Chicago Fire and Philadelphia Union traded late goals but neither could find the winner as the two teams tied 3-3 on Sunday night at PPL Park.
“We invent different ways to blow leads.” Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin said post-game. “It’s unacceptable, you score 3 goals at home, you should win no matter what. And, again, I’m upset because neither team really benefits from a tie. You have 2 teams at the bottom of the table; a tie really does nothing for us.”
Off the heels of their disappointing performance on Wednesday, Chicago came out of the gates by throwing men forward in search of an early goal and their efforts paid off. In the ninth minute, Kennedy Igboananike latched on to a Patrick Nyarko cross and put it home for the quick 1-0 Chicago lead.
From there, the Union woke up from their lethargic start. After mounting pressure, the Union tied the game in 12 minutes later. In the 21st minute, the Union converted off a Cristian Maidana corner kick as Fernando Aristeguieta connected with the cross and headed it home to tie the game at one. The reason this goal is significant is because this is only the third time the Union have scored off of a corner kick this season, as illustrated in Matt De George’s Union Tally piece.
In the 23rd minute, there was the first of many referee controversies on the night when Chicago fullback Joevin Jones looked to have handled the ball on the box. Referee Mark Geiger called the handball and did not call a penalty, but, instead called a free kick on top of the box. Cristian Maidana took the free kick and sent in a fast curling ball. Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson made one of his many outstanding saves on Sunday when he dove to his right to keep the score level.
Then, less than ten minutes later, the Union took the lead. In the 31st minute, Cristian Maidana sent Fabinho through on net, where his ensuing shot was deflected by a Fire defender and into the net for the 2-1 Union lead. Although they would head into halftime with a one goal lead, the team, specifically forward Fernando Aristeguieta, had many dangerous opportunities to put the Union up more but was unable to keep his shot on target.
In the second half, the Fire would tie the game ten minutes into the half when Kennedy Igboananike hit a low cross across the goal mouth and found Patrick Nyarko for the wide open tap in goal. The Union back four were caught ball watching on this play as well as few other plays, which allowed Chicago to send in dangerous crosses to open players. This was no just exemplified on Chicago’s second goal but on all three goals tonight that Chicago scored.
The already exciting game between these two sides picked up a notch in the last 15 minutes. Sean Johnson also showed in the last 15 minutes why he is considered so talented. Johnson made save after save against the Union attack and at one point stopped a point-blank Brian Carroll volley as well as the ensuing Le Toux rebound.
It looked as if the Union would have to settle for two goals and a tie against a nearly unbeatable Sean Johnson. However, the Union would find the go ahead goal in the dying embers of the game. In the 90th minute, Sebastien Le Toux received a cross field pass from Maidana, took a touch with the outside of his foot and beat Johnson to the far post for the 3-2 Union lead.
When a team scores a 90th minute goal, it is assumed that they will hold on to take all three points on the night. The Fire, desperate to get any result, had other ideas. In the second minute of stoppage time, the Fire struck amid more refereeing controversy. To start the play, Jason Johnson clearly trapped a cross with his arm right in front of the assistant referee but there was no whistle. Then, a Harry Shipp through ball to Mike Magee appeared to have crossed the end line but was deemed still in play. To finish off the play, Magee found a wide open Igboananike by the far post, who blasted it in the top of the net in the wide open net for the 3-3 tie.
“Mentality wise, you have to be able to close the game out at that stage,” Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin said after the game, “It’s a tough one to give up a goal a minute after.”
Despite the missed handball, Curtin would not use this as an excuse on the self-described “debacle” of a third goal. “They missed it, but at the same time, still, to recover, to realize that you worked so hard to finally get the lead, and to maybe make a play for your team, maybe 4 or 5 times where we could have done that. And we don’t, and again another wild game.” Curtin added about the handball and the last goal in general.
The Player of the Game for Philadelphia was Maidana without much room for discussion. Again, Maidana picked apart this Chicago midfield and defense as he totaled up three assists to bring his tally to 14 assists on the season. Chicago’s man of the match was also a no brainer, Sean Johnson. Although cliché, Johnson did single handedly keep this Fire side in the game, especially down the stretch where he made big save after save. Without Johnson in the game, the Union might have had upwards of six or seven goals on the night.