So which team had the nine-game winning streak and which had lost five of its last six?
It was hard to tell Wednesday night at Soldier Field as the Fire handed the Los Angeles Galaxy a 3-1 defeat in front of 10,520 fans, its smallest crowd this season.
The victory was the second straight for the Fire (4-5) and snapped the Galaxy’s season-opening nine-game winning streak. The loss also snapped Los Angeles’ 15-game winning streak dating to last season, the longest streak in the three-year history of Major League Soccer.
“Obviously we are very proud of the effort we had,” Fire coach Bob Bradley said. “We did a good job of tackling and causing them some problems. It helped to get that first goal.”
That goal came in the 37th minute and it was the first “own goal” of the MLS season.
Roman Kosecki fed Peter Nowak in the Galaxy penalty area and Nowak chipped the ball over a diving Kevin Hartman. Galaxy defender Robin Frasier got to the goal in time and attempted to cleared the ball away, but mis-kicked it into the Galaxy goal.
The goal came 13 minutes after Jerzy Podbrozny nearly scored his second goal in as many games. Podbrozny headed a cross from Kosecki to the top corner, but Hartman was able to tip it over the crossbar.
The Fire added to its lead in the second half. Kosecki scored his third goal of the season in the 58th minute. Then Nowak took a pass from Podbrozny about 40 yards from goal and sprinted past a defender and in on Hartman to score his second goal in as many games.
“I think the Tampa game was so important,” Nowak said of Saturday’s 2-1 victory. “We saw that we can win. (But) we can’t think that after two games everything is OK.”
The Galaxy avoided the shutout in the 75th minute when Welton scored off a corner kick. The Galaxy’s big offensive guns, Martin Machon, Mauricio Cienfuegos and Welton, were quiet.
“This was one of our best games defensively,” Fire defender C.J. Brown said. “We had real good communication. The midfielders were picking up runs.”
“I thought the biggest difference was that it was a team we never saw before,” Galaxy coach Octavio Zambrano said. “We didn’t play a good game. I don’t know if they controlled the game, but they certainly won the game.”
