Photo by Greg Bartram/USA TODAY Sports
By COLE KELLOGG
The Columbus Crew almost racked up their fifth home win of the season on Friday night, but the Chicago Fire scored late to spoil the party on a night where Jon Busch made his 300th MLS start, and Kei Kamara delivered a pair of goals for the Crew.
The Fire struck late through newcomer Jason Johnson, who headed home an Eric Gehrig cross in the 94th minute to help the visitors earn a 2-2 tie at MAPFRE Stadium on Friday night. Gehrig capped his reunion against his former club with a curled assist to Johnson, who beat his defender in the air and headed home past Crew goalkeeper Steve Clark.
The late equalizer came just a week after the Fire were on the opposite end of a late equalizer against New York City FC.
The draw was a disappointing one for a Crew side that had controlled the play for most of the match. The Eastern Conference clash was filled to the brim with attractive attacking sequences led by the quartet of Kamara, Justin Meram, Federico Higuain, and Ethan Finley. Inevitably for the Crew, they were ultimately punished for not putting the match out of reach.
The Crew struck first through Kei Kamara in the eighth minute. Justin Meram slid a pass through the Fire defense to Ethan Finley, who put in a low cross to the red-hot Kamara, who beat Gehrig to the pass before converting past Busch.
Kamara made it 2-0 in the 55th minute when he headed home a ball flicked into the area by a Kevan George header off a Federico Higuain corner kick.
The Chicago Fire responded quickly through a David Accam header in the 58th minute. Fire DP Kennedy Igboananike hit a deflected cross in off of Michael Parkhurst and found Accam near the penalty spot.
The Fire kept pushing for an equalizer late in the second half, but the Crew looked ready to hold on for the victory before Johnson’s free header beat Clark to earn the draw.
More bad news comes to the Crew in the form of a possible injury, with Ethan Finlay limping off 15 minutes from time due to a problem with his right foot. Finlay has been a major component of the Crew attack this season, having amassed two goals and six assists.
The Fire will host former manager Frank Klopas and a number of former players on May 30, as the Montreal Impact travel to Toyota Stadium. The Crew will travel south to face Orlando City for the second time this season, having emphatically beaten the MLS newcomers 3-0 at home in early May.
Here are the match highlights:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGexrbVpkis]
The english announcer for the wonderful Friday games is horrible. Thank the lord I speak Spanish. I just can’t stand his constant talking about nothing. I thought that the fire announcer was the worst but this guy trumps him. Love the Friday night games but detest the announcer .
Both games last night on Univision Deportes (this one and Galaxy vs. Dynamo) were exciting with dramatic finishes and were a lot of fun to watch. But that announcer is over the top, IMHO.
Over the top? He’s flat out terrible. He starts sentences that he cannot finish, he never shuts up, and his goal calls are so unoriginal and painful to listen to.
A little off topic, but I love how Univsion has an English SAP option. Not that I mind watching it in Spanish. But just another example of how the coverage is improving.
Little disappointed, the Crew should have wrapped that game up.