Firing Away: Chicago Fire at Kansas City Wizards

Okay, probably not going to go minute-by-minute this time, since I'm starting an hour and a half late. I may try to take a more holistic approach and give impressions three or four times per half.

• [PREGAME] No Conde in the starting eleven. Can't wait.
• [PREGAME] Dammit, Toyota has some crappy band making "Saved By Zero" from The Fixx totally suck in their ad. Not cool.
• [2'] Okay, so much for that idea. "It's one of the hazards of actually playing on a smaller pitch is more soccer balls from the ball kids get thrown out." I call bullshit, Chris. You just totally made that up.
• [6'] Does chanting "Columbus reject" really work when the guy you're trying to heckle has the best GAA in the league? Or at least close to it? Blanco's had a good chance, and Thorrington got an early, sloppy yellow.
• [15'] You're not going to find much attractive soccer on this postage stamp of a field, and so far, that's definitely been the case. I'm still not a fan of Blanco and McBride up top with Rolfe in the midfield, but it worked against L.A., and it might work here since it's a shorter trip to the penalty area from the midfield.
• [17'] Soumare outmuscles Wolff when the cross comes in. Nice play. I don't like the corner kicks we're giving up, though. We're bad at them, and Kansas City is good at them.
• [21'] Easiest offside call ever on that non-goal, but Rolfe made a great run to get that sequence started. Too bad McBride wasn't able to tee it up.
• [22'] Some pretty brave defending back at the other end to defuse the Kansas City response.
• [26'] Yikes, don't know about that non-call in the box, but the Wizard attacker may have intentionally walked into the contact and then fell down. On the replay, Prideaux actually held up his challenge and the Kansas City player jumped through the non-challenge as if it were still there and did the four-point flop. Good decision from the referee. Mapp back the other way with a break and a shot, but Hartman is there.
• [33'] Only one win this year on a Sunday, and no wins when they're wearing white, which means no wins on the road on a Sunday. Come on, law of averages!
• [38'] Games on this teeny pitch remind me of futsal matches, in that there's much less margin of error on your first touch, and the Fire seem to be paying a price for that. Blanco's gotten caught way offside a couple of times, but again, with the short field, I like him trying to push that defensive line back.
• [41'] Not a bad effort from Thorringon, but the shot wasn't any trouble for Hartman.
• [43'] The Fire still haven't learned how to run onto those flick headers from McBride. Chicago gets a corner, and the second ball in is more dangerous. Mapp gets in on Hartman, but it looks like Hartman beat him to it before making contact with Mapp.
• [45'] GOAL CHICAGO! Whoa. Just a dumb, dumb defensive play from Michael Harrington, reaching up and handling the cross as McBride was running to the far post, and Blanco buries the PK.
• [HALFTIME] Funny sight with Fire staffer Lauren Brophy and Sarah Kustok looking somewhat frantically for someone to interview as everybody walks past them into the tunnel, finally grabbing Diego Gutierrez.
• [HALFTIME] Even before the goal, the Fire were playing a fairly solid, if unremarkable road match. I wouldn't say they were playing for a draw on the road, but they were keeping it pretty simple and pretty effective. I don't think Jon Busch had much to worry about through forty-five minutes.
• [48'] GOAL KANSAS CITY. And, just like that, we're level. Poor coverage on the right side when the ball came across, with Thorrington looking like the only guy in that area code, and he's not able to close down Harrington before he buries it. This is one reason I don't like Rolfe as a midfielder, because, sooner or later, he's gonna get beat, defensively. We saw it against L.A., too, on the Eddie Lewis goal. This time, he just didn't track back.
• [57'] Big scrum after a heck of a chance from Chicago, and to Blanco's credit, he got both feet on the ball when challenging Hartman, who seemed to pretty clearly not have possession. Salazar has gotten a lot of the close ones right here. Credit to Baky for getting that ball back in the box to start the sequence.
• [60'] Baky with another nice cleanup after a corner, but Conrad beats Segares to the through ball, and it's out for a throw.
• [61'] Wolff with a nice effort back the other way, but the entry pass is too heavy. And Chris Doran with a total non-sequitur about John Thorrington's fiance. And now, Segares with a nice play, and he just bought a new TV! Blanco got a haircut! Anything else?
• [64'] Rolfe and Thorrington with some nice play out wide right, but the cross cant' find Blanco.
• [67'] Not sure if a quick restart is a good idea when Rolfe is still on the turf. In the meantime, Kansas City is starting to look a bit shaky in the back, so the Fire might be able to capitalize on a mistake and still get this result.
• [72'] McBride gets whacked. I'd like to see someone other than Mapp take this, as his inswingers haven't been effective. Let Thorrington swing it out. That's what happens and it's out for a corner.
• [74'] Yellow for Segares. I thought it was a no-call and not advantage, but apparently not. Sega tried the old sympathy play, where you writhe around on the ground along with the guy you whacked to make it look 50-50, but Salazar doesn't fall for it.
• [79'] Baky almost lets Espinosa sneak in behind him on the far post off the Souter cross. Soumare doesn't make a lot of mistakes these days, so we'll forgive him that one since it didn't amount to anything.
• [81'] Chris says something that sounds nonsensical -- "it was what he wanted, but not what he intended" -- but actually isn't. The Fire knocking on the door again, but nobody wants to take the shot. Ultimately it comes back out to Pause who sends a beauty of a ball that none of his critics will ever remember over to Segares on the far post. Cut in to Blanco, who dawdles with it but wins a corner.
• [82'] King for Mapp. Hamlett's going for the draw on the road with ten minutes left, unless Sega gets ambitious with the overlapping runs. Let's hope it doesn't backfire.
• [84'] Diego with what may turn out to be a big defensive play, knocking a cross out of danger when KC was starting to build.
• [87'] Actually, Segares is getting forward quite a bit. Unfortunately, nobody on the Fire seems able to uncork a shot. Now Pappa and Robinson are on. I don't see why you'd put them both in at the same time when you want to kill clock.
• [90'] Apparently, neither does Denis Hamlett, because that's not what happened. Robinson came on for Prideaux at the last break, and now Pappa is on for Rolfe, but My50 blew the graphic, maybe so Chris could make his "Pappa Robinson" joke.
• [90'+] King can't control a through-ball from Blanco on a good late run from the Fire. Just over two minutes left.
• [90'+] Thorrington with another one of those hard runs that you can't believe he still has in him after ninety minutes, but gets shielded off the ball when Blanco tries to reward him for it, and there's your ballgame.
• [FULL TIME] As much as I would have liked to have passed New England in the standings and clinch a playoff spot, this wasn't a bad result. On the other hand, a similar effort next week against Columbus probably won't get the job done. And here's that irritating "Saved By Zero" ad again. I like that song, so it's pissing me off more than these things normally might. At least it's not that Rhapsody mobile commercial.