By JB Ellis
On Pride night, with an attendance of 18,892, The Chicago Fire lost their first home match of the year. The Columbus Crew out played the Fire for most of the night. They were more physical and had much better finesse throughout the match. The Fire had a few chances early to take the lead, including a shot that was high and one that was on target from Kei Kamara. Malte Amundsen picked up a yellow card after 20 min and looked to be flagged for a second, which would have turned it to a red card and meant Amundsen ejection, that card was pulled back by the referee. The teams reached the half standing at 0-0.
The start of the 2nd half was more Crew, 14 min in Hernandez scored from 36 feet center, about 10 yards outside the box, 1-0 Crew. Their defense seemed to ratchet up even more now and until the 88th min when Navarro hit Shaqiri in the center of the box for the equalizer. The Fire unbeaten streak at home would continue.
Columbus had other ideas, they exploded for a quick goal at 90+1 but offsides took it off the board. Then the most improbable game winner, a shot from Midfield at 90 + 4 from Zelerayan went over the head of the goalkeeper and in the net 2-1 Crew. The Fire lost and will have an extra 3 days to think as they hit the break.
Next up for the Fire is a trip to Portland on Wednesday 6/21. Some extra rest will be good after playing 11 games in 33 days. As for Columbus they will head to Harrison NJ for a match against NYFC on 6/27.
