By JOSE M. ROMERO
Carlos Ruiz floated a left-footed rebound shot out of the reach of Chicago goalkeeper Jon Conway and into the net in the 75th minute, and the Philadelphia Union made it stand in its 2-1 win over the Fire Saturday night at PPL Park.
Ruiz got the ball off a deflected set piece and scored, and the rest of the match was relatively uneventful as the Union ended a three-game winless streak and improved to 5-3-2. But for 11 minutes in the second half, three goals were scored, and Philadelphia got two of them.
Rookie midfielder Michael Farfan broke a scoreless tie in the 64th minute when he took a set piece pass from Brian Carroll following a foul, and hit a low liner past Conway. It was Farfan's first goal in MLS.
The Fire responded in the 67th minute with Dominic Oduro's difficult-angle shot and goal. Oduro dribbled around Farfan and sent the ball past Faryd Mondragon.
Chicago had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the 72nd minute. Gaston Puerari, a second-half substitute, slid the ball through and it appeared headed into the far corner of the net when defender Sheanon Williams ran it down and cleared the ball out.
The Fire (1-4-5) remained at eight points and still have just one win on the season.
The Union got the better of the scoring chances in the first half. After losing midfielder Amobi Okugo to injury in the fifth minute, Philadelphia got the first good chance of the match in the 21st minute when Farfan found space in between defenders but shot just wide with a low bouncer.
In the 25th minute, Sebastien Le Toux lofted a service toward center back Carlos Valdes, but his header went over the top of the goal.
Farfan, who was the biggest difference in the match for Philadelphia, passed to Ruiz in front of the goal in the 36th minute, but Ruiz didn't get a good foot on the shot and it bounced wide. Ruiz came back with a more true shot a minute later but Conway deflected it wide.
Chicago's best chance of the opening half was Marco Pappa's free kick that curved high over the goal in the 44th minute.