Red-hot Fire prevails north of the border

TORONTO — The Chicago Fire capitalized on first-half goals from Alvaro Fernandez and Chris Rolfe to topple Toronto FC 2-1 at BMO Field on Wednesday night.

The Fire has won four of their last five matches and sits in second place in the Eastern Conference.

After setting the tempo through the early moments of the match, the Fire (14-8-5, 47 points) broke through 11 minutes later when Rolfe broke into the box up the middle before playing a charging Pavel Pardo on the left. The veteran midfielder took a one-time shot that rang off the post. Pardo collected the rebound and lofted a cross for Alvaro Fernandez inside the box, and he headed ball past Milos Kocic for his first Fire goal in the 13th minute. .

The Fire doubledd the lead in the 42nd minute. Pavel Pardo's corner kick from the right was headed away at the near post, but Rolfe snared the rebound and unleashed a shot through traffic that beat Kocic at the back post.