Despite outshooting Chicago 20 to 11, the Columbus Crew succumbed to the Fire 2-1 at Toyota Park on Saturday night. Kettering, Ohio native Chris Rolfe scored a brace in response to an early, unassisted, goal by Jairo Arrieta.
Chicago applied pressure early on, forcing the Crew’s defense to work extra hard to avoid giving the home team an early advantage. In the 2nd minute Crew captain Chad Marshall easily headed a Jalil Anibaba cross into corner. A minute later Fire midfielder Alex grazed the crossbar after picking up the corner kick rebound.
The first clear chance for the Crew came in the sixth minute when Eddie Gaven took a shot from outside the box forcing Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson to make a diving clearance. Johnson was called into action again four minutes later when he deflected a left-footed shot by Milovan Mirosevic.
Chicago responded in the 11th when Sherjill Macdonald sent a cross into the box looking for Rolfe, but the ball took a weird bounce and trickled out of bounds for a goal kick.
In the 15th, Fire defender Austin Berry played a ball to Johnson who intended to send it back to Berry. The Fire ‘keeper mishit the ball and Arrieta took advantage of the effort and easily dribbled around Johnson to slot the ball into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
It only took eight minutes for the Fire to draw level. In the 23rd minute, MacDonald found himself on the receiving end of a Gonzalo Segares long ball and played it to an oncoming Rolfe who sent it left post for the his first goal of the evening.
Three minutes later the Fire would find itself on top again when Patrick Nyarko played a ball across the top of the box to Rolfe who sent a blazing shot into the upper 90 for the 2-1 lead.
The Crew continued to search for the equalizer which almost came in the 44th minute when Chad Marshall headed a corner kick towards goal but Johnson quickly caught the ball keeping the Fire on top at the half.
The Black & Gold would not let up in the second half continuing to seek out the elusive tally. In the 56th minute, Gaven forced Johnson to punch out another shot from distance and two minutes later Federico Higuaín barely missed a connection on an Emilio Renteria cross.
In the 78th, Mirosevic attempted to bicycle a cross in, but the ball sailed high above the crossbar and a minute later Crew defender Josh Williams’ close range blast was denied by Johnson.
The Black & Gold continued to pressure the Fire with a slew of chances in the waning moments of the match, but attempts by Higuaín in the 82nd and by Olman Vargas and Tony Tchani in the 87th were thwarted by Chicago’s defense fixing the result at 2-1.
The Crew is now 13-11-6 on the season and 4-8-4 on the road.
The Black & Gold currently sits in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Houston and two behind D.C. who both play on Sunday against Philadelphia and Chivas USA respectively
The Crew returns home on Saturday, September 29, to host the Philadelphia Union in another crucial Eastern Conference showdown at Crew Stadium.
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