Fire continue winless streak

Basically the same Chicago Fire lineup yielded the same kind of result.

The Fire saw its winless streak reach six games with a 2-2 home draw against lowly Columbus on Thursday night. With the exception of leading scorer David Accam, who returned from international duty Thursday and did not play, the Fire mainly used the same players who have played throughout the winless streak.

"What I think is that we have one more game left at home and, I just said that to the guys in the locker room," first-year Fire coach Veljko Paunovic said, giving no indication he might change his lineup significantly for New England in Sunday afternoon's home finale. "We just have three days left to prepare for the game, recover and do everything, everything, to win the game. Because I think this year, the people who are coming, our crowd, our supporters, they suffered too much and we have to give them in that last game everything we have to win the game. I think that's very important."

That was a much different response than came from Crew coach Gregg Berhalter, whose team was officially eliminated from the playoffs Thursday. Berhalter said he would "most likely look at some new faces" to reward players who have worked hard all season.

"I'm not saying anything (about that)," Paunovic said about Berhalter's comments, growing testy. "That's what he said. That's good for them."

The Fire (6-16-10, 28 points) did break its three-game losing streak with the draw. And it did edge a bit closer to Houston in its bid to get out of the last-place spot in the Major League Soccer table. The Fire still trails Houston by 5 points, and each team has two games left in the season.

The Crew scored the first goal when four Fire defenders went to Justin Meram, who passed to a wide-open Adam Jahn. Jahn scored the first of his two goals on the night.

The Fire drew even in the 53rd minute on a Crew own goal, and it took the lead in the 57th on Michael de Leeuw's goal.

But the Fire couldn't hold the lead, and not for the first time this season. Jahn evened the score in the 80th minute.

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