Chicago Fire's home-game win streak comes to an end

If there's one thing the Chicago Fire knows from experience, it's when good isn't good enough.

The previous week's optimism came to a crashing halt Saturday night when the Fire lost 2-1 to visiting Toronto FC. Well, sort of.

"Still a lot of optimism because I think we did great today," Fire coach Vejlko Paunovic said. "I think we did great today. I think the game was fantastic. We pushed for the game and wanted to win. ... The performance and spirit, the way how we played, I think we have to be happy with that."

The Fire will have to be happy with that.

The playoffs remain a long shot for the Fire (6-13-8, 26 points), which remains in a tie with Columbus for last place in the Eastern Conference. Even its home unbeaten streak came to an end at a dozen games. And the good feelings from last week's 3-0 victory against Philadelphia were put on hold.

"Of course it's a downer, because I think in the first half we played very well," Fire forward Michael de Leeuw said. "We created chances and at the end we did this to ourselves."

Still, the Fire impressed Toronto.

"This is a Chicago team that I think is playing very well and is finding their footing," Toronto coach Greg Vanney added. "We knew it was going to be a challenge, and it was to the end."

The Fire fell behind in the 33rd minute when U.S. forward Jozy Altidore scored for Toronto. The score went to 2-0 in the 52nd minute when Toronto took advantage of a turnover by Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson to put the ball in the back of the net again.

Fire leading scorer David Accam, who didn't start after returning from last week's international duty, came on in the 56th minute. Two minutes later he created enough confusion in the Toronto defense for de Leeuw to score his fourth goal for Chicago.

"Obviously, he's incredibly crafty in 1-on-1 situations with a tremendous amount of speed," Vanney said of Accam, who clearly changed the game with his quickness. "It's important from our perspective that we got support and help over to his side of the field as quickly as we can. Obviously, he came on and within seconds probably created a situation that cost us a goal."

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