Well, that was quite a game. I may be wrong, but I have yet to see a Fire team that was more dangerous than a wet kitten on set pieces. How many corners have we had in the last two games? Close to thirty. How many resulted in a shot on goal or forced a save? Two? Three? Somone needs to work during the offseason with Jim Curtin on getting himself loose in the box. He's our best aerial threat but he always seems to get himself stuck in the ruck, never free. The kid needs to work on his moves. That would be a start. I also suspect that Williams and Bolanos (if he ever gets more playing time) are better free kick takers than Mr. Razov and should be given their licks. As soon as Razov stepped up for the PK, I turned to my daughter and said, "He's always shaky on the PKs and he's having an off day anyway." 'Nuff said. As for the rest of the lost chances, well wadda ya gonna do? Some days they go in and some days they don't. Today we got unlucky and played a team that converted every decent chance they got and we squandered most of ours. I was in a pretty crowded bar and couldn't hear the TV, but S8OT looked fabulous and I'm sure you guys made us all proud. Thanks to the Fire for a great, exciting season filled with lots of beautiful football. See all of you in April.
Nice job team. Nice job Section 8. And a great job in beating United, Revolution, and Metrostars on your way to the cup! Didn't even see that game! from MLSnet's summary of the game: --- The Fire miss out on the domestic treble, having already won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and the Supporters Shield for the League’s best regular season record. Chicago became the first team to advance to the MLS Cup final without allowing a single goal in the postseason. Chicago defeated the MetroStars 4-0 on aggregate in the opening round before dispatching New England 1-0 at Soldier Field.
It was a great game. San Jose thoroughly owned us in the "fight for the ball" department as well as the "make use of the counterattack" department. But as always Chicago showed some flair. For the next three months... we pray that bease and bocanegra and the rest of the guys stay in chicago. and that we replace curtin with jaap stam. Start praying.
Man, all season long I thought we had some of the best shooting in the league. The New England game had me worried. If San Jose had the chance we had on net the game would've been 6 or 7 to 1 .
not to sound Pollyanna-ish, but you know...when you think back to pre-season, and all the doom and gloom we foresaw...what a season, and what a treat for fans. they lost today, but considering the entire, long, season, the Fire have been knockouts. really hard to cry in my beer after this exciting season.
i'm not going to even pretend that this was a 'good game' - in my opinion, this was the absolute WORST i have ever seen this team play. where was our finishing? did we even HAVE a back line? the worst. it was embarrassing. however, my love for the fire is still unconditional, and no matter how much lust i have for the head of ante razov, it will wear off in a couple days, and i'll still be at whatever games i can make from college next year.
Oh yeah it was a great season, I just wish they could have capped it off better. It should be interesting to see what happens to the team in the off-season. I really hope Damani comes back, he looked like a rookie today, and it would be a shame for him to not have another shot at a title next year. Although he might be playing somewhere more prestigious than MLS.
He's not though. I think he's missed the last couple... or 2 of the last three... but before that, he was gold on pks. That said... I think the momentum would have switched our way if he hadn't missed that. Even score at that point would have been a beautiful thing.
You know....I always had a bad feeling about this one. So much had gone well for us all year...I just thought this might be the time that our luck ran dry. I had a feeling they would score on that free kick early. I had a feeling Razov would miss that penalty. I had a feeling we were gonna see Donovan parading around shirtless. Just not our day. Im glad we came back a bit. We came out stronger after half time and made it exciting. And we never gave up. Cliche I know, but it is commendable. I still consider this to be a very succesful year. Sure, we lost the title that gets the most noteriorty, but we won the Shield and the Open Cup and that is a great season is anyone's book. Well done to all the fans who made it out there today. You put on a great display.
despite today, congratulations to the fire and all of their fans on a great season - no reason to cry in a perfectly good beer
I am in complete and total agreement with you. Sure, it would have been absolutely fantastic to walk away with the Cup. However, with all the question marks this team had at the start of the season, and the thrills we had all year... how can I possibly be disappointed? Razov: Thanks for a great season! Don't hang your head for even one second, without you we're not even playing today. Thorton: Thank you iron man, one game does not make a career - either way. You'll always be number one to us.
Great Job Fire Fans Travel Team Section 8 was fantastic today, your cheers were heard clearly on TV. The game result does not reflect a lack of support on your part. Ali (boots) and Matt (stogey), you were on TV a lot. I hope you T-Bowed the game.
Your Team played an excellent match today, it was exciting to watch and as a soccer fan become very vocal at my TV because of the schooling that was delivered on certain plays (anyone want Roner). I am not here to gloat just to show my respect and appreciation for the Fire fans in the stands, and on the boards. Next Year when you come you San Jose Mi Casa Su Casa
We played so passive!!!! I don't know what was wrong with us. We played like we were scared! That was not our Fire team. I was absolutely astonished at how poorly and undisciplined we played. Better luck next year. Go Fire!
It was rough. I'm not embarassed of my team. I'm proud of the boys. Pretty damn good for what was to be "last place" team. I LOVE YOU FIRE! -Karl
As far as your defense goes, I think it was more a matter of "SJ good" then "Fire bad". I didn't see the Donovan run for his second goal to beat Curtin, but the first to beat Boca was sublime. Landon was about 10 yards ahead of Jamil Walker. He saw the opportunity to make a slashing diagonal run in front of Walker (and give Jamil a good passing angle). Boca glanced over his shoulder at Donovan just as LD broke for the run. Anticipating Donovan, Boca took off to cut out the passing angle (smart really). Just as soon as Boca turned his head to look at the ball, Donovan redirected his run to straight at goal. Was the diagonal a feint? Did Donovan just sense that Boca was reading the diagonal run? Whatever the case, LD made an incredible adjustment at the last possible second and that made Boca look foolish. Great pass from Walker at just the right time kept Donovan onside. Once Donovan got the ball, Thornton had to be thinking "Landon's right footed. I bet he goes to the right and opens up the goal for a better angle shot". Zach's first step forward was in anticipation of Donovan switching to the right foot. Landon fooled him and went left. This forced Zach to change directions and leave the front post exposed. You can't blame Thornton too much. If he came straight at Landon, then LD just jukes to his right and walks past Zach for an empty netter....
That first Donovan goal was a doozy, no error. Perfect run, perfect pass, perfect finish. The free kick for the first goal was also a thing of beauty. Perfectly executed feint (by Goose?) with the SJ player on the right of the wall breaking off. This broke up that end of the wall just enough for Ekelund to rip it through that crease. Nothing Zach could do. And it left me thinking, "How come we never do anything like that?" (See above post.) Of course, if we had converted say hafl of our chances, I'd be saying the exact same things about Damaini's great solo goal, or Razov's beauty one-time ball to the far post. Oh well, Ce'st le Guerre.
What a season! What a game!!! If only they could of made that PK we would be talking about the win instead of the loss. Something tells me the Fire lost all momentum when Ante missed that PK. Oh well there's always next year. I won't forget that game vs New England @ SF. Wow what a game, what a feeling. So when does the pre-season start?
here are my comments on plays in the game. 1 don''t foul an opponent running parallel to the box giving a perfect free kick opportunity. 2 Williams when you break in alone on the goalkeeper shoot unless your teammate is not covered by a defender. 3 No call Hall- fifa says a red card should be issued if a defender brings down an opponent from behind when no other defender is ahead of the opponent. 4 we are horrible on pks --please get someone who can blast the ball high in the corner instead of trying to guess where the goalkeeper is going to dive. 5--if bolanos isn't good enough as a SI to play when we are down by two goals get someone who is. 6-- too many weak shots and not enough good teamwork passing. 7-Why do we take out williams when we need an attacking player?
I was at the game and am an Earthquake fan. Just wanted to say though this was my first firsthand experience of Section 8, and you guys were brilliant. No need to go into any more detail except to say when you continued to stand and cheer and clap and sing for your team even after the final whistle all I could think is that showed true class, heart and character, and is the stuff of a championship organization and its champion fans.
If someone had told you in September the Fire would lose to San Jose 4-2 in MLS Cup, how would you have felt? I think just about everyone would have felt it would be a great achievement. So let's enjoy and celebrate the terrific year they had. The Fire had one of their rare off days in MLS Cup. It's a shame that this was the game for it to pop up, but so be it. Give credit to San Jose for taking full advantage of the opportunities they had. Congratulations to them for on this particular day getting the win. They did what they had to do and the Fire didn't. I feel for the Fire. Ante Razov has been hitting real rockets at goal all year long. But Sunday, he didn't hit one shot with much mustard on it. He reportedly had been fighting the flu for several days. Despite his comment that he was fit enough to play, I think he certainly was affected by it and not up to his usual. Congratualtions Fire on a fine season. Congratualrtions San Jose. We'll get you next year !!!
Flashman, thanks. They had a great year and deserve our support. Part of being a fan is being there no matter the weather.
Re: Too bad 22 shots at goal is plenty of offense, they just didn't have an offense that could finish.
Hey, I´m still here. In shock maybe, but not going to stop supporting the Fire even at the end of a lost game.