The melee that highlighted the end of the Fire-MetroStars match Saturday can’t wash away one fact: The Fire are about as consistent as the stock market.
One game, it looks like a blue-chip team that can reclaim the Major League Soccer title it won in 1998. The next, it looks like an out-of-favor tech stock that investors can’t dump fast enough.
Heading into this season, the Fire had allowed four goals in a game just twice in its first two seasons, a span of 87 matches. Saturday was the third time in 13 games this season that the Fire had allowed four goals in a game.
The MetroStars’ first goal in their 4-1 victory came after a poor clearance out of the Fire’s own end. The second was off a corner kick, an area that has plagued the Fire this season. The third, just a minute later, came when Roy Myers and Clint Mathis each beat defenders in one-on-one plays. The fourth came on a penalty kick when Adolfo Valencia badly beat Tom Soehn, forcing the defender to drag him down in the penalty area.
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The statistics at halftime told one story while the scoreboard told another, more important story. The Fire dominated possession in the first 45 minutes and took 14 shots to just five for the MetroStars. But the score was 3-0 at the break. It’s becoming a familiar story: Fire dominants everything but the scoreboard.
“We didn’t take our chances well,” Fire coach Bob Bradley said.
And the chances that they did take well were stopped beautifully by MetroStars goalkeeper Mike Ammann. At times, Ammann looked like he could walk across the street from Giants Stadium to the Continental Arena and back up New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur this week when the Devils begin play in the Stanley Cup finals. Ammann made 15 saves, and when he wasn’t stopping shots, defender Mark Semioli was. Semioli blocked two shots, including one in the 16th minute when he cleared Dema Kovalenko’s shot off the line to keep the game at 1-0.
Excuse me: Few, if any, MLS broadcasters are better than the MetroStars’ Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth. But on Saturday’s broadcast for the Madison Square Garden network, Rae said that the Fire was probably the better team in the first half because of the amount of possession it had and the chances it created. Unfortunately, possession and chances don’t mean anything if the end result isn’t goals. And how a team trailing by three goals can be the better team defies logic.
Let’s go to the tape: MLS officials will certainly review the brawl that closed out Saturday’s contest and will likely have some questions to ask to the participants. One may be why Hristo Stoitchkov shoved Mike Petke when it appeared Petke was walking away from the situation? Another is why MetroStars coach Octavio Zambrano decided to grab Bradley instead of trying to get his players away from the scene?
By itself, Stoitchkov’s shove was harmless. But the league may decide that it sparked the whole incident and fine the Bulgarian.
Until the scuffle, in the final minute of play, referee Kevin Terry didn’t reach for his yellow card once in the match.
Feisty bunch: Ante Razov was given a red-card ejection as a result of the brawl. Last week, Evan Whitfield was ejected. A Fire player has been given a red-card ejection in each of the first four weeks of the season and the club has six this season, surpassing last season’s total of five with 19 games to be played.
Poor timing: Razov almost didn’t play Saturday and may regret that he did. The forward, who leads the league with 11 goals, suffered from whiplash as a result of a collision with Dallas goalkeeper Matt Jordan in Wednesday’s match. Razov said he had trouble breathing and was favoring the right side of his chest after the match Saturday.
Any injury would be unfortunate for Razov. He joins the national team this week for the U.S. Cup, and a strong performance in the three-game tournament could land him a spot on the team for World Cup qualifying matches. Razov was plagued by an ailing back the last time he was with the national team, in February for the Gold Cup.
Maybe in 2004: Remember the anticipated World Cup qualifier between the U.S. and Cuba? As they say in this part of the country “fuggedaboudit.” The Cubans lost to Barbados on penalty kicks and now need to beat Canada in order to advance. Even if the Cubans advance, they won’t be in the U.S. group for the semifinal stage and appear unlikely to make the CONCACAF finals.
What’s not to like? The Los Angeles Galaxy didn’t have too many suitors for midfielder Roy Myers when the Galaxy needed to slash his salary. Apparently, at $180,000 a season, Myers is a bit rich for some teams’ liking. But if his play against the Fire is any indication, Myers–acquired by the MetroStars in a May 19 trade–is worth his salary and is more productive than some players making much more. Myers has been dangerous in each of his four games against the Fire and has four assists. He left after a brilliant first half Saturday suffering from flu-like symptoms. Some players could stand to catch what he has.
The real world: Fire midfielder DaMarcus Beasley will join the ranks of the working world Monday when he suits up in the Fire’s friendly against German club Hamburg. Beasley graduated from high school Saturday and will be with the Fire for the rest of the season.
Welcome: Hamburg, which finished third in the German Bundesliga and claimed a spot in next season’s European Champions League, will be in Soldier Field Monday to face the Fire. Kickoff is at 5 p.m. It’s appropriate that Hamburg plays in Chicago on Memorial Day. The club was the first German team to play in the United States after World War II. The match was in Chicago against the Chicago All-Stars in May of 1950.
Oh grow up: The Kansas City Wizards and Tampa Bay Mutiny had their own version of WWF Smackdown in Tampa Saturday. After Tampa’s Mamadou Diallo scored to cut Tampa’s deficit to 2-1, he went to retrieve the ball from the net, as is custom in soccer. However, Wizards goalkeeper Tony Meola got in Diallo’s way and was knocked down by the Mutiny forward. Another Wizards player grabbed the ball, and that sparked a big tussle in the Kansas City net. Kansas City went on to win 2-1 and remain the only unbeaten team in MLS at 10-0-2.