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Fire defense holds on for scoreless draw at Sporting KC

Sean Johnson

By TYLER DAY

The two clubs that allowed the fewest goals in the Eastern Conference last year stayed true to form on Saturday, as Sporting KC and Chicago battled to a 0-0 draw.

Both teams seemed to execute their strategies heading into the game, but neither could find a quality finish for their numerous chances.

Sporting, playing in its home opener, dominated possession all game.  They came out aggressive and finished the contest with a 73-27 edge in possession, 20-7 difference in shots, and a mammoth 608 to 221 margin in passes.

“I thought it was a better step towards a full 90 this game,” said Sporting KC midfielder Graham Zusi. “Nothing wrong with our possession but we could have created a little more with our chances.”

After a rocky 3-1 opening day victory at Philadelphia, Kansas City fell 2-1 at Toronto last week.  Saturday’s home opener vs. the Fire was supposed to get their promising season back on track.

Newcomer Claudio Bieler had a significant scoring chance in the 53rd minute off a Sean Johnson deflected save, but the club still seems to miss Roger Espinoza and Kei Kamara, key players in the attack from last year’s Eastern Conference regular season championship team.

Chicago, who has yet to score through three games, seemed content to sit back and take advantage off the counter-attack.

“It was clear a little bit of their game plan was to break our rhythm,” added Zusi, “with tic-tac fouls in the middle of the park.  Obviously we need to look past that and get the ball back in play as quickly as possible.”

Chicago had an early chance in the 11th minute, when Chris Rolfe’s shot from outside the box rolled wide. He and Sherjill MacDonald were a touch better up front than last week, but were still unable to put anything on the score sheet.

A controversial moment happened midway through the first 45, when Fire defender Jalil Anibaba had a clearance attempt in the box bounce off the ground straight into his outstretched hand.  The referee made no call.

Sporting pressed the Fire in the second 45, especially down the left side with Seth Sinovic and substitute Soony Saad.

Only 3 of Sporting’s 20 chances were on target, and Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson was again on top of his game to deny the opportunities.

Zusi had probably the best chance of the day in the 84th minute when he sprung free in front of goal, but his shot from just outside the 6-yard box skied over the bar.

The Fire will return home a little frustrated they didn’t steal the three points late.  In the 90th minute, Rolfe slipped surprise starter Daniel Paladini through in the box, but a heavy touch led the ball right to Kansas City’s goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen.

Paladini started the game for Joel Lindpere, who had his 91-game MLS start streak snapped. Arne Friedrich and Chicago captain Logan Pause were out again with injuries, but the patchwork back line remained strong enough to preserve the clean sheet.

2011 MLS Rookie of the Year C.J. Sapong started in place of Bobby Convey on the wing for Sporting, and was a target with his speed all afternoon.

Chicago (0-2-1) heads back home to host Chivas USA next Sunday, while Kansas City (1-1-1) hits the road to take on New England on Saturday.

Comments

  1. Boring game today. It’s getting tiresome to hear Peter Vermes’ postgame remarks every time a squad of his cannot score. Makes it sound like the other team cheats when they bunker down defensively. He’s got to get his guys to score rather than whine about the other team’s tactics.

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    • Usually this is a valid point, but yesterday was particularly convenient for this strategy. Referee never took control to stop the intentional fouls in the midfield. Any progress would simply be chopped down with a foul and no cards given.

      But at the end of the day, SKC needs to put them on goal. Just a continuation of last season’s inability to put shots on target.

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    • yes this is nothing new with Vermes but Chicago kept fouling at the edge of the box. you don’t want to do that with SKC. they are lucky to go home with a point.

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    • yes 5280, If Vermes’ would concentrate on his team and not worry so much abou the officiale I think kc would be unbeatable, I really liked him a player but as a coach all he cares about is the officials! Hopefully the fire can get on track, don’t know whol Mac is not the answer , big mistake to get rid of Oduro!

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  2. Was at the game. The most frustrating thing was how compact vertically we let Chicago make the game. I was screaming at Sinovic or anyone to take someone one on one or some through balls to stretch the Chicago defense. Absolutely no service today.

    All in all not too unhappy, at least we got our defense sorted out for the most part. Rosell’s going to be a best. Once we find the missing link, things will seriously click for us.

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  3. As a SKC fan, this was a frustrating one. It was fairly obvious that Chicago decided to take advantage of the fact that Silviu Petrescu was the ref and foul SKC whenever they got something going, but credit to their defense at the same time. Barcelona can tell you that holding 70% possession doesn’t do you any good if you can’t get the goals.

    Reply

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