The Fire’s U.S. Open Cup hangover continued Saturday night as it lost its second straight match since hoisting the Dewar Cup trophy Sept. 27.
The 4-1 loss to the Columbus Crew dropped the Fire (12-11-8) a point behind New England (11-8-12) in their battle for home-field advantage in the first round of the MLS playoffs.
“We were a little too comfortable tonight,” Chris Rolfe said. “After our first goal, we were like, `This is fun. This is easy.'”
The first goal came when Chris Armas lost his defender dribbling down the end line and found Rolfe at the top of the goal mouth for the one-touch strike.
As unorganized as the Crew players looked on Rolfe’s goal in the fifth minute, they bounced back in a big way when Eddie Gaven’s far post shot sailed past Fire goalkeeper Matt Pickens in the 26th minute.
The Crew then took the lead on Jason Garey’s 45th-minute goal. The Crew’s Ricardo Virtuoso made it 3-1 in the 77th minute from just inside the box as Pickens raised his arms in anger at the Fire’s defense. A Crew goal in the 82nd minute by Joseph Ngwenya appeared to leave Pickens in disbelief.
“It was a tough situation to be in,” Pickens said. “Some of the plays we could have solved pretty easily. Instead, we were getting our butts kicked.”
The Crew had nine shots on goal.
“Matt didn’t have a chance,” Rolfe said. “They were point-blank shots. He can’t save everything.”
Pickens became a regular starter after Zach Thornton suffered a quadriceps injury Aug. 30 and has held the position even with Thornton available.
“My first inclination is to say a number of those plays . . . Matt couldn’t make,” coach Dave Sarachan said.
The loss was the Fire’s worst of the season and came in front of a crowd of 20,054, Toyota Park’s second sellout of the year.
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larroyave@tribune.com
