The Chicago Fire failed to start their first winning streak of the season Saturday, tying the New England Revolution 1-1 at Gillette Stadium six days after they snapped an 11-game winless run with a 1-0 victory at Columbus.
This week’s On Fire takes a closer look at the 1-1 tie and looks ahead to the Fire’s next match, a home game against Real Salt Lake on Wednesday.
Counterpunching
Johnson’s best stop came in the 27th minute. Revs defender Kevin Alston headed a ball from the top of the box back to forward Rajko Lekic, who smashed a left-footed volley with his first touch toward the far post. Lekic’s shot looked ticketed for the back of the net, but Johnson came up huge, extending every inch of his 6-foot-3 frame to parry the ball wide.
The Fire exposed New England with their counterattack Saturday, using the tremendous speed of wingers Patrick Nyarko and Dominic Oduro to torch the Revs on the break.
“I come out every night with the mindset that I’m going to do the best I can to help our team get a result,” Johnson said. “Luckily I was able to make a couple saves in the first half to keep us in it.”
Salt Lake up nextThe Fire continue their busy June on Wednesday, when Western Conference power Real Salt Lake roll into Toyota Park for a midweek match.
The match will be the fifth of the month for Chicago, who might run out a slightly different starting lineup against Real Salt Lake than they did on Saturday. Klopas showed he wasn’t afraid to rest players during a busy stretch on June 12 against Columbus, when he made four changes to the side that tied Sporting Kansas City 0-0 on June 9.
