Firing Away on Tape Delay: Chicago Fire at Kansas City

In which Dan and Chris are spared for once, on account of the game being on Fox Soccer Channel. And if you tuned in to the audio webcast for the match, congratulations, you're probably Dan Kelly's mom.

• [PREGAME] Ah, the toss to Christopher Sullivan. This time he almost pretends to work off the segue from Brian Dunseth, but not really.
• [PREGAME] Kansas City hasn't given up a goal at home? That's maybe as good a factoid as I've heard in a while.
• [PREGAME] Is CommunitiyAmerica Ballpark actually in Kansas City, Kansas and not Kansas City, Missouri?
• [PREGAME] Last week's lineup experiment with Pause, Lowry and Husidic all in the midfield didn't really work, so we get the previously ineffective Julio Martinez on the left over Mike Banner. Or Lowry picked up a knock in training like Tim Ward. I can't remember. Carlos de los Cobos was originally talking about alternating McBride and John at some point, so that's not really a surprise. On the other side, who the hell is the goalie for the Wizards?
• [2'] First two efforts forward for the Fire are both long balls, one from Dykstra and one from Conde. What was that about the short passing game again?
• [4'] Okay, there it is. Nyarko gets up on the left along with Krol and Pappa, but Pappa can't get much on the shot. Nyarko and Martinez seem to have already switched sides, which is a bit surprising since there seemed to be some criticism of Nyarko on the left last week.
• [12'] Michael Kennedy must have thought he saw a touch on the ball before Jimmy Conrad took Collins John's legs out from under him in the penalty area. Conrad flipped his foot at the ball on the play, but never actually made contact, and Kennedy blew the call.
• [14'] GOAL CHICAGO! Nice passing sequence from Collins John with his back to goal, to Krol, through to Pappa and across to Julio Martinez, who buried it. With a left-footer taking that ball in deep on the left side, Nielsen -- who looks kind of like Kevin Hartman's older, nerdier brother -- definitely should have been further off his line. Martinez needed that, for sure.
• [15'] Logan Pause takes advantage of the conditions and plays slip 'n' slide through the box to deny a Kansas City chance. Dunseth compares it to the Conrad challenge at the other end, but as a Fire fan, I'm obligated to say it wasn't nearly as overt. Also, it wasn't -- Pause slid in front of the attacker, not into him.
• [18'] Looks like Patrick Nyarko has been taking those "shoot the ball!" comments to heart, as he takes a nice whack at a ball from twenty-five yards from goal. Not a bad effort, and certainly not a bad idea given the rain.
• [21'] Kei Kamara gets in on goal, but Baggio Husidic harasses him just enough to force a bad shot into the side netting. Good run from Husidic, although his actual defending when he caught him was a bit lacking. Conde got caught up high, but C.J. Brown looked like he was back, too, so it might not have been too egregious from my favorite whipping boy.
• [23'] Dykstra flips over Dasan Robinson as he comes out to grab a cross. Ouch.
• [25'] Kansas City with a bit of miscommunication on the attack, as one extra touch on what should have been a through ball knocks it right to Dykstra.
• [26'] Dykstra makes things interesting, bobbling a corner kick, but the defense -- including Dykstra, who bails out his own mistake with a point-blank stop -- holds together during the ensuing pinball session in the box. Brian Dunseth has the Conde blinders on, giving Wilman credit for two stops in the chaos when Krol and C.J. Brown looked like they did a whole heckuva lot more to clear the danger. Still, great composure from the Fire all around in the scrum.
• [30'] Nice through ball from Nyarko, but Pappa can't beat Kevin Hartman's nerdy older brother to it at the top of the box.
• [34'] Okay, I think Dunseth just gave a completely inaccurate description of the Fire goal in his game reset. I don't think Nyarko had anything to do with it.
• [38'] For Kansas City, I feel like Davy Arnaud and Josh Wolff have been very, very quiet. And Dunseth just said that Segares, Blanco, Soumare, Busch and Rolfe were "not the easiest players to replace for the Kansas City Wizards." To be fair, he's not wrong. It's harder to replace players you didn't have in the first place than you might think.
• [43'] Dunseth and Sullivan are talking about the Fire center backs committing very high on the field and possibly letting Kansas City get in behind them. By "center backs," they really mean "Wilman Conde," but because they've been hypnotized by the hair, they can't single him out. Dasan Robinson and Roger Espinoza slap at each other over a throw-in and pick up matching yellow cards for their trouble.
• [45+] Arnaud has a goal waved off, but Michael Kennedy clearly blew the whistle to deal with an injured Wilman Conde before the shot, and the Fire players had already stopped on the play.
• [HALFTIME] Christopher Sullivan just accidentally said "Kansas Shitty." I may never be able to criticize him again.
• [HALFTIME] Not a whole heck of a lot of good chances for the Fire, but they buried the one really good one, and that counts for something when you're on the road. They've dodged a couple of bullets at the other end, and C.J. Brown has been fairly vocal when things have broken down.
• [HALFTIME] Todd Grisham states the obvious -- this game would kinda suck in HD. They splurged for HD cameras on Fox this year, but apparently not for rain hoods. Sometimes the picture has been so fuzzy, it's looked like a Barbara Walters interview.
• [46'] McBride on for John at halftime. No surprise there, except to Dunseth and Sullivan.
• [48'] GOAL CHICAGO! McBride pays immediate dividends, as he's able to get on the end of a partially deflected through-ball from Nyarko. I think the Kansas City defense got frozen by the deflection -- they may have seen McBride in an offside position, but it came of a Wizards player, so that didn't matter.
• [51'] GOAL KANSAS CITY. Kei Kamara turns at the top of the box, takes advantage of C.J. Brown getting screened by Ryan Smith to give him space for a shot, and totally wrong-foots Andrew Dykstra to get one back.
• [54'] C.J. Brown takes a hit and goes to ground as Kansas City sets up a corner kick, just north of the penalty spot. Brian Dunseth inexplicably describes the injury as "inside the six-yard box." Brown yielded the corner as he bodied up Kei Kamara and didn't let him turn in on goal at the near post.
• [55'] Chicago on the back foot since just after they scored. They need to find some composure right quick.
• [57'] Sullivan talking about "fluidity" and "pouring it on." I think the rain is getting to him. Nyarko abuses Escobar to make a run at goal, but his final ball is crap. However, Escobar makes a poor decision to save the ball from going over the end line, and knocks it right back in front of goal, forcing a save from his own 'keeper.
• [59'] Ryan Smith somehow finds his way through about four or five different Fire players in the box, and it's up to C.J. Brown to stop the madness. Too many midfielders making half-assed challenges, and it almost came back to haunt the Fire.
• [60'] Another flat-out factual error from Dunseth. First match was a 1-0 defeat at New York, not 2-0.
• [61'] Ryan Smith with a low shot to the corner that Dykstra is able to get down and block over the end line for a corner kick. Good to see some better lateral movement from the Fire 'keeper.
• [63'] Krol misses a challenge badly on Michael Harrington on the far side touch line, earning himself a yellow card.
• [65'] Pablo Escobar comes through Nyarko with a forearm on the other side of the field. Should be yellow, and it is, although Michael Kennedy took his time. Not sure how you argue that one. Pappa's free kick gets into a dangerous spot, but it's punched out by Jimmy Nielsen. Who Dunseth just called "The White Puma." Really?
• [67'] Brilliant ball from Pappa to release Patrick Nyarko, but he can only hit it into the side netting under pressure from Espinoza. Nyarko probably could have gone down to draw a penalty as Espinoza dragged his arm across him, but didn't. He's still got to figure out how to get his shots off quicker. Back the other way immediately, and the Fire are struggling to shut down Ryan Smith, who is looking for the upper corner but is denied by Dykstra.
• [68'] Okay, this is devolving into just mocking Brian Dunseth. "Are you surprised at the lack of clear-cut opportunities for K.C., considering they've had so many opportunities?" Huh? Come back Max! All is forgiven!
• [70'] Yellow to Jimmy Conrad for mauling Brian McBride in the midfield, just after McBride gave Michael Kennedy what for after an earlier skirmish.
• [71'] Dykstra with a big stop on Ryan Smith. Who must be stopped. Maybe he's getting looks because Arnaud and Wolff are getting shut down, but I sorta doubt it. Conde has to come off with an injury, but no indication if it's bad enough to sub him out.
• [73'] Mike Banner -- who came in at halftime for Julio Martinez -- shields the ball well to turn and take a shot, which is blocked out for a corner.
• [74'] End to end action, with Patrick Nyarko once again unable to get a shot off, and then Kei Kamara takes a long, low shot that Dykstra handles, and then is able to grab the rebound. Conde back on the field.
• [76'] The most feared words in MLS for the week -- "Logan Pause from distance!" Doesn't quite work out this time.
• [78'] Husidic with a nice near-post run on a Nyarko cross, but can't tuck it past Nielsen.
• [81'] Patrick Nyarko got the worst of a 50-50 challenge, and was on the ground for about a minute and a half before play could be stopped and the training staff could attend to him. Peter Lowry looks ready to check in.
• [83'] Logan Pause whips in a cross for Brian McBride, who can't quite direct it in at the near post. Nice effort, though. Lowry comes in for Marco Pappa, so Nyarko must be okay.
• [85'] Andrew Dykstra has suddenly taken to hurling the ball over the midfield line like he was throwing a discus. McBride releases Banner up the left wing, and his cross just misses a sliding Patrick Nyarko, who hits the post himself, but gets right up. Kansas City getting caught on the counterattack a bit more as they push to equalize?
• [88'] The Fire plays Paris-St. Germain on...March 19th? Oy. Maybe they should play this one out with just crowd noise.
• [89'] GOAL KANSAS CITY. Kamara taps it over the line for his second of the night after Dykstra made the initial stop on a tight-angle shot from Teal Bunbury. I think Baggio Husidic is on the hook for this one, as he had two consecutive half-assed challenges on Bunbury that were obviously unable to stop him at all. Krol and maybe Conde could have done more to shut him down as well once he got past Baggio.
• [90'+] The Fire defense have had trouble getting the ball off of their feet in traffic all night -- particularly in the second half -- and Josh Wolff almost makes them pay with a rocket that goes wide.
• [FULL TIME] You never like giving up a lead late, but a point on the road is a point on the road. Especially given the wind and the rain.
• [FULL TIME] The first Kamara goal came off an NBA-quality pick from Ryan Smith, and the second was a second-year midfielder letting up late in a game. To his credit, Husidic got stuck in on a play right after that on the other side of the box, but he's going to have to work on ninety minutes of concentration if he wants to be successful as a professional.
• [FULL TIME] Offensively, we keep seeing McBride doing very well when he enters the game as a sub, so I'm actually kinda hoping Carlos de los Cobos doesn't move him into the starting lineup. And Patrick Nyarko needs to work on getting the ball off of his foot faster. He's doing everything else so well, but that final shot still eludes him.