Down But Not Out

One of the more unfortunate assymetries in soccer, at least if you are a defender or a goalie, is that while an attacking player can make mistakes an entire match, only to be the hero if they convert that one chance, a defender can play a spectacular match for 89 minutes, but if they slip up for the other one, they're the goat.

Which isn't to say anyone in their right mind might try to pin the Fire's 1-0 loss to Chivas USA on second-year defender Dasan Robinson, but you absolutely hate to see a guy play so hard for so long in a match, only to lose his footing on the play that gives up the game-winner. If Robinson doesn't fall down as he tries to shift from Maykel Galindo to Paolo Nagamura, does Nagamura score? Not that anyone can prove otherwise, but I think he at least makes it tougher.

The Fire have had some particularly disappointing, ugly games this season. Despite the lack of quality scoring chances, this was not one of them. Chivas USA is clearly a faster team than the 2007 Fire, and the fact that we were able to hang with them with a massively depleted squad until one busted play proved to be the difference is one of the most encouraging signs I've seen all season.

In particular, Jimmy Curtin rebounded from his two-match tour of the bench with a particularly solid effort, and I can't stress enough how Robinson completely shackled Galindo for the most part after the Cuban had started to find success against Curtin and CJ Brown. Gonzalo Segares, a guy I've been pretty hard on in the last season and a half, played one of the best games I've seen from him in a while. He had a great moment the camera caught him with an arm around Galindo's chest, keeping him from getting to a loose ball in the six-yard box after a corner kick.

Offensively, yeah, not a lot to hang your hat on, but I thought we did okay moving the ball and responding to the pace of the match. This should be one to build on, which means it will probably end up being the game that gets Dave Sarachan fired.

And there's no denying that Jesse Marsch is part of the Fire for life, given how easily Fox Soccer Channel's Jeremy St. Louis forgot which team he played for when confronted with Marsch wearing Jim Curtin's jersey after the match.