Chicago Fire shows spark despite another draw

Fire players and coaches would have absolutely burst with optimism if reality hadn’t intervened.

New midfielders Pavel Pardo and Sebastian Grazzini immediately improved the Chicago attack in their first MLS game. They couldn’t improve the result, a 1-1 draw Wednesday night against Philadelphia in front of 10,557 fans at Toyota Park.

“I’m very pleased with the performance of the team and how we’re coming together and also with the performance of Sebastian and Pavel,” interim coach/technical director Frank Klopas said, looking on the bright side. “You can see the qualities that they bring to the team. So I was very pleased with that.”

But again the Fire didn’t win. At home the team is 1-2-7 this season. The Fire (2-6-13, 19 points) has a league-leading 13 ties this season, one off the MLS record. And it’s August already.

“A little bit of scratching the head,” admitted captain Logan Pause, who moved to right back to make way for the new guys. “It’s kind of been the story of the season for us. Definitely disappointed. There’s a lot of positives to take away. We limited Philadelphia to very few chances and created quite a few of our own, which we’re definitely happy about. But in order to make a final push here we need to start finishing our chances.”

The Fire outshot the Union 14-7, 8-1 on frame. But — here we go again — the Fire couldn’t finish those shots.

“We’re in last place with 13 games left,” Pause said, “so there’s a belief. We’re maybe 8 points out of the last playoff spot, so it’s not too big of a gap where you can’t catch. You get a couple of results and you’re right back in the thick of things. But each game where you drop points it’s a missed opportunity.”

The Fire has missed a lot of opportunities this season. Fortunately for the Fire, Pardo didn’t miss his.

Veljko Paunovic gave Philadelphia (8-5-8, 32 points) a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute, but Pardo made his debut memorable when he slotted home a rebound from 18 yards out in the 54th minute.

“It was good,” Pardo said of his outing. “I thought it would be worse. I haven’t played in, like, two months. The last game was two months ago. So it was hard, but I thought I didn’t do a bad job.”

Pardo got the goal, but Grazzini looked even better. He brought a flair Chicago hasn’t seen since Cuauhtemoc Blanco left, calling for the ball, dictating the game and dishing back-heel and no-look passes, and Philadelphia pulled and tugged at Grazzini as if he were Blanco, fouling him 4 times in the first half alone. He left the game after 66 minutes.

Even Philadelphia assistant coach John Hackworth, standing in for head coach Peter Nowak, who missed the game with back spasms, was impressed with the home team.

“They were very good tonight,” Hackworth said. “With the new additions they’re obviously an improved team.”

But sometime very soon the Fire needs to improve its results, not just its play. Time is running out. That’s a reality no amount of optimism can overcome.