The Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 draw
at Toyota Park on Wednesday night. The tie moves the Fire to 2-4-10 on the
season and is also the Fire’s fifth in a row at
home, a league record.
The result is a ‘familiar story’ to MLSsoccer.com’s Sam
Stejskal. Despite a struggling offense, Stejskal found the defensive effort
quite strong, writing “Chicago held the normally
high-flying RSL attack to just two shots on goal.”
The Fire remain unbeaten under
Interim Head Coach Frank Klopas, as Jack McCarthy of the Chicago
Tribune reports. The defense claimed their fourth shutout in five games. Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald writes that
the defense resembled the kind of tough-as-nails Chicago Fire defense that C.J. Brown used to anchor.
The strong defense is certainly making Sean Johnson’s job
a bit easier. The Fire goaltender was ready to perform when necessary, stopping Collen Warner’s
point-blank shot from 10 yards out.
“He’s kept us in the game and gives us an opportunity to win, “ Klopas said of Johnson. "That
position has a lot to do with confidence. He's young, and I think he's got
tremendous upside. It's good that he's gaining confidence, because that's very
important."
David Gubala of Goal.com calls Dominic
Orduro’s performance on the night solid. When speaking with the striker, however, Oduro
offered a frank response on the lack of goals at home.
“It’s no excuse,” said
Oduro. "When you have three or four
games a week, you just have to execute the chances given.”
The draw was relatively satisfying for the Real Salt Lake
squad.
“I
think this feels pretty good,” said defender Nat Borchers. “Our goal was to
come in here and get a shutout and I think we accomplished that.”
Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando picked up his seventh
shutout of the season.
In other news, Major League Soccer Disciplinary Committee
suspended
Chicago Fire striker Cristian Nazarit for two matches and fined $500 for
his “endangering” tackle in the 59th minute in the Fire’s 1-1 draw at
New England on Saturday.
In Open Cup news, the Chicago Fire will meet
the Rochester Rhinos in the 3rd Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at Sahlen
Stadium in Rochester, NY on Tuesday, June 28 at 6:35 p.m. CT. The match will be
streamed live on Chicago-Fire.com.
The Fire will look to earn three points at home against
the Eastern Conference leading New York Redbulls on Sunday. Kickoff is at 1
p.m. (CST) on ESPN.
