Chicago Earns First Victory Since April
By Todd McClamroch in News on Jun 4, 2007 3:05PM
The Chicago Fire beat the Columbus Crew at Toyota Park on Sunday, ending a five game winless streak. Defender Jeff Curtin got the Fire out in front when a well-placed corner kick by Willian Olveira found Curtin at the far post where he headed in his first MLS goal. Prior to the halftime break the Columbus Crew's recent acquisition Gullermo Barros Schelotto, formerly of Argentinian club Boca Juniors, served in a free kick that found Duncan Oughton's noggin, redirecting the ball to the upper right corner of the goal out of the reach of Fire keeper Matt Pickens, equalizing the game.
Willian Oliveira continued to have success when he added a goal to his previous assist in the 63rd minute to put the Fire back on top. Just five minutes later, Jeff Curtin was ejected from the game after earning his second yellow card of the match putting the Fire down to 10 men. But Chad Barrett provided some insurance when he collected a deflection from a Crew corner kick and outran the Crew defender in a 60-yard race and finishing off the great run by slotting his shot passed Crew keeper Andy Gruenebaum, giving the Fire a two goal advantage. The Crew continued to fight to get back in the game leveraging their one man advantage and in the 84th minute, Chad Marshall finished off a corner kick bringing the Crew back to within one. The Crew's Danny O'Rourke earned a second yellow card in the 86th minute resulting in his ejection which evened the teams at 10 players a piece. From that point on the Fire were able to manage the game to run out victors 3-2.
The Fire came into the game with two of their four goal scorers this season out due to injury including leading scorer Chris Rolfe (4 goals) and Logan Pause (1 goal). Chicagoist was glad to the Fire add some new goal scorers to the stat sheet in Jeff Curtin and Willian Oliveira while Chad Barrett ended a six game goal-less drought by tallying his third of the season. The win moves brings the Fire to 4-4-2 on the season and puts them in fourth place in the Eastern conference. The Fire host Chivas USA (3-3-2) this Saturday.