a stretch of 13 games -- while the Fire had followed up three consecutive wins to begin their nine-game homestand in their new home with two losses on the trot, their first two ever in Bridgeview.
But the Fire came out with a view to change all that, and duly went ahead in the 29th minute. Diego Gutierrez whipped in a free kick from the left touchline and United 'keeper Troy Perkins failed to reach it as he came off his line, the ball falling right at the feet of substitute Nate Jaqua, who prodded home his fifth goal of the season.
It was the first in 12 games United had even trailed in a game, and just the third time all season they were behind in a game.
Six minutes into the second half the game changed, as Logan Pause was sent off for a second bookable offense after he slapped the ball away from Freddy Adu as he was set to take a throw-in.
United took advantage of their numerical superiority, pulling level in the 76th minute through a substitute of their own in Alecko Eskandarian - after a wild scramble minutes earlier where no fewer than four shots were saved, blocked - or cleared off the line (by Dasan Robinson). A neat passing sequence was concluded when Eskandarian collected the ball on the right of the area, made a nifty turn around his defender and toe-poked the ball inside the far post for his second goal in as many games, with a suspension in between.
Fire head coach Dave Sarachan made two changes to the team that lost 3-2 to FC Dallas the weekend before. Gonzalo Segares returned to the lineup and Chris Rolfe made his first start since June 3 after suffering a concussion, as Justin Mapp and Nate Jaqua returned to the substitutes' bench.
Here's Sarachan's team (3-4-1-2): Zach Thornton - Dasan Robinson, C.J. Brown, Gonzalo Segares - Logan Pause, Chris Armas, Diego Gutierrez, Ivan Guerrero - Thiago (Justin Mapp 86) - Chris Rolfe (Tony Sanneh 68), Andy Herron (Nate Jaqua 13). [Substitutes Not Used: Chad Barrett, Floyd Franks, Jared Montz, Matt Pickens]
"It's a shame when one of your players is shown a red card that soon into the second half. Now we've got to just dig in and battle. It's not easy. It took a great little juke by Alecko [Eskandarian] to equalize," Sarachan said. "Other than the scramble, just like the game in D.C. at RFK, I think we dominated possession, thought we dominated the chances. We didn't feel that threatened. You always want to win at home, but given the circumstances tonight with 10 men, we're going to accept the point and build off of this."TEAM NEWS
In a week after he was named as the Fire's lone representative to the MLS All-Star Game, Sarachan chose to start Rolfe and Herron ahead of Nate Jaqua.
[Rolfe] had a good week of training and he looked sharp. Andy [Herron] has been banging in the goals. Nate [Jaqua] had one day off with a little strep, but we thought [Jaqua and Rolfe] might be a good combination and start using Andy as a reserve," Sarachan said.
Said Rolfe: "I feel good. I wasn't worried about heading the ball or going up for any challenges. Surprisingly, the thing I was most worried about were my legs and I played 65 minutes, and that turned out well too. I'm happy with the way things are going."
In addition, Justin Mapp returned to the substitutes' bench as Logan Pause came into one wide midfield role. "We felt that with Ivan [Guerrero] on the left and Logan [Pause] on the right, we had two guys who were real two-way players. Obviously Justin offers us a dimension going forward. With Logan on the right, he can do both. That was the idea. The thought was to use Justin as a reserve to give us a boost off the bench tonight."
But that changed when Pause received his second booking. "It was a mental lapse and first and foremost I want to apologize to my teammates and this organization because I feel like I left them out to dry," said Pause. "I was trying to disrupt the play and slow it down. I never thought I was going to get a second yellow.
Sarachan also felt like his team came out with the right attitude to challenge the MLS overall leader. "When we have a good start like that and are first on plays, we made it hard on them physically. We had the aggressiveness tonight," he said. "I thought we saw a very good Fire team tonight. We play with that kind of intensity each and every day we're going to be tough."
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew put an end to their three-game losing streak - but weren't able to keep their winless run from reaching 10 games - playing to a 1-1 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday afternoon. The Crew are still in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 19 points from 20 matches, one behind fifth-place Kansas City Wizards and just two behind the Chicago Fire, as six points separate second and sixth.
LAST MATCH
The Galaxy came into the game riding a five-game unbeaten streak -- and a shutout streak that was at better than 8 1/2 hours -- while the Crew hadn't won in nine games.
The teams traded goals in the opening quarter-hour. Columbus put an end to the Galaxy's shutout run after just nine minutes with a well-worked goal. Jacob Thomas ran onto a big ball over the top from Ryan Coiner, and he drove in a cross from the right corner that Eddie Gaven dove in to head home from close range. It was the Galaxy's first goal allowed since June 17, a span of 520 minutes.
The visitors pulled even just six minutes later however. A corner wasn't fully cleared, falling to Josh Gardner just beyond the area. He brought the ball down and laid it square to Peter Vagenas, whose first-time left-footed took a deflection off Chris Leitch and looped over Bill Gaudette. Gaudette was the Crew's fifth goalkeeper of the season, tying an MLS record set in 1998 by the Miami Fusion.
Crew head coach Sigi Schmid made two changes to the team that lost 2-0 to the New York Red Bulls the Wednesday before. Leonard Bisaku came into the center of midfield for Jose Retiz, while Bill Gaudette came in between the posts for Noah Palmer in his first appearance of the season.
Here's Schmid's team (4-4-2): Bill Gaudette - Ezra Hendrickson, Marcos Gonzalez, Ritchie Kotschau, Chris Leitch - Jacob Thomas (Danny Szetela 82), Leonard Bisaku (Brandon Moss 28), Eric Vasquez, Marc Burch - Ryan Coiner (Kei Kamara 70), Eddie Gaven. [Substitutes Not Used: Chad Marshall, Noah Palmer, Sebastian Rozental, Tim Ward]
"I thought our overall effort was a little bit better. Over the last two games, we've been playing better soccer. We had a little bit of good fortune - they hit the post twice," Schmid said. "But I also thought Bill Gaudette did a good job of standing them up and limiting his options - he didn't give an option away, he didn't lean one way or fall one way too early."TEAM NEWS
For Gaudette, it was his first action of the season after suffering a broken hand at the outset of the campaign. He was unavailable for 15 games before playing against the Galaxy.
"It is big credit to the training staff here. I was supposed to be out for the maybe the whole season or four or five months," said Gaudette "The doctors in Columbus and the training staff here was above average and it is the only reason I am back (now)."
Over the course of the match, the Crew had the better wing play, but had trouble turning the efforts into scoring opportunities by not shooting when open. Thomas and Ezra Hendrickson took advantage of space on the right side while Marc Burch countered on the left.
"Jacob Thomas played a lot more today like I think he needs to play. We still need to use him more in terms of his speed," said Schmid. "Burch, since he has come to us, has done fairly well on the left flank." Said Eddie Gaven: "It was a great team goal. Coach was telling us to get Jacob one-on-one on the outside to use his speed. That's exactly what we did. It was just 'boom-boom-goal.' He put the ball right on my head."
Still, the club record winless streak has now reached 10 games. "We're trying not to talk about the streak. My feeling is that if you play well, the rest will take care of itself," Schmid said. "The last two games we've had more combination play, more attacking play. What we need to add is the finality - the final crosses, the final opportunities where the shots on goal have to be taken. If we play well enough, then wins will come."
On Wednesday, the Crew played to a 1-1 draw with Everton FC of the English Premier League. While it wasn't a win again, the Crew still have two wins and two draws all-time in friendlies against Premiership clubs. A strike from outside the area by Sebastian Rozental in the 14th minute put the Crew in the lead, but Victor Anichebe equalized for the Toffees in the 33rd minute.
"I thought a couple of times we were a little naïve with our defending and gave the ball away a little too easily," said Schmid. But, said the Crew boss: "I saw us shooting more. It wasn't always very accurate but at least we were shooting more."
