Phew. That sound you just heard was a huge sigh of relief coming from every Fire fan in Chicago after San Jose’s Shea Salinas skied his three yard effort over the bar – almost unbelievably – in stoppage time of today’s 1-0 Fire victory.
Chad Barrett put Chicago in front 19 minutes into today’s match and Chicago somehow held on for a rather lucky victory. The San Jose Earthquakes managed to find woodwork twice in the game’s final minutes before Salinas’ miss on a wide open net, and the Quakes certainly outplayed the Fire in the second half. Still, the Fire’s performance wasn’t without its bright spots and at this stage of the season getting three points on the road is huge whether or not they come in convincing fashion.
Cuauhtemoc Blanco once again played a part in the Fire’s only goal. It was his weighted ball that put Tomasz Frankowski in on the keeper in the 19th minute, and after Joe Cannon saved Frankowski’s effort, Barrett arrived in front of a pair of Earthquakes defenders to force the rebound in from close range. Frankowski, Barrett, Blanco, and Justin Mapp all delivered inconsistent performances, with any of the Fire’s four main attacking options looking brilliant one moment and then quite mediocre the next. This match certainly didn’t answer all the questions that I have of Chicago – after all no one match ever does – but there will be a lot more from this afternoon to talk about in the coming days. For now, the Fire can just enjoy sitting atop the Eastern Conference. At least until the Kansas City and New England games end later tonight.
Scoring Summary:
CHI -- Chad Barrett 2 (unassisted) 19
Misconduct Summary:
CHI -- Bakary Soumare (caution; Reckless Foul) 55
SJ -- Ryan Cochrane (caution; Reckless Foul) 65
SJ -- James Riley (caution; Pushing, Holding) 94
Referee: Kevin Stott
Referee's Assistants: Corey Rockwell; David Bragg
4th Official: Yader Reyes
Time of Game: 90:00
Weather: Clear -and- 77 degrees
Attendance: 20,038
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