Firing Away: Chicago Fire at San Jose Earthquakes

Now 100% Guppy free!

• PREGAME   Conde in the starting lineup over Gutierrez, and Stephen King's impressive first season continues with a start. Chris Rolfe is not on the subs bench, so he must be injured. King is already looking better to the coaching staff than John Thorrington.
• 1'   Not just Conde returning to the backline, but Dasan Robinson over Brandon Prideaux on the right as well, so cohesion in the back will be something to keep an eye on.
• 4'   Frankowski with some bad kung-fu, flailing at a well-weighted ball over the top.
• 6'   Soumare has been doing a good job of using his long legs to deny passes, but San Jose works it into the box and Bakary puts it out for a corner. that amounts to nothing.
• 8'   Kamara seems to have figured out how long Soumare's legs are, and gets around them for a rifled shot that Busch has covered.
• 10'   Segares looks like he's a step slow so far, and totally missing that trap won't help him right his ship.
• 13'   Fire absorbing a lot of pressure in the first fifteen minutes, but they're up to the task. For now, anyway. That backline is big.
• 15'   Poor decision for a double-team from Conde leads to a good chance for San Jose. O'Brien fouls Mapp down the other side. Mapp's service doesn't accomplish much.
• 18'   Six red shirts in the box, and nobody covers Gavin Glinton? Wilman Conde owes Jon Busch a drink for bailing him out with a great save on a shot destined for the upper corner..
• 19'   GOAL CHICAGO! Blanco stays on his feet after a challenge, hits Frankowski on a great little incisive run, first-time shot saved by Cannon, but Barrett pounces on the rebound. And we get a Peter Wilt sighting that segues into a comment on the now-vacant GM position, although Max didn't really complete the thought.
• 25'   Soumare is looking like an improved version of Jimmy Curtin so far this year, doing a really good job of denying balls into the forwards.
• 27'   Some danger in the box, but Segares strips it away and overcooks one for Mapp on the right flank. Denis Hamlett not wearing a suit in the unseasonably warm Bay Area.
• 32'   O'Brien rips one across the front of goal, but a tough angle and no one there from San Jose.
• 33'   Nifty backheel give and go from Frankowski, who gets whacked by Joe Cannon and comes up limping. Dasan Robinson returns the favor with a leg on Kei Kamara.
• 38'   Blanco floats one to Frankowski at the top of the box, but the Polish forward doesn't pick up Robinson making the run up the right side. A one-time ball in to space would have been a beauty, had he seen it. Back the other way, the backline is getting a little bit lazy with their passing.
• 40'   Justin Mapp takes advantage of the sloppy play to remind us he's actually on the field, making a mazy run into the box that ends up with him on the ground, in the box, with no call. Kevin Stott returns the favor down the other end as Kamara goes down easily on a Soumare/Segares double team (I think, could have been Conde)
• 42'   Bunny hop! Doesn't quite work, though. San Jose is doing a good job of blocking Blanco out with double-teams.
• 43'   More lazy marking leads to a 23-yard rocket from Grabavoy that goes just wide.
• 45'   Barrett to Mapp, who wastes the opportunity by taking too much time with the ball. Blanco shows him how to get at least a weak shot off before the pressure arrives. Not much offense, but at least it's offense, as we haven't seen much of that lately. And that's the half.
• 46'   Barrett, I think, thought someone was making a run up the right. Blanco would have preferred he threaded him through on the left, but the Fire get forward quickly at the outset of the second half. Then, back on their heels a bit again.
• 49'   Blanco is, unfortunately, very, very slow. Mapp would have caught up to that big ball into space.
• 52'   Soumare a little too casual cleaning up the back, ricochets an attempted clearance off of Kamara, but Robinson cleans it up.
• 53'   Blanco finds Frankowski on the run, takes a hit and goes down way too easily. Some ping-pong in the penalty area, Mapp whiffs, and Logan Pause shows he is the true heir apparent to Chris Armas by blasting a "shot" about twenty yards above the frame.
• 54'   Baky sucks up to -- um, sticks up for -- Blanco after a challenge and gets a yellow for his effort. At least it looked like it had to do with the Blanco challenge. Maybe.
• 58'   Jon Busch has been everywhere he needs to be. Which is good, because San Jose is applying quite a bit of pressure. Guerrero fakes Soumare out of his shorts, only to be replaced by Shea Salinas moments later. Barrett with a dumb giveaway, and San Jose wins another corner.
• 62'   Chad Barrett sweats a lot, as we learned from Chris Doran at some point last year or the year before. So no surprise that he cramped up and had to be swapped out for Calen Carr.
• 66'   Blanco gets whacked by Ryan Cochrane, who I think may have more persistent infringement yellow cards than anyone in the league. Robinson does a good job shielding off Gavin Glinton at the other end.
• 68'   Calen Carr's first touch has been pretty horrible so far. The big trees in the central defense are forcing a lot of shots from distance, which Busch has equaled.
• 69'   Dasan with a hold and a takedown of Salinas, but the deep free kick goes nowhere. Some nervous possession on the right flank eventually gets past midfield, but not much further. The Fire blast one deep to relieve the pressure.
• 71'   Sega makes a bit of a mess, but the long shot trying to catch Busch off his line does not do anything of the sort. Now it's Thorrington on for Frankowski, who got very quiet in the second half. Not as quiet as Justin Mapp, but still quiet.
• 75'   Great googly moogly, this game has gotten dire.
• 78'   Don't look now, but Daniel Woolard is about to get his first competitive MLS minutes, for one of the two cramping defenders. It's Conde.
• 80'   Jon Busch with a total time-wasting dick move when the call goes against the Fire at the midfield, but San Jose had blasted it toward the Chicago goalkeeper.
• 82'   Bakary Soumare continues to be really, really tall. Down the other end, Blanco fights through three different challenges, but can't find a willing partner for a through pass.
• 87'   The Fire are getting really lethargic, not hustling to loose balls. The almost pay dearly, but Glinton is offside on the O'Brien cross, and misses anyway.
• 89'   Ryan Johnson breaks free on the end line, but enough Fire defenders are there to fend off the cross.
• 90'   Carr with a nice run up the right, but doesn't have enough of an angle to get a good shot off, going wide left. A nice double-team on the defensive end stymies a San Jose attack. Four minutes of stoppage? Really?
• 93'   Corrales gets his cross deflected, and it comes off the crossbar. Robinson can't contain Kamara, but his header goes off the post, and the rebound is reminiscent of Diana Ross at the World Cup opening ceremonies in 1994, going way over the bar at point blank range. That four minutes of stoppage was almost scandalous.
• 94'   Riley with a dumb foul on Mapp, but better than a breakaway. Free kick straight to Cannon, and the Fire complete the textbook gritty road win. See you at Fado in a couple of hours.