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Chicago Fire vs. Los Angeles Galaxy: Match Day Commentary

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BY ADAM SERRANO

The revamped Chicago Fire pay a visit to the Los Angeles Galaxy on a beautiful late afternoon day at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

The clubs earned the lionshare of the publicity this week, but for two very different reasons. The Fire added a pair of DPs with the additions of Nery Castillo and Freddie Ljungberg. The Swede, acquired in a deal with Seattle will be available tonight, but Castillo will not be. Los Angeles is eager to rebound after a humiliating defeat to the Puerto Rico Islanders earlier in the week. 

I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below. 

Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump):

FINAL – The comeback comes up short, but the Galaxy battle tonight to cut the lead to one. Had the club been able to get in one of their constant chances, they would have been able to tie this one. Thank you for following along and its 3-2 for the Fire.

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93rd Minute – Free kick just outside the box for DOnovan. Can LA come back?

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92nd Minute – Johnson picks up a yellow for stalling. He's been amazing tonight.

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90th Minute – 4 minuets of stoppage time.

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87th Minute – Corner for Los Angeles, and Buddle heads it JUST over.

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85th Minute – SAVE!!!! JOHNSON!! OFF A HEADER BY GORDON!

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84th Minute – JUST WIDE!!! BUDDLE GETS IT ALONE AND GOES WIDE LEFT!

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83rd Minute – It was not ruled a hand ball, but a foul on Robinson for pulling down Cazumba.

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80th Minute – GOAL!!!! DONOVAN!!! THE GALAXY ARE BACK IN BUSINESS! 3-2

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79th Minute – PENALTY!!! THE FIRE PICK UP A HANDBALL AND ITS A PENALTY FOR THE GALAXY!!

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78th Minute – GALAXY SUB: Alex Cazumba enters the game for Berhalter. IMO that was a move that needed to be made at the early part of the first half, the veteran defender joins Stephens with a nightmare evening.

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 76th Minute – FIRE SUB:
Husidic comes off for Steven Kinney. Ljungberg has a word with the officials as he clearly wants a card there. Not the last time that Fire fans will see that sentence this season.

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71st Minute – Gordon comes on for Stephens. I've been a huge proponent of the rookie this year, but this was an abysmal night for him. He was severely lacking in his confidence tonight, but Rookies will have those types of games. 

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67th Minute – YELLOW CARD – Todd Dunivant earns a yellow card with a harsh tackle. Frustrations are high for the Galaxy as Alan Gordon gets set to come on.

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66th Minute – YELLOW CARD. Horrible challenge by Dema Kovalenko who slides into Krol after losing the ball. Should have been a red there because Krol is done. he's in pain.

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65th Minute – The chances continue to come for Los Angeles, but the team is unable to convert. Deris Umanzor coming on for Nyarko

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60th Minute – The Galaxy were unstoppable at the beginning of the season in converting their chances, but the club has been woeful in front of net in the past three matches. 

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58th Minute – Freddie Ljungberg comes on for Marco Pappa for the Fire.

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57th Minute – Freddie Ljungberg getting ready to come on. Wearing the number 8. Looks like De Los Cobos is going to give him a run tonight and see what he can do.

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54th Minute – Galaxy sub: Kovalenko enters the game for Birchall.

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52nd Minute – Donovan earns a free kick, but is unable to make anything of it as Johnson makes the stop. 

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50th Minute – SAVE!! Johnson with a big time save on Edson Buddle who gets in alone after a pass rom Donovan, but is unable to beat the Fire keeper.

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45th Minute – We're back underway. Can the comeback continue?

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HALFTIME – How important are early goals? A Edson Buddle miss inside of 3 minutes may have made this a very different contest, but now Los Angeles will be forced to chase the game down 3-1 at Halftime. LA earned some respectability after an LD penalty kick, but three goals inside of 20 minutes for the Fire have put the Galaxy down with a great deal of work to do. It's 3-1 at the Half.

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45th Minute – 2 minutes of stoppage.

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44th Minute – Punchout by Johnson and the Galaxy are forced to restart their attack. 

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43rd Minute – Galaxy showing some signs of life. A corner has been earned. A goal here would be huge.

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40th Minute – Nearly a second there for Los Angeles as Bowen beats his defender plays it across to Donovan who fires it into the side netting. Fire allowing some gaps right now.

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40th Minute – A bit of MLS history there, the goal was Landon's 100th of his MLS career (Regular Season)

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38th Minute – GALAXY GOAL!! Nothing doing as Donovan calmly slides it in. 3-1 the score

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36th Minute – PENALTY!!! Stephens is brought down by Nyarko. Donovan to take the PK.

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35th Minute – MISS! Kirovski plays a great ball into Edson Buddle, who gets a perfect opportunity to pop the ball into the net, but the forward whiffs on the effort. 

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30th Minute – For Galaxy fans, this must be bizarro weekend. Chivas USA lay waste to the Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew on Saturday and the Galaxy are getting their hats handed to them tonight. Stunning. 

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28th Minute – For those wondering, Castillo did not travel because he has not received his ITC (International Transfer Certificate) yet.

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25th Minute – Amazing how fast a game can turn. Edson Buddle had a seemingly easy opportunity inside of three minutes, but was unable to convert. Now the Fire are running rampant.

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20th Minute – Collins John with a fantastic shot into Ricketts, who makes the save, and Banner is right there to clean it up and make the score 3-0. 

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19th Minute – GOAL!!!!! MIKE BANNER! 3-0 TO THE FIRE!

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15th Minute – Down two early, Arena appears to have chosen to spread the Fire out and look for holes in the Fire defense. A lot of game left.  Just as I say that Buddle fires in a header that is easily saved by Johnson

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12th Minute – The league leaders look increasingly tentative on the ball and they are unable to capitalize. 
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11th Minute – It goes without saying that the Galaxy are clearly a bit stunned right now. They've earned a corner though as they look to cut the deficit in half. 

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8th Minute – Caught flat footed on two counter attacks, the Fire are quick to make the Galaxy pay for their poor defending. On the first goal, a poor defensive decision on the Galaxy allowed Husidic to fire in a pass to a wide open Pappa who completed. On the second, a great pass into John from Nyarko led to the second. 

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5th Minute – GOAL!!!!!! COLLINS JOHN AND ITS TWO-ZERO THE FIRE!

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3rd Minute – GOAL!!! MARCO PAPPA STRIKES ON THE COUNTER 1-0 TO THE FIRE!~

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2nd Minute – SAVE!! JOHNSON with a save on Buddle. The forward was all alone, but Johnson comes up big!

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1st Minute – Game on!

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PREGAME: Great crowd on hand tonight for a sunday game. Somber note however as the Riot Squad has hung a banner for Jair Dejesus Garcia, a member of the Riot Squad who died in Afghanistan.

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PREGAME: Ljungberg will begin his Chicago career on the bench tonight. 

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PREGAME: Here are the Line Ups:


CHICAGO FIRE

————Pappa——–John—————

Husidic—Nyarko——-Pause——Banner

Krol—-Conde——Brown——Robinson

———————-Johnson————————-

LOS ANGELES GALAXY:

————Bowen——–Buddle—————

Donovan———-Kirovski————Stephens

———————Birchall———————

Dunivant—-Berhalter——-Gonzalez——Franklin

———————-Ricketts————————–

Comments

  1. It may pan out to be true about FL in the long run, but I’ll give him a hallpass for this match based on the fact that he had what….24 hours to get used to his new teammates.

    I just don’t really care for the pissing and moaning.

    Reply

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