Yes folks, after I saw the score for this match, I was actually excited to fire up Match Day Live and watch a Fire match. I know, weird huh?
Things didn't start out well for the Fire though. Let's face it, TFC had played well in their last home match, knocking off the Dynamo, and they were gonna try to build on it. Almost from the first minute they started to exploit gaps that were opening up in the Fire defense. Maicon Santos had three pretty decent chances in the first ten minutes, but couldn't get it on goal. The pressure paid off though as Plata, the hero of the Dynamo match, was left all alone in the 9th minute and slotted home the first goal of the match to make it 1-0 to TFC. It looked like it was going to be a long night for the Fire.
Try as they might, the Fire finally pushed their way into the attacking third in about the 16th minute, This created a couple of half chances for them. Bone had a shot blocked, and Gibbs hit a volley off the ensuing corner just a little too high. At least it served notice to TFC that the Fire weren't going to roll over.
Another significant moment happened in the 25th minute. This time it was bad news for TFC. De Guzman picked up his fifth yellow card of the season and will miss the next match. Not good. Really guys, those cheap yellows add up.
Both teams did get additional chances before the break. Plata had a shot right outside the six yard box blocked in the 36th minute, and Soolsma had a header saved in the 44th. For Chicago, Bone had another shot blocked in the 36th, and Oduro blasted a shot off of Frei in the 42nd, but we went to the half with TFC up 1-0.
The second half was a little sloppy on both sides, and this let the Fire back into the game. However, TFC started the quicker as Maicon Santos drove home a 30+ yard strike through the legs of Chicago keeper John Conway to make it 2-0. I'll bet Conway wishes he had that one back.
However it was all Chicago after that as we witnessed yet another TFC collapse. Papa got a goal for Chicago off of a free kick in the 63rd minute to make it 2-1. Bone and Barouch combined efforts in the 75th to score a weird goal, but the Fire would take it, and equalize at 2-2. They actually had a good chance to grab the win in the 83rd, Palladini got 1 0n 1 with Frei, but Frei made a killer save and salvaged a point for the struggling Canadian side.
All in all if you're the Fire, you have to be satisfied that you came back from 2 down on the road and got a point. However, it looks like they might be getting something on offense, so if they could solve their defensive lapses it might give them a chance for better results against better clubs. For TFC, another wasted chance, and more dropped points at home. This time they dropped them from a winning position. Something big needs to happen up there to jolt that squad.
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