Chicago Fire 2, Portland Timbers 2: First Thoughts

Chicago Fire 2 Nikolic 50’, Vincent 84’

Portland Timbers 2 Valeri 6’, Blanco 55’

• Lineups are here!
• Pregame thought 1: Happy Doubleheader Day! Get ready for a full day of cold weather, soccer, friendship, and jerks on CF97 Twitter complaining that not wanting to stick around for the Red Stars game doesn’t make them Bad People. (No honey, lots of things make you a Bad Person.)
• Pregame thought 2: Glad to see Collier getting a chance to prove himself. Ellis starting over Ramos is... interesting. The rest of the team is probably the best we can manage right now.
• Pregame thought 3: I want to believe we can win today. But, I don’t know. I have a bad feeling about this.
• Pregame thought 4: On the other hand, loving this sunshine! Yeah it’s cold and windy, but the sun is definitely a good sign.
• Let’s goooooooooooooooooooooooo
• 6’ GOAL lol that didn’t take long. Fire give the ball away cheap in their defensive third, Blanco gets the ball to Valeri who beats Sanchez easily. CHI 0-1 POR.
• The sad thing is the Fire were doing okay in the first few minutes. Switch off for a few seconds and this happens.
• Also I’m starting to have Doubts about Tony Tchani.
• 11’ lololololol and apparently Luis Solignac is out for 6-8 weeks with an injury. Didn’t bother announcing that until the game was underway. Nice one, Fires.
• 13’ Katai got a yellow card for “unsporting behavior.” I missed what it was. Whatevs.
• 19’ Portland came preeeeeeeetty close to making it 0-2. Cool, cool cool cool.
• 25’ Katai and Niko are trying to make something happen. Everyone else is Whatevering.
• 28’ lol Sanchez just rolled a ball to Kappelhof and inbetween two Portland attackers. Would’ve been too easy for them to grab it and score a second goal. JFC Sanchez.
• 30’ Jeez the entire team looks lethargic af. Can’t tell if it’s fatigue or apathy. This is bad.
• 35’ Fire bailed out by the crossbar after Adi’s close-range shot. Fucking hell.
• 36’ Everyone’s being all “HUGE SAVE BY SANCHEZ!!!” lol no, the crossbar did all the work there.
• 38’ Niko tries to get onto the other end of a ball into the box, can’t quite make it.
• Halftime! CHI 0-1 POR
• Halftime thought 1: As Dax said on the touchline: “not good enough.”
• Halftime thought 2: I bet this ends 0-2 or 0-3. Fire just don’t have anything in the tank today.
• Halftime thought 3: Oh hey it’s Brian McBride! He’s a pretty cool dude.
• Second half is underway!
• 46’ Katai comes off for Campos. That’s... an interesting choice.
• 48’ No scorebug in the second half, apparently. All my timestamps are going to be estimates? I guess?
• 49’ Basti isn’t a #10 and everyone knows it. Even Basti, who’s playing deep.
• 50’ GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL NIKO REDIRECTS A CROSS FROM CLOSE RANGE!!! GAME ON!!!!! CHI 1-1 POR
• 52’ Valeri clips Vincent, get a yellow card.
• 55’ GOAL Blanco heads it home from a cross. Against the run of play, too. Womp womp. CHI 1-2 POR

• 59’ Drew Conner checks into the game, replacing Tony Tchani.
• 60’ Vincent tries to play a ball back to Sweeperquista Schweinsteiger, the pass is too soft and he almost plays Adi in. lol
• 64’ Vincent gets into the box, no one tracked him, and he got his head onto the end of a long ball over the top from Kappelhof. He misses the target but it was a good idea!
• 65’ Conner and Campos get an attack going, Niko bounds into the box on the right, tries to square it to Collier but Portland snuffs it out.
• 72’ Kevin Ellis tried to sell some contact to win a foul. It was not very effective.
• 75’ Alan Gordon, noted homophobic slur enthusiast, checks into the game for Kevin Ellis.
• 79’ Campos slips his defenders and cracks off a shot, which drifts just wide of the post. Better, but not enough.
• 81’ Alan Gordon losing possession in the attacking third to trigger the libs.
• 84’ GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL VINCENT HEADS IT IN!!!!!! CHI 2-2 POR
• 86’ Hot damn Niko comes super close to making it 3-2! Keep it up!!
• 89’ Drew Conner doing work out there today. Really good to see.
• 90’ Four minutes of stoppage time. Here. We. Go.
• 92’ Timbers are scrambling for a winner but they can’t pull it together. We might actually see this thing out!
• 94’ Fire with a dangerous chance late but they can’t quite make it happen. Less than a minute to go.
• Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! Final score: CHI 2-2 POR
• Final Whistle Thought: I’ll take it!!!!

Stay tuned for more postgame coverage and a full recap here on Hot Time In Old Town. In the meantime, join the conversation in the comments or on social media.