For much of Sunday's match at Toyota Park the New England Revolution were being embarrassed. Then all of a sudden they were right back in the mix and the Chicago Fire were panicking. It was a strange match, but what else would be expected of two terrible MLS teams that were eliminated from the playoffs a long time ago playing in front of a sparse crowd just because the schedule says they have to. In the end, Chicago just barely held on to grab a 3-2 win that maybe 14 people cared about.
Chicago Fire Vs. New England Revolution, 2011 MLS: Fire Hold On For 3-2 Win
It took just five minutes for the Revs to put themselves in a hole. Patrick Nyarko was played through on goal and Matt Reis came out to try and get the ball, but he got there late. Reis clipped Nyarko, giving the referee no choice but to award the penalty, which Sebastian Grazzini coverted.
Once again, New England's back line couldn't track the Chicago attackers and Dominic Oduro got in behind the defense. He had no problem rounding Reis and tapping the ball home to double the Fire lead.
New England wasn’t done letting players get in alone on goal though. Nyarko did it again and Reis, afraid of taking down another attacker or handling the ball outside the box, took an awkward stab at the ball. It was ineffective, allowing Nyarko to push the ball past Reis and then finish for a 3-0 Fire lead after just a half hour.
Finally in the 90th minute, the Revolution showed life. Sean Johnson was unable to collect a long ball, spilling it to the top of the box. With him in no man's land, Ryan Guy had a simple chip to get the Revolution a goal.
After needing 90 minutes to get one goal, the Revs needed just 90 more seconds to get a second goal. Diego Fagundez played a good backheel to Milton Caraglio, who fed Guy in front for the simple finish and it was a 3-2 game.
Despite getting something going in extra time, the Revolution couldn’t find an equalizer and after an awful 90 minutes, they didn’t deserve to.
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