Okay, so the original point behind these live (or semi-live) game commentaries was to re-engage with the club when my interest has been flagging. In the middle of a World Cup, even more so.
- PREGAME So, it's important because it's the Fourth of July? And you've flagged Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Marco Pappa as key players? Well, at least Brian Dunseth pointed out that he was not, in fact, a world-class defender.
- PREGAME Oh, my, Paul Caligiuri is an absolute disaster. I may have to watch this on mute.
- 4' Already one dodgy pass from Conde, but Nyarko picks it up and gets it forward to Brian McBride.
- 7' Dykstra flaps at a corner kick, and I think he missed it almost completely. No replay, so I can't be sure.
- 8' Nice ball control from Pappa into the penalty area, but goes down way too easily.
- 13' Nice build-up from the Fire, but Husidic and Pappa can't quite link up on the last ball. Not sure Baggio could have done much differently, so maybe Pappa needed to adjust his pace for that to have worked. Still, Chicago looking okay so far.
- 16' Mike Banner tries a clever chip into the box from the left, but nobody else was on the same page.
- 21' Right now, the Fire seem to be doing a pretty decent job of varying the attack. Both wings have been active, but they've worked the center channel as well. Throw in a couple of long balls to McBride, and the Crew will have trouble picking them up.
- 23' The more everyone insists on building up Marco Pappa as a brilliant playmaking midfielder who can carry a team on his shoulders, the sooner he's going to crash out. He's good, but he's not that good, and he's still young. Let the kid develop, for fuck's sake. The pressure is not good for him.
- 26' Jason Garey outruns C.J. Brown into the box, but puts his shot wide. Credit to Wilman Conde -- that blade of grass he was defending instead of closing down Schelotto before the through ball had no chance. Conde looks to make amends on the next attack with a wrestling takedown of the Crew playmaker and gets away with it.
- 29' I get on his case a lot, but great step up from Conde to intercept a pass and carry it all the way upfield untouched. Of course, he can't complete the through pass into Husidic, but Pappa is there to pick up the rebound and fire it just off target.
- 33' Great tackle from Nyarko to win the ball back at the top of the attacking third, but nothing comes of it. Still, I'm liking the Fire's ball movement right now.
- 36' C.J. Brown with a clearance that gets deflected by Eddie Gaven, and the Fire dodge a bullet when Dasan Robinson takes Gaven out just outside of the penalty area. Alex Prus waved it on as a Crew advantage, which Jason Garey squandered, although he did send a decent ball across the face of goal. Nobody was running far post, though.
- 39' Columbus starting to get on the front foot now. Chicago needs to protect against a late goal. Dykstra with another mess on a corner kick -- he slips as he comes across and then crashes into C.J. Brown -- but the cross goes over Chad Marshall.
- 41' Mike Banner has a right foot? Not great, but not bad.
- 42' Hejduk with a bad giveaway, but Brian McBride can't keep the shot on frame, despite being as patient as possible.
- 43' GOAL COLUMBUS. Schelotto threads it through for Jason Garey, and Dykstra makes the stop but can't control it. Adam Moffat sweeps it out from under him and into the net.
- 44' GOAL CHICAGO! And we're level. Long cross in from Husidic on the right side, and Frankie Hejduk accidentally heads it in his own net.
- 45'+ GOAL COLUMBUS. Okay, this is ridiculous. Eddie Gaven gets loose on the left side -- Husidic and Pappa both seemed to wimp out on a challenge in the midfield, thinking the whistle was coming -- and weights his cross perfectly between Conde and Krol and onto the head of Jason Garey, who puts it in the back of the net just as the one minute of stoppage time expired.
- HALFTIME The Fire looked like they had the better of play through the first forty minutes of the half -- I counted maybe three legitimate chances from the Crew, and none of them were particularly threatening -- before the game suddenly became a shootout. Schelotto had already made that post-up through-ball once, but to be fair, the Fire defended it well until Dykstra spilled the rebound. The own goal, courtesy of Frankie Hejduk, shows how much respect he's had to show Patrick Nyarko so far.
- HALFTIME I still think the second Columbus goal was a result of both Marco Pappa and Baggio Husidic not playing to the whistle. They both sorta stuck a foot in on Eddie Gaven, but between the two of them, they didn't even add up to half a tackle. Logan Pause and C.J. Brown weren't able to close Gaven down in time, and while I would have liked Conde and/or Krol to do better keeping Garey bottled up, the cross was superb. With three big bodies flying at him, I don't know if Dykstra could have come off his line to punch it out, but I may change my mind when I see another replay.
- 48' Dasan Robinson takes out Robbie Rogers at midfield, and may have to be careful after a yellow card late in the first half. We may see one of the rookies replace him rather than risk a red.
- 51' Paul Caligiuri just called a wide shot from Baggio Husidic "uncontested." Except that he looked like he hurried the shot because there was a defender closing in on him, which is sorta the definition of "contested." Nice interplay on the wing from Krol and Nyarko to start the play.
- 57' More good ball movement from Chicago, but Krol overheats a cross at the end of it. Logan Pause with a nice shoulder challenge on Gaven to keep it alive in there as well.
- 61' Good lord, this team is frustrating. The buildup has been fantastic, but the finishing just isn't there. Nyarko gets a head on a cross from Pappa, but I think a defender got a shoulder or something in the way, and then Husidic can't track down a through ball to the end line. Columbus with a half-chance the other way, but the Fire block out the Crew in the box, allowing Dykstra to scoop it up.
- 65' Mike Banner up the wing with a quick restart, but while the idea of the layoff to Patrick Nyarko was great, I think the accuracy was a little suspect. Nyarko was at full stretch, and could only put it wide. This is where the "he should have done better" makes me crazy. I think Banner is the one who had the most impact on how that play turned out, not Nyarko. Either way, the Fire should have scored. And didn't. Which was one of the problems Carlos de los Cobos was brought in to fix.
- 70' Explaining why Danny O'Rourke replaced Frankie Hejduk had to be the easiest thing for a broadcaster to do, and Paul Caligiuri just blew it. He's coming off injury, and has been chasing Patrick Nyarko all game. There, done. See how easy that was?
- 74' I'm starting to think missing these chances is harder than finishing them. Great backheel from Pappa to get Nyarko in on goal, but his touch puts him wide of the net, and he can't pull it back on the shot. That said, Will Hesmer might have been able to smother it if Nyarko didn't hit it so heavy.
- 77' Smart of Baggio to foul Gaven outside the box at the start of what could have been a dangerous opportunity. I thought he got ball, but in the grand scheme, it was okay tactically either way. And Dunseth and Caligiuri just called a shot that was about twenty yards high "very close."
- 80' For a team that needs a goal to tie this up, we sure aren't getting bodies forward into the attack very quickly.
- 84' Okay, we're chasing the game, and de los Cobos is going to bring in a fresh...central defender?
- 86' Brian Dunseth has serious depth perception issues if he thought that shot from Renteria was "just wide." Dimitrov on for McBride, and I'm not sure how that helps, either.
- 89' C.J. Brown -- not known for his shooting prowess.
- FULL TIME We had plenty of matches like this last year, and invariably, Denis Hamlett would say something the fans would find unsatisfying about doing some good things, but clearly needing to do better in the final third. So, what's the difference this year? Carlos de los Cobos will say the exact same thing, only in Spanish.
- FULL TIME So, we're still not finishing chances, we're still not good at home, and now we can't get a result at our home away from home in Columbus. If anyone in the front office tries to spin this season as any sort of improvement over last year, they should be fired immediately. We are not better in any way whatsoever.