Fire give up early goal, fall to Rapids

Saturday night's Chicago Fire defeat was the kind of result worthy of a protest.

On a night when some of the 18,317 fans at Toyota Park unfurled black banners to show their anger at the club's failure to win and Section 8 sat quietly rather than standing and cheering the whole game, the Fire suffered a 1-0 loss to lowly Colorado.

In its last two games, against two of the worst teams in the league, the Fire (6-13-5, 23 points) - already in last place in the Eastern Conference - could only manage a single point, solidifying its status as the worst in MLS.

"I've been in this game a long time and you keep trying to put your finger on it," Fire coach Frank Yallop said, "and you can't kind of figure it out. But it's not from lack of trying. I thought the guys tried tonight. They tried to do the right things. The Philly game (last week, a 3-3 draw) we come back and at least we get a point out of that game."

"(The Rapids') game plan to begin with was going to be to sit in and make us break down a good defensive unit," added Fire midfielder Michael Stephens, a Naperville native. "You give up a goal in the first minute of the game and that's the perfect situation for them."

The Fire put itself in a hole right from the start with the goal Colorado's Dillon Serna scored in the first minute of the match. The goal allowed Colorado to keep players back defensively and give the Fire 68 percent of the possession.

"It's unbelievable to give up a goal in the first minute of the game at this moment in the season," Stephens said. "No excuses from our end. Unacceptable to start a game like that and play right into their hands."

The Colorado goal came as a shock; the Rapids (6-9-9, 27 points), in last place in the Western Conference, have managed a league-low 21 goals in 24 games.

Colorado had scored just 2 goals in its previous seven road matches.

The loss leaves the Fire 5 points out of a playoff spot with 10 games to play, 4 points behind ninth-place Philadelphia. The Fire appears destined to miss the playoffs for a fifth time in the past six seasons.

Yallop refused to give up hope of reaching the postseason while acknowledging the slim odds.

"You've got to keep hoping for sure," he said. "Got to."

Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_Schwarz