90'+] After all that talk about the big cast on his arm, Fred mistakes Gonzalo Segares for Wilman Conde, but it doesn't matter. Game over.
• [FULL TIME] Fire win. Steve Nicol is going to be insufferable about this one, and I hope he gets fined for it.
• [FULL TIME] I've gone and checked some of those cards, but the game summary -- and all statistics are unofficial, mind you -- has no mention of the Reis yellow after the Fire's second goal, and gives the Larentowicz yellow for tripping Pause to Steve Ralston. Also, the yellow that I thought I saw in the 9th minute to Larentowicz may not have actually happened. And we never saw a replay of Thorrington getting taken out in the box, or learned why Chris Rolfe didn't start. Good win -- big win -- but hard to watch. Although the New England feed would have been much, much worse, since those announcers are the biggest homers in MLS, bitching and whining more than Steve Nicol does.