Results tagged “chicagofire”

We've hit the ground running with news this morning already but there was plenty happening over the weekend you might have missed.

There was plenty going on this weekend in the news but we understand if you missed it and were, instead, outside enjoying the amazing warm weather. Here's your chance to catch up.

While the Cubs and Sox sat out October baseball, the Chicago Fire joined the Bulls and Blackhawks as another of the city's teams looking to make a splash in their league's post-season action in 2009. The soggy conditions at Toyota Park didn't dampen the Fire's spirits as they celebrated not only a 1-0 victory over Chivas USA, but also clinching a spot in the MLS playoffs. The Fire's goal came in the 67th minute when Chivas' Eduardo Lillingston attempted to clear a Blanco cornerkick but since the ball into his own goal instead. In spite of awful conditions, the Fire still got plenty of chances, taking 14 corner kicks and 13 shots, though only two of those were officially credited as shots on goal. Goalie Jon Busch had three saves in the winning effort.

The Chicago Fire rallied from an early two goal deficit but weren't able to hold as the Houston Dynamo edged Chicago 3-2 on Sunday. Houston took a 2-0 lead in the first half thanks to goals from Kei Kamara and Ricardo Clark. But the Fire came out hot in the second half, scoring a pair of goals in the first five minutes (Chris Rolfe and Peter Lowry). But in the 83rd minute, Stuart Holden netted a penalty kick for Houston that put the Dynamo up for good and costing the Fire a point and a chance to close in on first-place Columbus. Next up for the Fire in MLS action is a trip next Sunday to Kansas City.

The Chicago Fire dispatched the New England Revolution 2-1 last night in Foxboro, earning themselves a trip to the 2009 SuperLiga final. Cuauhtemoc Blanco led the way for Chicago with an assist to Brian McBride in the 34th minute to give the Fire a 1-0 lead. Then Blanco netted an unassisted goal in the 63rd minute to break a 1-1 tie and put the Fire ahead for good. Keeper Jon Busch played outstanding for the Fire, stopping 8 of 9 shots on goal fired by New England. The Revolution - the defending SuperLiga champs - were also a bit short-handed as suspensions, injuries, and other duties kept seven players off their roster for this match. Still, there's nothing to take away from the Fire, who earned the right to host the August 5th SuperLiga final against Tigres UANL. Fire coach Coach Dennis Hamlett said after the game, "You need big plays to win and our big players stepped up and made great plays."

In the final match of the first round of SuperLiga 2009 play, the Fire fell to Tigres UANL 2-1 on Saturday night. The Fire finished the first round at 2-1-0 overall but didn't clinch an advance to the semifinals (thanks to goal differential) until Blanco got a PK late in the 2nd half. Tigres got goals in the 37th and 61st minute while the Fire didn't produce much offense for themselves. This in spite of the fact that the Fire tripled Tigres on shots on goal, 12-4. Patrick Nyarko was fouled in the box for the Fire in the 85th minute that set up the Blanco PK. The Fire now await today's completion of Group B to find out who their semifinal opponent will be on July 15. The Fire head to Wilmington, North Carolina for their next match on Tuesday against the USL Second Division's Wilmington Hammerheads as part of the U.S. Open.

I was discussing cumulonimbus cloud formations with our pal Amy Freeze last night via email when she pointed me to this article about former Chicago Fire player Andy Williams and his crusade to find a bone marrow donor for his wife Marcia, who is suffering from a rare form of leukemia (the New York Times also covered Williams last fall). Williams, now with Real Salt Lake, and his wife are now preparing for a June 12th transfusion, hoping and praying the match will take.

A lawsuit against the mayor and other city officials of Bridgeview is going forward. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve allows former World Golf Dome owner John LaFlamboy to move forward with his suit against the officials. LaFlamboy claims Bridgeview mayor Steve Landek and other village officials tried to coerce him into selling them his 50 percent interest in the World Golf Dome. The dome was a key part in luring the Chicago Fire to base itself in the suburb; the facility has conversion features that make it adaptable for other sports, like soccer. Politicians strong-arming ordinary citizens? This sort of thing never happens here in Chicago.

The Chicago Fire's hopes for another MLS title came to an end in Columbus last night as the Crew out-dueled the Fire 2-1 in the MLS Eastern Conference final. Brian McBride scored in the 29th minute on an impressive header to give the Fire a 1-0 edge, but the Crew scored twice in the second half (49th and 55th minute) to take the lead, one they wouldn't relinquish. It was a bittersweet experience for McBride who spent many years in Columbus yellow. The Fire had some late chances, but a fourth trip to the MLS Cup Final wasn't in the cards. Goalkeeper Jon Busch was upbeat after the loss, saying, "We gave a good effort. They have a very good team. We had our chances and they had theirs. We gave them too many chances. The first goal took a little air out of us. I can't say enough good things about these guys. We just had those two lapses."

On a night that the #3 of Pierre Pilote and Keith Magnuson, two great Blackhawk defensemen, was retired, the Blackhawks fought hard in a defensive struggle, but dropped the game to Boston in a shootout, 2-1. The teams went almost two complete periods without scoring, but Boston's Marco Sturm tipped in a power play goal in the closing seconds of the second. Jonathon Toews scored the equalizer for the Blackhawks in the middle of the third period on a power play and a scoreless overtime sent the game to a shootout that Boston won 2 goals to 1 to take the win. In spite of the loss, Nikolai Khabibulin had a fantastic night in net, stopping 38 of 39 shots. Coach Quenneville said of the goalie, “Khabibulin had a special night for us. He gave us a chance to win.” Patrick Kane added, “We were on the penalty kill for two minutes [in overtime]. Khabi stood on his head.”

Thanks to a 0-0 tie in the first game of their aggregate playoff series with the New England Revolution, all the Chicago Fire had to do was win to advance to round two. And win they did, topping the Rev 3-0 Thursday night at The Camry in front of a crowd of over 17,000. Chris Rolfe scored the first goal in stoppage time at the end of the first half, taking advantage of a loose rebound after Rev goalie Matt Reis had to stretch to stop a Blanco shot. At the beginning of the second half, in the 49th minute, defenseman Wilman Conde scored off a free kick by Justin Mapp. Rolfe also got an assist on a nice pass to Gonzalo Segares, whose goal in the 74th minute clinched the game for Chicago. It was an intense, physical game which saw 21 fouls and six misconducts, including a red card on New England's Chris Albright in the 83rd minute. The Fire managed six shots on goal and goalie Jon Busch stopped all four New England shots on goal in the win. Now the Fire await the winner of the Columbus-Kansas City series, which concludes Saturday, in the Eastern Conference Championship, which begin next Thursday.

The Chicago Fire played the New England Revolution to a draw in the opener of their two-game aggregate playoff series last night 0-0. Both teams struggled to get much offense going throughout the physical match that saw 22 fouls and five yellow cards. The Fire mustered five shots on goal (Cuauhtemoc Blanco led the Fire with two) while goalie Jon Busch stopped all four New England shots on goal.

The Chicago Fire played to a 1-1 draw with Kansas City on Sunday and are still looking to clinch a spot in the playoffs. The Fire's lone goal came off of a Blanco penalty kick in injury time at the end of the first half, his sixth goal of the season. KC only managed two shots on goal, but one was on-target from Michael Harrington in the 48th minute. The Fire remain one point behind New England in the standings with three games remaining. Next up, the Columbus Crew visit The Camry Sunday at 2 p.m.

The Chicago Fire lit up the Revolution in the Fire home opener on last night. Just four minutes into the game Chad Barrett buried a goal to give the Fire the early lead.

The Chicago Fire earned a point on the road thanks to an injury-time blast from Cuauhtemoc Blanco in a 1-1 game against Real Salt Lake. With time winding, down Fire substitute Calen Carr sprinted down the far sideline and crossed a ball into the box that was deflected directly to Blanco, who brilliantly connected with the ball bending it around goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

The Chicago Fire kick off their 2008 campaign tomorrow when they play Real Salt Lake on the road.

On the left, the old Chicago Fire jerseys. On the right, Fire players Bakary Soumare and C.J. Brown don the new, sponsor-friendly duds. [MLSnet]

So the Sun-Times is laying off reporters, but it still has the money to run a moronic article about presidential candidates' sexiness? John Edwards is "not exactly wet-T-shirt sexy, but it still sets a few hearts aflutter," Rudy Giuliani is "now rather frigid," John McCain is "a far cry from a sexy man in uniform," Hillary Clinton has "stripped herself of the trappings of sexuality and femininity," Mike Huckabee "Preacher. Moving right along...," Mitt Romney's "tendency to flip-flop on certain issues belies his discomfort with sexuality," and Barack Obama "exudes the most sex appeal of the bunch." [S-T]

ABC-7 hasn’t missed a beat in their 10 p.m. broadcast, despite a minivan crashing through their glass-front studio. Their Web site says the news team was startled, and police arrived on the scene shortly after. By the sports segment at 20 minutes past the hour, the crew was joking that it was chilly in the studio like a Bears game.

The Chicago Fire have confirmed that Head Coach Juan Carlos Osorio has resigned and is headed to the New York Red Bulls for the 2008 season. Osorio, who joined the Fire mid-season last year, was just the third head coach in the franchise history. Osorio cited "personal, family reasons" that led to his decision to depart the Fire before his contract ended. It had been rumored that his wife was unhappy in Chicago and prefers...

U.S. Soccer announced the selections for the 2007 Best of U.S. Soccer Awards and Chicago has several representatives in the competition. For Best Fan Atmosphere Chicago's Soldier Field gets two nods: one for this sSummer's Gold Cup Final in which the United States defeated Mexico and the other for the U.S. game versus Brazil in September. Chicagoist is voting for the Gold Cup game--it wasn't the most pro-U.S. crowd, but the fans filling Soldier field...

The Chicago Fire's Chris Armas officially announced his retirement today, concluding a 12-year career in Major League Soccer. Armas, who had said at the beginning of the season that he intended to retire, played his final match in the play-off loss to the New England Revolution last Thursday. Armas played with the Los Angeles Galaxy in the league's inaugural season and in 1997 before coming to the Chicago Fire when the league expanded in 1998....

For the fifth time in six years, the New England Revolution have ended the Chicago Fire's season. New England forward Taylor Twellman scored a spectacular bicycle kick goal in the 38th minute that turned out to be the game winner. Twellman was covered tightly by Dasan Robinson and Logan Pause but was able to head the ball in the air then perform the acrobatic kick between the two defenders and leaving goal keeper Matt Pickens...

Two of Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Player finalists will meet on the pitch tonight in a winner-plays-on playoff game. The Chicago Fire hold a single goal advantage in the two-game series that is based on aggregate scoring. The two league MVP candidates are sure to play important roles in the game. The Fire will look to the leadership of team MVP Cuauhtémoc Blanco to help them knock off DC United, who finished the 2007...

The Chicago Fire clinched a playoff spot in their final regular season match of the year, defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 in front a record-breaking 21,374 fans at Toyota Park. Right from the start, the Fire was clearly the hungrier squad. They nearly scored in the opening minute and continued to dominate play through the first half with successive shots on Los Angeles Galaxy goalkeeper Joe Cannon. A combination of some great saves...

Neither the Los Angeles Galaxy nor the Chicago Fire have lost in their last seven games. Their recent successes have helped make up for poor starts and given them both a chance to earn the final playoff spot this afternoon in the Major League Soccer regular-season finale. The Fire advance to the post-season with a win or a tie, but the Galaxy need a victory to advance. The game will feature two of Major League...

Security at O'Hare missed about 60 percent of bomb-making materials.

The Fire return to Toyota Park tomorrow night to take on rival New England Revolution in their penultimate regular-season home game. The New England Revolution are hot off their U.S. Open Cup Championship game earlier this week. The Fire come into the match on a five-game unbeaten streak, but four of those non-beatings were ties because the Fire's been fizzling: In each of their last three games, they held the lead with less than ten...

A dog named Miss Pickles was rescued from the Chicago River last night. Miss Pickles's owner Claude was walking her and his three other pooches—yes, on leashes, according to reports—near Chicago and Halsted when Miss Pickles, a bullmastiff, started chasing a rat. She wound up running right into the water, so Claude called 911. After falling in the water, Miss Pickles began to paddle eastbound underneath the bridge, before heading north around the Goose Island...

The Cubs aren't the only Chicago franchise fighting for the playoffs; The Chicago Fire are narrowly holding on to a playoff berth. With just six games remaining, the Fire are currently in the 8th and final playoff spot, with Colorado and Columbus hot on their heels. The Fire will continue their hunt for valuable points tonight when they take on FC Dallas on ESPN2 at Pizza Hut Park. The "Big D" has not been friendly...