The Chicago Fire had a chance to go to sixth place and above the playoff line after Montreal, NYCFC, and Philadelphia all lost earlier in the day. However, after over three hours worth of weather delays and pulsating end-to-end play, the Fire could only muster a 1-1 draw which leaves them two points out of 6th and in ninth place.
The match was initially delayed one hour, 45 minutes due to severe weather in the Orlando area. When the teams did kickoff, it was fast-paced an end-to-end. That lasted 18 minutes before referee Baldomero Toledo sent the teams back to the locker rooms after lightning was sighted delaying the match an additional one hour, 17 minutes.
When the teams resumed play at 9:45pm CT, the end-to-end play resumed as well. David Accam took advantage of that pace by keeping a ball inbounds from the end line and taking on two defenders before beating Tally Hall near post in the 30th minute to put the Fire ahead.
The lead would last seven minutes, though, as a long ball from Lewis Neal was not dealt with resulting with the ball going off the back of Eric Gehrig and into the net past an out-of-position Sean Johnson for the equalizer. It was the third own goal scored by the Fire against Orlando this season.
Halftime was shortened to 10 minutes due to the long delays, yet the energy of the match was retained. What wasn’t retained was a good end product from either side. Both teams had 12 shots on the night, but only two were on target for each side.
Orlando’s finished was particularly off on the night. Kaka missed a golden chance in the 58th minute. Nelson Rivas shot off the post from point-blank range in the 82nd minute. And then Darwin Ceren had a shot late in stoppage time saved by Sean Johnson.
The Fire now must make do without David Accam (Ghana), Matt Polster (USA U-23), and Joevin Jones (Trinidad and Tobago) for next Saturday’s match at Montreal (where they are going to make do without the sacked Frank Klopas). Kickoff is at 7pm on CSN Chicago and Time Warner Cable SportChannel in Wisconsin.
This is not the match that was rescheduled from April due to the Impact’s run in the CONCACAF Champions League. That match is September 23rd, also in Montreal.
ORL-Luke Boden (caution, tactical foul) 32’
CHI-Eric Gehrig (caution, tactical foul) 43’
CHI-Kennedy Igboananike (caution, tactical foul) 77’
ORL-Nelson Rivas (caution, reckless foul) 83’
