Even seeing, conditions hard to believe

Welcome to Chicago, Arne Friedrich. Really, it’s not always like this.

The former German international’s first Chicago Fire game was one he won’t soon forget, a 1-1 draw against Houston called off after two lightning delays, the second coming in the 66th minute of play.

“I’ve never seen this,” said Friedrich, just signed last month and still working his way into game shape. “I don’t know if it’s happened here in the past in America. ... For me it would be better if we could play the last 25 minutes.”

The teams endured a 70-minute delay in the 13th minute.

“It is hard,” agreed veteran midfielder Pavel Pardo. “It’s the first time I saw this in my life, and it’s hard. You start the game and then you wait. But we did our best.”

“It was a difficult night to play,” said Fire assistant coach Mike Matkovich. “You’ve got rain, you’ve got wind, you’ve got starts, you’ve got stops. The one key thing is, we were down a goal, got a good response, scored within three minutes to tie. If the game had gone on I felt we could have pulled 3 points out on the night.”

Houston struck in the 24th minute when Brian Ching sent Will Bruin behind Friedrich for a 13-yard blast that beat goalkeeper Sean Johnson.

“I guess there was some small mistakes in a row,” Friedrich said. “We need to keep it in the locker (room) here. There were some small faults, but we need to adjust as a team. It’s a new team, and we have to know each other.”

The Fire used unconventional means to tie the game. Pardo’s 29-yard free kick struck teammate Logan Pause square in the back at the edge of the penalty area as Pause, alongside the Houston wall, tried to duck out of the way. The ball ricocheted off Pause, hit the crossbar and bounced in for his third career goal.

It was one of those nights when weird things happened.

“I was trying to get out of the way,” Pause said. “I kind of chalk it up to old age, not quick enough to get out of the way.”

Maybe on Saturday at Toronto, the Fire (1-1-2, 5 points) — having already had two bye weeks in the first five weeks of the season — can finally play a full 90 first-team minutes.

“The only frustration when it comes to tonight is that we were right there for 3 points,” Pause said. “I don’t think it’s something that’s building or anything. We’re excited to get back in the routine of games on the weekend. ... We’re just disappointed in 1 point at home, kind of letting 2 points drop. But it is what it is.”

Ÿ Follow Orrin on Twitter @orrinsoccer.