Controversial penalty call assists Columbus' fate down stretch
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - Soccer's dreaded 2-0 advantage doomed the Chicago Fire against the Colubmus Crew on Sunday afternoon at Toyota Park. The Fire's dwindling lead was partly due to one poor sequence to lead to one goal. The other was a highly debatable penalty kick call from referee Mark Geiger.
In the end, the Crew capitalized as the Fire walked away with a 2-all draw in a battle of the Eastern Conference's top two squads.
The result definitely added some controversy to the mix. It took place in the 77th minute when Fire defender Wilman Conde (pictured above) was called for a foul in the penalty box against Crew second-half substitution Steven Lenhart. The replays told a much different picture leading to Guillermo Barros Schelotto's game-tying, 79th-minute penalty kick.
"It's unfortunate that the game ended the way it ended," Fire head coach Denis Hamlett said. "Because we all saw it. The play that leads to the PK, the referee tells (assistant/goalkeeper coach) Daryl Shore after that game that he called a PK on Wilman because he knicked him. You saw the replay. Steven Lenhart comes in and does a karate kick and kicks Wilman. Wilman actually gets the ball. The referee decides to change the game. It's disappointing. With four or five games left in the season, everyone's fighting for points. You just hope that the players dictate the outcome of the game."
So instead, Schelotto fired the PK for his 12th goal of the season and second of the match. He had not scored a goal since a two-goal effort against Chivas USA on June 14. It soured what had been a relatively solid performance across the board for Chicago, with the exception of the Crew's first goal.
"We played very well, and we got done by a bad call," Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch said. "You look at it again ... we looked at it again when we came in (after the game). If anything it's a foul on Lenhart, not on Wilman. And it's very upsetting that we put so much into it and we created other quality chances that we still could have won the game. But we work so hard and the guys put everything in. And we end up dropping 2 points, which we never should have dropped. It had nothing to do with the way we played."
The Crew moved to 11-4-10 (43 points) and the Fire to 10-6-10 (40 points). Chicago is now 4-4-5 at Toyota Park.
Early on, it was all Fire. Peter Lowry was the offensive fuel with goals in the 6th and 35th minutes.
Lowry's first goal came during a sequence when defender Brandon Prideaux made a cross from the right flank to Brian McBride, who one-touched the ball to Lowry at the top of the box. Lowry struck the ball to the left side of the net past Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer for the 1-0 lead.
His second goal was a solid strike from nearly the same spot on the field and on net as he was at the right place at the right time when Crew defender Eric Brunner lazily attempted to clear the ball toward the wing. Chicago had the 2-0 lead and all of the momentum heading into halftime.
"We trained this week on some finishing and those were the kind of spots that we were hitting them," Lowry said. "Thankfully I hit both of them pretty well and they went in."
The Fire's defense had only one major lapse, and it occurred in the 55th minute. Prideaux took a gamble on the flank and Columbus' Robbie Rogers capitalized. He crossed from ball from the left wing to Schelotto for the header to cut the Fire's lead to 2-1.
* * *Next up: The Fire stay at home when they host Toronto FC for a 7:30 p.m. match on Saturday, Sept. 26. The game will be televised on My50.
* * *SlideTackles.net thoughts: To echo the team's sentiment, the Fire's play looked strong. It obviously is a bitter moment because this game had so much impact toward the Supporters' Shield.
They created some crisp passing, good movement of the ball, good player movement and regular development of scoring chances.
Chicago still has a good leg up on D.C. United in the East standings and has not been a part of that enormous batch of squads vying for a wild card. But one point versus three makes a big difference down this regular-season stretch.
Poor calls are bound to happen in any MLS game. But Geiger's judgment was pitiful. You never want to see a game come down to a referee's misstep, and it's safe to say you can put the end result squarely on Geiger's shoulders.
