The Fire played 90 solid minutes Saturday night only to give up a late goal and end up with a tie and lost points.
This is not a recording.
For the second time in four days and for the umpteenth time this season, the Fire watched a lead evaporate in the closing minutes. This time it came against the San Jose Earthquakes, who extended their MLS-record unbeaten streak at home to 14 games after pulling out a 1-1 draw before 13,596 at Spartan Stadium.
The tying goal came 90 seconds into three minutes of extra time.
San Jose had a corner kick after Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton knocked Dario Brose’s shot out of play. Richard Mulrooney took the corner and sent it into the middle of the Fire penalty area. Ian Russell and the Fire’s Carlos Bocanegra both went up for the ball and it ended up at Russell’s feet. He sent it past Thornton and with it knocked two points off the Fire’s Central Division lead.
“We should have had a second goal and we weren’t able to make the play at the end to get a 1-0 victory,” a frustrated Fire coach Bob Bradley said.
The last thing the Fire needed Saturday was an overtime contest. After playing three games in seven days in three different cities, the Fire was scheduled to depart San Jose on a red-eye flight back to Chicago.
Instead of savoring a three-game trip in which the Fire could have won every game or at least pulled out two victories and a tie, it instead comes home with a win and two draws. That doesn’t sound like a bad week, however.
“We’re not real happy with ourselves at the moment,” Bradley said. “These are games that you have to close out.”
The Fire grabbed the lead in the 31st minute. On a corner kick, Diego Gutierrez sent his service into the San Jose penalty area. Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon punched the ball away, but Ante Razov flipped it back in and onto the boot of Dema Kovalenko, who turned and sent his shot past Cannon.
Kovalenko will have a little time to think about the goal. Not only will he get time off due to the schedule, he will be suspended for the Fire’s next match July 4 in Denver against Colorado. Kovalenko drew a yellow card in the 65th minute and that put him over the limit and earned him a one-game suspension.
Saturday’s game was the last in 10 days for a club that has played more matches than any other MLS team.
