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Magee scores again as Fire notch comeback victory vs. Crew

MikeMagee (Chicago Fire)

By JUSTIN FERGUSON

Now that he is in the red and blue of his hometown club, Mike Magee simply cannot stop scoring.

Magee notched the match-winning goal for the Chicago Fire in a 2-1 comeback road win over the Columbus Crew. Former Columbus midfielder Dilly Duka commemorated his return to Columbus Crew Stadium with a 52nd-minute equalizer, and Magee gave the Fire the lead just two minutes later with his six goal in six matches since being traded from the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Fire midfielder Joel Lindpere assisted on both of Chicago’s goals with similar crosses to the back post on Saturday night. After receiving a pass from Magee, Lindpere found Duka completely unmarked, and the former Crew member stuck his foot out for a one-touch finish.

The Crew immediately looked to reclaim the lead from the restart. Federico Higuain, who opened the scoring with an early penalty conversion, forced Sean Johnson to make a tough save seconds after the kickoff.

On the ensuing possession, Magee tallied his 10th goal of the season, bringing him level with Philadelphia’s Jack McInerney and Montreal’s Marco Di Vaio in the MLS Golden Boot race. This time, Lindpere’s perfectly placed cross found the chest of Magee, and the cushioned goal from the Chicago forward gave the Fire a lead they would not relinquish.

Columbus pressed for an equalizer for the rest of a physical second half, but the Crew were unable to beat Johnson. The Chicago goalkeeper made seven of his eight saves in the second half, a sharp turnaround from an early yellow card. Johnson brought down Dominic Oduro, who was traded to Columbus for Duka, in the box after the speedy Ghanaian forward forced a deep Austin Berry turnover.

A mostly sweet second half for the Fire turned sour at around the halfway point when assist man Lindpere was forced off due to an injury. Lindpere joined fellow midfielder Logan Pause, who left the game with an injury of his own just 26 minutes into the match.

The Fire (5-7-3) return to Toyota Park on Wednesday night looking to continue their midseason turnaround in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal meeting with USL Pro side Orlando City. Columbus (5-6-5) start a two-match road trip a week from Saturday with a visit to Sporting Kansas City.

Here are the match highlights:

Comments

  1. I totally agree that Magee should end up on the Gold Cup roster. Klinsmann has talked about wanting versatile players. Well Magee can play both as a forward or more likely with the Nats as a wide midfielder. While I can’t see a place for him in the starting 11 (outside of the Gold Cup) if he continues this pace into next year he would be a valuable player to come of the bench. At 28 years old (29 next summer) I think he realizes that this could be his last chance to participate in a World Cup. If you are going to use the Gold Cup for fringe players or to maybe work guys back into the mix (Bocanegra & Donovan) then I truly believe Magee deserves a call up. As a Fire fan I would hate to see him go because he has definitely lifted our team tremendously but as a fan of the USA I believe you can never have too many confident goal scorers.

    I’d love to hear other peoples thoughts on this.

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  2. Another near sellout at Crew stadium. The front office is playing better than the team right now. It’s just unfortunate that there are so many injuries, gaven, Glauber, Viana, speas etc. warzycha just doesn’t have any options to improve this team. Last night schoenfeld and Meram came off the bench. You might as well just throw in the towel at that point.

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  3. I really think Chicago got the better player in the trade. That said I’ve also read in several different places that Mike Magee wanted to be traded to Chicago for family issues. I also read that Bruce Arena said if Magee didn’t want to go he wouldn’t have been traded. I remember hearing a commentator on a game saying the Galaxy were offering Michael Stephens but Chicago said that wasn’t enough for Robbie Rogers. Bottom line is Magee asked to be traded. He did a lot for the Galaxy and he is obviously missed in their lineup, but I’m glad to see he’s doing well and scoring.

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  4. Can we all agree that, with where this seems to be headed, the Magee/Rogers trade may one day rival the Beckerman/Ballouchy trade for most lopsided ever?!

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