COLUMBUS, Ohio – Frank Yallop saluted the impact made by his second-half substitutes as the Chicago Fire produced a late rally to earn a 2-2 draw at Columbus Crew SC.
Yallop made three attack-minded changes as the visitors chased the game from 2-0 down to earn a deserved tie with goals from David Accam and Jason Johnson. Their second-half bombardment of the Crew goal paid dividends on a night when veteran goalkeeper Jon Busch celebrated his 300th appearance in MLS.
“I’m very happy,” Yallop told reporters of the efforts of Johnson, who scored a dramatic injury-time equalizer, and fellow substitutes Quincy Amarikwa and Guly do Prado. “You put them on for a reason and you want them to change the game or you see something, [like] we needed a little more pace with JJ wide, Guly came on the field. Quincy had a great 20 minutes, he was excellent.
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“I just said to the guys, ‘Well done the team that started, but well done the subs.’ They really made a difference in the match, saw it through and could have won the game, so I’m very happy with the all-round squad today.”
The Fire looked short on ideas and quality in the final third in the opening half, but were much improved after the break, especially so after the arrivals of Johnson and Amarikwa added urgency to their play.
As a result, the Fire registered an impressive 13 attempts on goal in the second period and finished the game with 18 attempts in total, to the Crew’s nine. Both sides managed four of those on target, with both goalkeepers credited with two saves, while Amarikwa struck the post with a superb late effort that deserved more.
“He did great,” milestone-maker Busch said of Johnson, who was a low-key addition to the Fire roster from the Houston Dynamo via a trade for Alex on April 13. “He came in, added a lot of energy and a lot of buzz and he’s a good player. Hopefully he’ll settle in, and hopefully we’ll kick on from here and get a couple of goals and we’ll keep going.”
Johnson was less excited about opening his account and becoming the club’s first out-and-out striker to get off the mark in 2015.
“We’re still in the season, it’s not like we won a trophy tonight, but it was great to get a tie on the road,” a humble Johnson said when asked about his first goal for the club. “I’ll enjoy the little goal I have tonight, but I’m focused on the next game.”
Busch was slightly more satisfied with his evening’s work despite the concession of two Kei Kamara goals, and he took great pride in joining great MLS stalwarts like Kevin Hartman (416), Nick Rimando (379) and Joe Cannon (342) in the ranks of goalkeepers with more than 300 games in MLS.
“It’s really nice,” Busch told MLSsoccer.com. “The other three guys that are there are big time legend goalkeepers in this league, especially Kevin Hartman. He’s the one that set the pace for all of us and for me, back from the first days, the two I looked up to the most were Pat Onstad and Scott Garlic.
“Those were the ones that were telling me ‘just be consistent, day in and day out, game in and game out, and you’ll be around a long time.’”
Yallop made a big call in bringing Busch in for his third start of the season in place of Sean Johnson, who Yallop said has “a couple of little things that he’s nursing.” And although there was little he could about Kamara’s two goals, he appreciated the symmetry in making his 300th appearance at the club who gave him his debut in MLS back in 2002.
“For me, I knew going into it that it could be my 300th, but I didn’t want anyone to know, I didn’t want to make it a big deal,” Busch admitted. “But the nice thing is it worked out. The Man Above had a plan and to get it in Columbus, where I got my first ever start in MLS, was really cool. It means a lot to me.
“I don’t believe a lot in stats and things like that, but to get 300 is not easy and to do it in a place where I got my start is really cool.”
