The Chicago Fire extended their unbeaten run to six games on their road trip to open the 2006 season, escaping with a 1-0 victory against Houston Dynamo on Saturday afternoon at Robertson Stadium thanks to a tremendous individual goal from Thiago early in the second half.
Five minutes after halftime, the Brazilian got the ball at the midfield stripe and weaved through the Houston defense before picking out his corner with a shot from outside the area for the only goal of the game. The Fire then survived a frantic finish to claim the full three points, setting a club record with the six consecutive road games without a loss since a season-opening defeat.
The opening minutes provided more fouls than chances, the physical play limiting each side's offensive productivity. However, the fouls did lead to set pieces, both sides gaining their best looks of the opening 45 minutes on such plays.
Fire defender C.J Brown received a yellow card for a challenge on Alejandro Moreno and Dynamo midfielder Brad Davis stepped up to strike the ensuing free kick. His ball found the head of an unmarked Craig Waibel near the back post, but the defender's header hit the side net instead of the intended target.
Davis set up a second teammate just five minutes later, this time from a corner kick. Again it was a defender that got on the end of the ball and again the finishing left much to be desired. Eddie Robinson failed to make solid contact at the top of the six-yard box, kneeing a shot over the crossbar.
Lanky forward Nate Jaqua had Chicago's best chance to give the visitors the lead before the break, that opportunity also coming from a dead ball. Midfielder Diego Gutierrez played the long pass from midfield, which Jaqua grazed with his head on its way to the goal. But Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad reacted well to dive to his left and make the save.
Long-range efforts from Houston midfielder Ricardo Clark and Jaqua were the half's final chances, Clark's effort forcing a good save from Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton and Jaqua's effort trickling wide of the left post to send the teams into the locker room scoreless.
Chicago was fortunate to escape the opening minutes without falling behind and instead took the lead five minutes into the second stanza.
Dwayne De Rosario made one of his blistering runs into the Chicago box seconds after the kickoff and fired into the side net, before Thiago made a great defensive play to stuff a second effort, sliding in the area to block a Davis shot straight out from goal.
The Brazilian playmaker then got the job done on the other end of the field just two minutes later. He received a pass at midfield before racing up the center of the field, nutmegging Robinson before hitting a perfectly placed shot past Thornton from just outside the top of the penalty area.
To make the fine strike a little bit more impressive, the goal was scored with Chicago down a man, and a midfielder at that. Gutierrez had left the fields moments earlier with what appeared to be a pulled hamstring and Leonard Griffin entered as a replacement following Thiago's dancing celebration.
The Dynamo offense began to fire up 15 minutes into the second half. The crowd wanted a penalty kick after Dasan Robinson's conspicuous stop of yet another Davis cross from a free kick. The call wasn't coming, but Davis got right back at it and served a lovely ball to Ronald Cerritos in the penalty area, yet his header drifted wide.
Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear made a pair of changes with a quarter-hour to go, replacing Cerritos with Julian Nash and opting for Kevin Goldthwaite over Ryan Cochrane for the closing minutes.
Houston looked to have gotten the tying goal with a minute and a half to play when Moreno put the ball into the Chicago net from close range. The strike was disallowed, though, as the Venezuelan was judged to have pulled down his defender before getting off his shot. Then, they came within inches in stoppage time as substitute Kelly Gray banged a header off the crossbar with Houston's final chance.
The Fire can now see the end of their marathon road trip, with two games left away from the Windy City before the first game at Bridgeview Stadium on June 11. Chicago will face the 2005 MLS expansion sides over the next two weekends to complete their trek, starting next Saturday vs. Chivas USA. Houston will also be on the road in a week's time, heading to the Boston area to take on the New England Revolution.
Jonathan Nierman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
