- The victory pushes the Men in Red to 16-8-5 (53 pts.) on the season and keeps the team in second place in the East, within two point of Conference leaders Sporting KC.
- The win marks the eighth time this season the Fire have come back from a deficit to win a match. The eighth comeback of the season ties the club record for most comeback victories with the 2000 campaign.
- Only two teams in MLS have a better record than the Fire. At time of release, San Jose sat 17-6-6, 57 points and Sporting Kansas City at 16-7-7, 55 points.
- The Fire are 9-0-1 when hosting Eastern Conference opponents at Toyota Park this season and 13-4-3 overall against the East in 2012.
- In a streak that has now reached 19 matches, the Men in Red have not lost to an Eastern Conference foe at Toyota Park since October 12, 2010, going 13-0-6 in that time.
- The Fire defense has now held its opposition to one goal or less in eight of its last nine matches.
- Chris Rolfe recorded his team-leading seventh and eighth goals of the season. The sixth-year Fire forward sits second on the club’s all-time MLS goal scoring list with 44.
- With his brace, Saturday night’s match marks the fifth multi-goal game of Rolfe’s career and second this season.
- Midfielder Patrick Nyarko tallied his team-leading seventh assist of the 2012 campaign on Rolfe’s 26th minute game-winner.
- Midseason acquisition Sherjill MacDonald tallied his third assist in a Fire shirt on Rolfe’s 23rd minute equalizer.
- Goalkeeper Sean Johnson tallied five saves and upped his career MLS record to 28-20-19.
- Defender Dan Gargan served a one-match ban due to yellow card accumulation.
- Fire midfielder Pavel Pardo missed his second match in a row due to hamstring tightness.
- New Fire signing Guillermo Franco was an unused substitute in the 2-1 win.
Chicago Fire 2 – 1 Columbus Crew
Chicago Fire: Sean Johnson; Jalil Anibaba, Arne Friedrich, Austin Berry, Gonzalo Segares; Patrick Nyarko, Logan Pause ©, Alex (Wells Thompson 89’), Alvaro Fernandez; Chris Rolfe (Dominic Oduro 84’), Sherjill MacDonald (Daniel Paladini 78’)
Substitutes not used: Jay Nolly, Michael Videira, Corben Bone, Guillermo Franco
Columbus Crew: Andy Gruenebaum; Sebastian Miranda (Olman Vargas 84’), Chad Marshall ©, Julius James, Josh Williams; Eddie Gaven (Justin Meram 69’), Danny O’Rourke, Milovan Mirosevic, Emilio Renteria (Tony Tchani 69’); Federico Higuain, Jairo Arrieta
Substitutes not used: Matt Lampson, Nemanja Vukovic, Chris Birchall, Eric Gehrig
Scoring Summary
CLB – Jairo Arrieta (unassisted) 15’
CHI – Chris Rolfe (Sherjill MacDonald) 23’
CHI – Chris Rolfe (Patrick Nyarko) 26’
Misconduct Summary
CLB – Danny O’Rourke (caution) 29’
CLB – Emilio Renteria (caution) 35’
CHI – Sean Johnson (caution) 89’
Referee: Michael Kennedy
Assistants: Peter Manikowski, Baboucarr Jallow
Fourth Official: Ricardo Salazar
Attendance: 19,172