On Saturday, an 86th minute winner from Octavio Rivero after a defensive mistake from Lovel Palmer gave the Vancouver Whitecaps a barely deserved 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire. Chicago outplayed Vancouver for large swathes of the match, and created a number of terrific chances which they were unable to take. Harry Shipp was active throughout the entire match, and nearly opened the scoring on multiple occasions. However, he was unable to and Vancouver walks out of Chicago with maximum points. 

After being thoroughly dominated last week by the LA Galaxy last weekend, Chicago knew that they would have to put in a very different performance on Saturday. They did, and dominated the match. The Fire finished with 58% of the possession, completed 80% of their passes, and sent in far more corners and crosses than their Canadian rivals. Yet, that was all undone by a defensive mistake with just moments remaining on the clock.

Chicago will be mightily disappointed with the result given how well they played, but the Fire should feel encouraged by said performance. If they can dominate matches like that, particularly against weaker Eastern Conference foes, they will pick up quite a few points this season. In spite of that, they now have 0 points from two matches, and dropping one's home opener is often a bad sign. 

Meanwhile, Vancouver will be greatly encouraged by the three points picked up. After a very disappointing loss on the opening day of the season, to go and pick up a road victory which they really did not deserve will thrill them. The Western Conference has only gotten stronger this year, and any chance to steal one or three points is a huge bonus.

Key Moments

37' SAVE! Quincy Amarikwa has the ball in the corner for Chicago, and works enough space to knock it infield to Michael Stephens. The former LA Galaxy man plays in Shipp, and he strikes the ball from an acute angle which forces David Ousted into a superb save at his near post. Nearly the opener there.

39' SAVE! Now it's a long ball played towards Kekuta Manneh and it's been hit too long. He manages to run it down and keep the ball in play before beating Eric Gehrig off the dribble! Manneh keeps striding infield, and has a chance to strike on goal! However, his shot is a disappointment and is easily parried by Jon Busch.

45+4' MISS! Oh that is a shocking miss! With only seconds remaining on the clock in stoppage time, Vancouver come forward and slice Chicago to shreds. Manneh played in Pedro Morales, who looked offside, and the Chilean bent his shot just outside of the far post with only the goalkeeper to beat.

69' MISS! Shipp beats five players off the dribble before sending in a low cross that is deflected right to the feet of Stephens. He shifts the ball onto his left foot and has a hit from 15 yards out. However, his strike is poor and ends up high into the Harlem End.

86' GOAL! Dreadful defending from Palmer. Morales had all sorts of time and space to whip in a cross, and he sent in a beaut that Palmer should have dealt with easily. Instead, his poor header went right to the feet of Stephen Beitashour, who squared for Rivero to finish.