BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - The Chicago Fire are likely bound for the postseason, but the degree of their mishaps do not exactly paint the picture of a playoff team.The Fire did fight back for a 2-all draw Saturday night when they earned 1 point against Toronto FC at Toyota Park. The aura of disappointment, however, was pretty evident throughout the locker room - a typical feeling during the Fire's 4-4-6 campaign at Toyota Park.
"It takes everybody being on the same (bleeping) page and being disciplined. And right now we're not in our last couple games," Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch said. "And there's no excuse for that.
"We're just giving away easy goals and it's putting us behind the 8-ball. That's the bottom line tonight, again. We're going to score goals. We've got creative players. We get chances every game. But we can't get in these shootouts we keep getting in. And in the playoffs, it's about discipline. And right now we have zero. We have to sort that out very quickly."
Despite the blunders, the Fire had an opportune moment in second-half stoppage time when Patrick Nyarko crossed the ball from the right side. Calen Carr put a foot on the ball at the far post but it went wide left. Carr had a clear path, and the Toyota Park crowd groaned in unision. Then referee Edvin Jurisevic blew the final whistle.
The Toronto goals Busch referred to include the Reds' 6th-minute goal by Dwayne De Rosario off of a defensive blunder by C.J. Brown and Wilman Conde, and then a Chad Barrett tally in the 46th minute, which was a strong run and execution from Toronto's side.
"The whole group tonight defensively, we were no good," Fire head coach Denis Hamlett said. "We gave them two goals tonight. ... I'm disappointed with the easy goals we've conceded so far this season at home. That part needs to get better. We did create some chances. But at the end it's still about defending."
The thing is Chicago was given a present early in the first half when Toronto's Nick Garcia scored an own goal in the 14th minute, tying the score at 1-all. But the Fire did not put a shot on goal throughout that first half.
Barrett's tally against his former Fire squad gave Toronto a 2-1 advantage. Chicago fought back, though.
Brian McBride (pictured above) scored his seventh goal of the season with a 78th-minute header off of a Justin Mapp cross from the left side to tie the score at 2-all. It was McBride's first goal since May 16 against Toronto. But then after McBride went through a scoring drought and had shoulder surgery.
Chicago dropped in the Eastern Conference standings with the first-place Columbus Crew earning 3 points Saturday with a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy. That gives Columbus 46 points. The Crew are followed by the Houston Dynamo (43 points), Fire (41) and Galaxy (41) in the race for the Supporters' Shield.
The Fire are now 10-6-11 on the season while Toronto is 9-10-8.
Fire midfielder/forward Chris Rolfe was a late scratch for Hamlett. Rolfe suffered a hamstring injury during practice earlier in the week. Defender Gonzalo Segares is day-to-day with that sprained MCL, and he stated after the game that he had a setback earlier in the week. So his status remains to be seen.
Next up: The Fire begin a two-game road trip when they head out west to take on the Los Angeles Galaxy for a 10 p.m. (CST) match on Friday, Oct. 2. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
SlideTackles.net thoughts: There is no question that the defense had its problems Saturday. And while that was much of the focus postgame, I was surprised that an equal amount of blame was not directed toward the offense for not finishing things off. After all, they had a 15-8 edge in shots and were spotted a goal by Toronto. That doesn't exactly happen a whole lot at Toyota Park.
McBride had a strike at close range in the 34th minute that probably should have been a goal, or minimally at the net. In the 89th, Stefan Dimitrov had a header that went over the net, with Peter Lowry providing a perfect cross from the left side.
Mapp had one of his better games and had a bunch of crosses that could have led to even more scoring opportunities, but instead many of those chances the ball trickled away or Toronto was able to clear.
One interesting statistic was that the Fire committed only two fouls which ties a league record for the fewest, set by FC Dallas on July 4 earlier this season. Whether that's a meaningless statistic or whether that's a sign of a not-aggressive-enough bunch, you can decipher that at your leisure.
Between the Fire's health and the team's execution, Chicago is a talented squad filled with numerous question marks.
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