The Chicago Fire remain undefeated this season after a wild 3-3 tie at San Jose Saturday afternoon. Three times, the Fire found themselves down a goal to the Earthquakes, and three times they battled back to even the score, their last goal coming in the 85th minute from a 25-yard blast by Chris Rolfe.
"We pride ourselves on being a good defensive team, but today wasn't up to our standards," coach Denis Hamlett said. "But on the flip side, our guys hung in there and we stuck together and our forwards bailed us out.
"To go on the road and score three goals is a plus. We'll take our point and move forward."
San Jose went on top early as Ryan Johnson scored in the 14th minute.
"(San Jose) were a little bit sharper, a little bit hungrier than we were the first half," Hamlett said. "We were a step, a second, behind. It's their home game, and they were coming off a bad result last week away, so they're going to come out with a little bit of energy. We talked about it, that we needed to match that intensity, and if we didn't we could find ourselves in trouble, which we did."
Chicago was able to tie the game in the 41st minute when Logan Pause played Marco Pappa into the penalty area, and Pappa fired a shot past goalkeeper Joe Cannon from 15 yards out. But soon the Fire were again down a goal, as just before halftime Bobby Convey picked up a loose ball in midfield and burst through the Chicago defense, slamming a shot past Jon Busch from close range.
"To our credit, we got a timely goal to tie it up at 1-1, and then (I'm) disappointed that we gave one up right away," Hamlett said. "But we came in at halftime and talked about a few things, addressed it and I thought our mentality the second half was pretty good."
To start the second half, Hamlett brought on Cuauhtemoc Blanco in central midfield, moving Tim Ward to defense, replacing Brandon Prideaux. It was the third time this season in four games Blanco had come into the game off the substitutes' bench.
"(Blanco) played midweek (in an exhibition game), he played 90 minutes, and he's getting his legs under him. He's getting his form, his timing," Hamlett said. "It's not easy when you expect a guy who hasn't played games to all of a sudden to be thrown into a game and be sharp. It's just not fair."
The tactical changes had a significant effect as the first 20 minutes of the second half were all Chicago.
"The second half, we did start to compete a little more, and we started to have the desire that we wanted to win this game," Hamlett said. "For a good stretch, we were all over them. That's something our guys pride themselves in. You're never going to play 90 minutes of perfect soccer, but at least you got to make sure that in those stretched where you don't play well that you still compete and still go out there and have the hunger to win. The second half we stepped up to the plate individually and as a team."
The Fire finally evened the score at 2-2 through a Brian McBride goal in the 57th minute. Blanco headed a long pass to McBride at the top of the box, and after a great take down and turn, he fired a shot that beat Cannon inside the left post.
"The game opened up completely in the second half," McBride said. "It was probably exciting for the fans, and for everyone watching, but we'd prefer it to be more open for us going forward, and tight (in the back). It was great effort from the guys. When we needed to get forward we got forward and got the equalizer."
Said Hamlett: "The whole second half we were in control of the game, we had them on their heels and we just kept pushing."
Still, Chicago found themselves down 3-2 after a penalty kick in the 75th minute gave San Jose the lead. Dasan Robinson knocked down Bobby Convey as they battled for a bouncing ball inside the penalty area, and referee Jorge Gonzalez immediately pointed to the penalty spot. Arturo Alvarez slotted the spot kick inside the right post, and the Fire were once again down a goal.
"Those are calls are going to be happening. Throughout the whole year they're going to balance out. I'm more proud of the fact that our guys -- at that point you could let yourself down but we didn't. We regrouped and we just kept pushing," Hamlett said. "That's a good sign of a team that's grown together over the years. Last year to this year, we have 90 percent of the guys back, and there's a mentality and an understanding that we're still going to keep fighting 'til the end. We've shown that so far in this early part of the season."
The Fire got a man advantage when San Jose's Shea Salinas earned his second yellow card of the game in the 81st minute, and four minutes later the Fire got their third goal. Rolfe, who came on as a substitute in the 69th minute, took a Pappa pass and slammed a left-footed shot from 25 yards out. Cannon got a touch but couldn't stop it, and the game was even at 3-3.
"It's a long season, and we're four games into our season. We try to make the best decisions to put the right guys on the field to give us a chance to win, and so far we've done that," Hamlett said. "We're 2-0-2 and three of those of those games have been on the road, so I'll take that any day."
Said McBride: "We've had a lot of grit so far early in the season. To be honest with you, I'd love for us to coast with a victory, and not have it be determined with our grit. But it's good to have. It's something that at the end of the season that we'll need, and these experiences will definitely help us."
Pete Ratajczak is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
