By DAVE GUBALA
BRIDGEVIEW, IL -- The Chicago Fire went into Wednesday night's match against FC Dallas knowing that anything short of a victory would all but erase their chances of reaching the playoffs. For FC Dallas, the match was about trying snap a losing streak and poor run of form.
Only one team got what it wanted, and it wasn't the home team.
FC Dallas broke out of their recent slump with a strong performance against Chicago, scoring two goals goals to post a 2-1 victory at Toyota Park. The win helped FC Dallas clinch the Brimstone Cup for a 10th consecutive year and it also put an end to a four-game losing streak for Dallas.
The defeat narrowed Chicago Fire's playoff hopes to nearly improbable with two league games yet to be played. The fire can only make the playoffs with two wins and two losses by the Houston Dynamo. The Fire will also need both D.C. United and Portland to stay below 43 points on the season.
Jackson and Daniel Cruz scored in the 41st and 53rd minutes respectively to give FC Dallas a 2-0 lead and while the Grazzini managed to pull one back late for the Fire in the 86th minute.
"I think you finally could tell we had some time off," said FC Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.
"We're a very athletic team and were able to get a couple of goals in with our counter attacks. We were going to compete until the dying minutes and were prepared for almost anything that was going to come."
Thin ice finally broke on a shaky Fire backline in the 41st minute as they struggled to match the visitors' pace from the very start. Ugo Ihemelu's long throw-in was met by a streaking Jackson who managed to sneak one past a flat-footed Sean Johnson.
Johnson had made a few remarkable saves earlier in the first half but just wasn't able to put a stop to Jackson's effort due to the wrong positioning of his body in the heat of the moment.
"With my positioning, I had my feet set and once he [Jackson] struck the ball, my feet were pointing in the wrong direction and all I could do was get my glove and try to push it away," said Sean Johnson.
FC Dallas added a second one in the 53rd minute. Ricardo Villar served in a well-placed corner that gave the Fire quite a trouble to clear out. The ball eventually fell to Daniel Cruz who finished it from close range with a quite impressive shot.
Brek Shea was introduced to the game in the 63rd minute after having played for the US National Team against Ecuador the very day before.
“Schellas said he wanted me to keep the ball so we could go forward and keep a little possession,” said Shea.
“I think we came in wanting to win; sometimes it’s pretty, sometimes it’s not. We had some pretty good chances in the first half but Sean Johnson came out with a couple of nice saves so it was tough.”
With time running out for the Fire, things were inevitably going to get out of hand. In the 79th minute, Pavel Pardo was shown a straight red card on a rather needless tackle on Ricardo Villar.
"It was a play that I was a little bit late on," said Pavel Pardo.
"I think sometimes it was a foul that I think you make ten or twenty of in a game and it's the referee's decision but it's no excuse. When you have ten players it's always difficult to play and to try to win."
Yellow cards were also shown to Fire defenders Dan Gargan and Cory Gibbs resulting in both missing Saturday's game at DC United due to yellow card accumulation.
With four minutes left of regulation time, Grazzini was able notch one in for the Fire. Orr Barouch initially fed Grazzini the ball and the Argentinean found the back of the net with a curling effort from the top of the box.
Despite five minutes being added on, Dallas were able to hold on to their 2-1 lead and clinched a place in the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs and now stand just two points behind Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference standings.
FC Dallas host Vancouver this Saturday and end their regular season at San Jose on October 22nd.
