Chicago welcomed Columbus to Toyota Park Saturday night for their season finale, as Chicago hoped to play spoiler and Columbus looked to keep a shot as a top three team in the East alive. The Fire would show Columbus why the league should be happy Chicago found their form just slightly too late to make it into the playoffs, as they dominated the Crew throughout most of the match, and forced the Crew’s fate to be decided by the LA-Houston game Sunday night.
Chicago would control the match early, connecting their passes and effectively keeping Columbus from mounting much of anything in the opening minutes of the game. Their work and composure would pay off early, as Jalil Anibaba would connect on the end of a Pavel Pardo volley in the 11th minute to head home his first goal of the season in MLS play. Columbus would try to answer in the 20th minute with a strike that just missed wide off the foot of Andres Mendoza.
The Fire doubled their tally in the 30th minute, again off the head of rookie defender Jalil Anibaba, as a Cory Gibbs cross would find Anibaba, who would flick-on a glancing, floating header that found its way past Crew GK William Hesmer. The Fire would continue to hold the advantage in possession into the second half, until Columbus would strike back with goals from Renteria and Duka in the 73rd and 79th minutes. Just one minute later, however, Dominic Oduro would streak down the sideline in a counter attack, smashing a shot at Hesmer that the Columbus keeper could not hold onto. Diego Chaves, who’s late game heroics against DC would lead them to stealing 3 points from United a week before, would play spoiler again, this time to Columbus, as he found the rebound and slotted it in for the game winner in the 80th minute.
Chicago showed why they are a team that, had they come together in their current form earlier in the season, would’ve easily made the playoffs, and could’ve played spoiler to many teams thought to be a given for going deep into the post-season. Indeed, Chicago posted a record of 7-2-1 in their final 10 matches. The immediate questions to be answered by the club are likely to be their head coaching position, as Technical Director-turned-Intermin Head Coach Frank Klopas made no indication in post game comments as to his future. What is apparent is that the Fire would like to keep the core they’ve ended the 2011 season with, as this group seems to have the pieces to become a playoff-contending team that can threaten many teams in the 2012 season.
Image courtesy of chicago-fire.com
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