Fire left with that empty feeling
Fire defender Bakary Soumare had to admit after the team's fourth tie in a row, "We look at the glass, it's half empty."
How else could they look at it?
For nearly 75 minutes on Saturday night, the Fire outplayed expansion club Seattle Sounders FC at Toyota Park, only to allow Seattle to earn a draw, despite the Sounders playing a man down, on yet another Fire defensive lapse. The game ended 1-1.
"I'm concerned with so many ties, especially tonight," Fire coach Denis Hamlett said. " ... It's getting disappointing. I think tonight they had 1 shot on goal. I don't think (goalkeeper Jon Busch) had really anything to do, and we're just conceding easy goals right now. It's a major, major concern, and it's something we have to fix, because we can't continue down this road."
The Fire (2-0-5, 11 points) controlled the game in the first half, putting pressure on Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller, but couldn't finish.
"In the first half they carried the game to us and were the better team," Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. " ... Anytime you can get a point (in the standings) when - to say it bluntly - you don't deserve a point, it's a good thing."
Seattle (4-2-1, 13 points) lost forward Fredy Montero to a red card in the 48th minute, giving the Fire a further advantage. The Fire grabbed the advantage in the 68th minute, when Cuauhtemoc Blanco, distracting the Seattle defense in its penalty area, found midfielder Marco Pappa with a pass just inside the top of the box, and Pappa buried it in Keller's net. It was the first goal Keller has allowed this season.
But the Fire also had a major blunder left. On a Freddie Ljungberg corner kick in the 74th minute, the ball bounced to the far side where Seattle defender Tyrone Marshall had so much room he might have had swine flu and not infected anyone. Marshall stuck out his foot and poked the ball in the net.
"There have been too many mental breakdowns and lack of concentration on certain plays," Soumare said. "It's just disappointing. Every week it seems to be the same old story. You let down your offense. Your offense works so hard, they do so well to create chances and score goals, and we just (throw) it away."