playing forward as part of a new-look three-pronged attack -- collected the ball on the left and laid it square to Juan Pablo Garcia at the top of the restraining arc. He hammered a wicked blast that sailed into the upper right corner, leaving Zach Thornton rooted to his line and giving Chivas the lead.
Four minutes later, Ante Razov dribbled into the area, and after cutting back to his right to try and free himself, became entangled with Fire defender Tony Sanneh, and referee Alex Prus waved play on.
The Fire raced to the other end, and Ivan Guerrero sent Chris Rolfe in behind the Chivas defense, alone on goal. As Chivas 'keeper Preston Burpo raced off his line, Rolfe deftly chipped over him to pull the home side level.
But the fireworks weren't yet over. In the 90th minute, Bornstein ran at the Fire defense in the area, and as he tried to round Gonzalo Segares, there was contact and the rookie went down after stumbling for a step or two. This time, Prus pointed to the spot, and Chivas USA's Claudio Suarez beat Thornton from the spot to give Chivas the victory.
Chivas USA head coach Bob Bradley made one change to the team that played to a 1-1 draw with the New England Revolution the previous Sunday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum - and it caused a ripple effect through the team. Juan Francisco Palencia was out with a hamstring injury suffered in the New England match, and Orlando Perez came in at left back, as Jonathan Bornstein moved forward as Chivas went to a three-pronged attack.
Here's Bradley's team (4-3-3): Preston Burpo - Tim Regan, Jason Hernandez, Claudio Suarez, Orlando Perez - Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch, Francisco Mendoza - Juan Pablo Garcia (Drew Helm 86), Ante Razov, Jonathan Bornstein. [Substitutes Not Used: Esteban Arias, Carlos Borja, Brad Guzan, Carlos Llamosa, Juan Francisco Palencia, Matt Taylor]
"The first half was one of our best halves of the year. The second half was more wide open," Bradley said. "From beginning to end, we played hard tonight. It's a good step in the right direction."
TEAM NEWS
Of course, the penalty kicks calls were the main talking points after the match. "I think the first [foul] was 100 percent a penalty and I think the second [foul] was not 100 percent," Bradley said. Added Razov: "We had two or three PKs coming our way. Whether the ref made up the call or not, he made the call and Suarez put us up for the win."
It was a welcome victory for Chivas, after four consecutive draws, and eight ties in their last 10 games. It was the first victory away from The Home Depot Center this season - they had one "road" victory, but that was in Carson, against in-stadium rival Los Angeles Galaxy.
"I thought we played pretty well. I thought we came out in the first half and played some of our best soccer. We moved the ball up and down," said Razov. "I thought we could have had a PK called in the first half with [Jonathan] Bornstein and the one with me and we get one at the end of the game to give us the win, but I thought we deserved the win."
The Toyota Park crowd featured a large number of Chivas fans - likely part of the large Mexican population in Chicago who are fans of parent club CD Guadalajara. "In some ways, this was more like a home game than a road game", said Bradley.
But then again, there was the return to Chicago of Bradley, who coached the club from its beginnings through 2002; Razov, still the club's all-time leading scorer; and Jesse Marsch, who made a team-record 200 league appearances for the Fire before being traded to Chivas in January.
"It would be silly to say that it didn't mean a little more," said Marsch. "I had a lot of emotion, and I'm still so close to a lot of the guys on the team. But on our end, it was important to get three points."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
The Kansas City Wizards failed to build upon the victory that ended a nine-game winless streak the previous Saturday, losing for the second time in three days to the Chicago Fire in a 3-0 league decision at Toyota Park on Wednesday night, following a 2-0 loss in the U.S. Open Cup fourth round on Monday. The Wizards are now tied for third place in the Eastern Conference with 25 points from 22 matches, level with the Fire and New York Red Bulls, though Kansas City has played two more matches.
LAST MATCH
Both the Fire and Wizards ran out significantly changed lineups from Chicago's 2-0 fourth-round Open Cup win, when Calen Carr and Andy Herron scored goals. The Fire, however, hadn't won in five league games - all at home - while the Wizards put an end to their nine-game league winless run in emphatic fashion the weekend before with a victory against Columbus.
Just as they had done in the Open Cup match, the Fire came out the stronger and went ahead after 25 minutes. Justin Mapp flighted in a free kick from the left flank and Nate Jaqua rose up to head home inside the far post, his sixth goal on the campaign.
Wizards defender Ryan Raybould was booked twice on either side of halftime, and his caution two minutes after the restart left Kansas City a man down.
It didn't take the Fire long to capitalize, scoring twice in seven minutes to put the match away. Mapp again played provider in the 61st minute, racing into the area on the right before rolling a pass across the face of goal to give Chad Barrett the easiest of tap-ins at the back post.
Then Mapp took one for himself. Ivan Guerrero sent Andy Herron through on the left and he sent an angled ball toward the far post. Whether a shot or cross, Mapp still came sliding in to knock it home at the back stick and end the Fire's nine-game homestand on a high note.
Wizards interim head coach Brian Bliss made one change to the team that defeated the Columbus Crew 4-0 the weekend before at Arrowhead Stadium. Alex Zotinca failed a late fitness test on a hamstring injury, so Ryan Raybould came in at right back.
Here's Bliss's team (4-2-1-3): Bo Oshoniyi - Ryan Raybould, Shavar Thomas, Nick Garcia, Jose Burciaga Jr. - Jack Jewsbury, Sasha Victorine - Davy Arnaud - Scott Sealy (Ryan Pore 64), Eddie Johnson (Brian Roberts 73), Dave van den Bergh (Lance Watson 57). [Substitutes Not Used: Will Hesmer, Will John, Tyson Wahl, Kerry Zavagnin]
"It was very similar to our Open Cup game on Monday. I don't think we got off to a good start right from the get-go. We committed a lot of fouls and gave [the Fire] a couple corner kicks too many," Bliss said. "I think we were a tad slow getting to loose balls and a tad slow in getting our guys to put pressure on [the Fire]. We were under a lot of pressure from the start. I think [the Fire's] best opportunities came from our blatant giveaways that led to chances."
TEAM NEWS
It happens to every team in the league, and now the Wizards are facing a brutal schedule, with five games in less than two weeks. It started on Aug. 9 in New England, and it will end Saturday in Carson. In the four games thus far (including the Open Cup tie), the Wizards have lost two and drawn one.
"It's just a tough schedule. We knew it was going to be tough from the get-go, playing five games in 11 days and we've still got three or four days to go on this and another road game. You know what the travel does to people, and when you're on the road for seven straight days, it takes its toll on us," Bliss said. "We're going to have to try to conserve our energy over the next couple of days and make the most out of our free time and recuperation. Hopefully we'll be ready and have enough energy to compete against a good Chivas USA team."
After getting shutouts in two consecutive games, the Wizards allowed five goals in two games against the Fire. Wednesday's loss was the fourth time this season the Wizards had allowed three goals in a game.
"We've got to make sure we don't give up goals. That's the thing that's been getting us all year, and last year, the set-piece goals," said Sasha Victorine. "We've just got to be more solid as a team on the marking and also try to not give up any set pieces and corners like we've been doing."
Offensively, the Wizards have been struggling too. In the last 12 games in all competitions, where they won just once, they've been shut out eight times.
"It's holding possession of the ball, making the other team work a little bit and tire them out so offensively they don't have that same juice to go forward and hopefully allow our team to get forward more with our forwards more and combine better up top," Victorine said.
The Wizards were also disappointed at not building on their 4-0 victory against Columbus at home at the weekend, which ended their long winless run. "As a team it's frustrating because we want to build on last weekend's game," Victorine said. "On the road here, against a team in our division, yeah, it's frustrating."
