Chicago Fire snap losing streak with home finale win

Sunday afternoon's 2-1 Chicago Fire victory against New England was a parting gift to the club's long-suffering fans in its 2016 home finale.

"For me the fans deserve much more than what we have given them this year," Fire leading scorer David Accam said, "so today was one for the fans, about us giving what we have on the pitch for the fans."

Second-year midfielder Matt Polster echoed Accam's feelings about the Fire's fans.

"For us to come in, put a good performance like that in, show the fans that, more like give them something (means a lot)," Polster said. "To be completely honest it hasn't been a great season from the standpoint of results, so to come in here and finish our last (home) game on a positive note, give the fans something, is good."

For the club itself, it was nothing more than a consolation prize.

"I know it was a hard season for everyone," first-year Fire coach Veljko Paunovic said after his last-place team broke a six-game winless streak, "but at least we could grant them this good win."

The victory means little else. The Fire (7-16-10, 31 points) was eliminated from postseason contention weeks ago, missing the playoffs for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.

Chicago did inch closer to catching Houston in its attempt to avoid becoming the first MLS team to finish dead last in the standings two consecutive seasons. Each team will play its final game Oct. 23, and the Fire trails by 2 points.

The win also gives the Fire one more point in the standings than it earned in 2015.

It almost didn't happen. The Fire took advantage of some poor New England defending when Michael de Leeuw scored in the ninth minute. New England evened the score in the 43rd on Diego Fagundez's goal, but the Fire won it in the 80th on Accam's goal after each team had lost a player to a red card.

The Fire could have won easily but it missed several good scoring chances.

"I think the first half is exactly how the season went," de Leeuw said. "We got a lot of big chances, we played good, but one mistake and it's 1-1. I think in the second half, we did great again, we came good out of the dressing room, but the red card was disappointing for us. At the end, with their red card and the goal, it all worked out well."

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