Houston Dynamo 2 Chicago Fire 1

The Season is over. The Chicago Fire were bounced out of the playoffs by the Houston Dynamo 2-1; on the back of two goals by Will Bruin. Alex stepped off the bench and put one back in for the Fire.

The first goal was on a corner. Brad Davis hit a perfect ball directly onto an unmarked Will Bruin. He was in such an undefended state because Jalil Anibaba slipped on a wet, slick surface. Will then headed the ball past a late reacting Sean Johnson, to put the Dynamo up 1-0.

Frank Klopas knew he needed to make a made a halftime substitution to try and spark the squad to life. And make a change he did. The dynamic Brazilian Alex came on for Logan Pause. "We needed to push the game. We were losing and obviously we wanted to come in and push the game. We had our tactic to get on the ball, to try and move the ball forward more." Frank Klopas said.

Unfortunately for the Fire, The substitution took too long to be effective. Just 20 seconds into the first half, a turnover in the Houston half of the field found the foot of former Fire player Calen Carr. Calen forwarded it to Bruin, who slid it past Johnson into the net.

The Fire stayed alive and managed to get one back with 10 minutes left. Patrick Nyarko opened the Houston defense with a through ball onto the foot of Alex, who shot the ball across goal, off the post, and into the back of the net.

Notes

A lot of the talk post match was on next year. And Alvaro Fernandez was a huge topic of conversation. He didn't have a good game at all tonight, seemingly losing possession more often then keeping it. Maybe it's time to start looking for other options at that position, as it has seemed for a while that Alvaro wasn't all that in to this team.

Chris Rolfe chose to accentuate the positive of the situation, as well as looked forward to next year. "I think that these guys have done a great job. I was lucky to be a part of it this year and come in at good time. I know these guys have been working hard for a couple of years now and they should be proud of the steps they have taken to get here. Tonight we don't feel great but in the weeks and months ahead we will see how good of a season this was."

Arne Friedrich wants to stay. Or at least, isn't against the idea of staying with the Men In Red next year. "Yes, I feel very good here but I can't say for sure because nothing is done so far. We have to come together to talk about but I can imagine myself staying here. This is a wonderful club and everyone here is very professional. I like this city so if I play one more season I would like to play here in Chicago."

Frank Klopas spent his opening statements thanking everyone, the fans for supporting them, the players and his staff, and owner Andrew Hauptman. Arne Friedrich thanked the fans as well for the turnout, hampered by the weekday, the cold, and the candy. "We played at home in front of a wonderful crowd. We appreciate all the people who came out and supported us."