Chicago Fire 2 - 1 Sporting Kansas City
Grazzini (pen., 61') Convey (31')
Oduro (81')
Chicago Fire hosted conference leaders Sporting Kansas this
past weekend and did not disappoint home fans—the underdog Fire handed Sporting
Kansas City their third straight loss.
The first half fell mostly in Sporting’s favor. In the 20th minute, a miss-headed ball from Arne Friedrich fell to Kei Kamara’s feet and his effort forced a save out of a sprawling Sean Johnson. Nine minutes later, Friedrich suffered a hamstring injury which brought in Dan Gargan. The early change in the defense proved to trouble the Fire as Sporting’s Bobby Convey slotted home a ball to the far post. Convey sped into the box mostly unmarked and his teammate, Espinoza, unselfishly fed him.
Espinoza almost found the back of the net himself in the 42nd minute with a 20-yard volley, but Sean Johnson made a miraculous save and pushed the volleyed ball into the crossbar and out of play.
It took the Fire 46 minutes to make Sporting’s keeper Jimmy Nielson do any work, but they managed to put one up on Sporting in the 60th minute when Dominic Oduro was brought down in the box by Aurélien Collin. The penalty that resulted from the foul was masterfully converted by Sebastien Grazzini.
To add insult to injury, Sporting went down a man one minute later when Espinoza gave an elbow into Grazzini’s face while he cleared a ball into touch.
The weakened Sporting managed to hold off the Fire’s onslaught until the 81st minute when Kansas City’s Kei Kamara failed to clear a ball just outside the six-yard box. Patrick Nyarko was keen to steal the defender’s ball and feed the ball to Dominic Oduro, who was sure to bury the ball from point blank.
Sporting was unable to respond to the Ghanaian’s goal and the game ended with the Fire winning, 2-1. This game sees SKC drop the number one spot in the Eastern Conference. The Fire will be quite happy having earned a tough eight points from three games, keeping them in a healthy fourth place seat in the Eastern Conference. The Fire will look to continue their winning ways as they travel to Portland to face the Timbers.
The first half fell mostly in Sporting’s favor. In the 20th minute, a miss-headed ball from Arne Friedrich fell to Kei Kamara’s feet and his effort forced a save out of a sprawling Sean Johnson. Nine minutes later, Friedrich suffered a hamstring injury which brought in Dan Gargan. The early change in the defense proved to trouble the Fire as Sporting’s Bobby Convey slotted home a ball to the far post. Convey sped into the box mostly unmarked and his teammate, Espinoza, unselfishly fed him.
Espinoza almost found the back of the net himself in the 42nd minute with a 20-yard volley, but Sean Johnson made a miraculous save and pushed the volleyed ball into the crossbar and out of play.
It took the Fire 46 minutes to make Sporting’s keeper Jimmy Nielson do any work, but they managed to put one up on Sporting in the 60th minute when Dominic Oduro was brought down in the box by Aurélien Collin. The penalty that resulted from the foul was masterfully converted by Sebastien Grazzini.
To add insult to injury, Sporting went down a man one minute later when Espinoza gave an elbow into Grazzini’s face while he cleared a ball into touch.
The weakened Sporting managed to hold off the Fire’s onslaught until the 81st minute when Kansas City’s Kei Kamara failed to clear a ball just outside the six-yard box. Patrick Nyarko was keen to steal the defender’s ball and feed the ball to Dominic Oduro, who was sure to bury the ball from point blank.
Sporting was unable to respond to the Ghanaian’s goal and the game ended with the Fire winning, 2-1. This game sees SKC drop the number one spot in the Eastern Conference. The Fire will be quite happy having earned a tough eight points from three games, keeping them in a healthy fourth place seat in the Eastern Conference. The Fire will look to continue their winning ways as they travel to Portland to face the Timbers.
By Matthew Sinacore
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