Fire happy to win with some help

The Fire was a team in need of a spark.

Eastern Conference-leading Sporting Kansas City provided that spark with a series of mistakes Saturday night at rainy Toyota Park, and the Fire took advantage, claiming a much-needed 2-1 victory in front of 14,159.

“That’s the key in any game, no?” Fire coach Frank Klopas asked. “The other team makes mistakes, the ability to capitalize is the key.”

“Sometimes that’s how you have to win games,” captain Logan Pause said, “and it’s not always going to be pretty. I think the guys showed a tremendous amount of character bouncing back.”

Sporting (7-3-0, 21 points) took a 1-0 lead two minutes after the Fire (4-2-3, 15 points) lost veteran defender Arne Friedrich to a right hamstring strain in the 29th minute.

Bobby Convey beat Friedrich’s replacement, Dan Gargan, to a pass from Roger Espinoza. Friedrich will have an MRI on his hamstring Monday.

“We lost momentum once Arne came out of the game,” Klopas said. “It took us some time to adjust.”

After a listless first half for Chicago, Sporting gave the Fire new life in the second half when defender Aurelien Collin tripped Chicago’s Dominic Oduro in the penalty area. Sebastian Grazzini easily converted the 61st-minute penalty kick.

“We knew that our energy in the first half really was down,” Pause said. “We rallied around the crowd and Section 8 right there in front of that (north) goal.”

A minute after Grazzini scored, Espinoza gave Grazzini a flying elbow to the jaw and was sent off with a red card, forcing Sporting to play with 10 men the rest of the game.

“Definitely, as soon as they were a man down, we knew we had to just go for it,” Oduro said. “There was no way we were going to settle for a tie. We did a great job coming from a goal behind to get 3 points.”

Another Sporting mistake led to the game-winning goal. Patrick Nyarko stole the ball from Sporting forward Kei Kamara near the Sporting goal and quickly slid a pass across the goal mouth to Oduro, who poked it in.

“It was a great ball from Patrick,” Oduro said.

“Obviously, in the end it’s a great feeling,” Klopas said. “A lot of credit to our players to come back being down in the match and show a lot of character.”

ŸFollow Orrin on Twitter @orrinsoccer.