Fire ties RSL to snap three-game skid
SANDY, Utah -- Nobody was stunned when Real Salt Lake took a lead over the Chicago Fire on Saturday night.
What happened a moment later was a surprise.
Six minutes after Alvaro Saborio put RSL ahead, Chicago's Quincy Amarikwa answered with his own goal in the 84th minute as the Fire escaped Rio Tinto Stadium with a 1-1 tie.
The result snapped a three-game losing streak for Chicago. Not only that, but the Fire also found the back of the net for the first time after a drought of 358 scoreless minutes, including three consecutive shutouts.
The Fire hadn't won or scored since Jeff Larentowicz's game-winning shot put Chicago over Columbus 1-0 on April 20.
"Anytime you can score coming from behind shows a lot of character, but it'd be good if we can take leads early on," Chicago coach Frank Klopas said. "That would take a lot of pressure off the team. But being able to score and get a point here in a difficult place against a very good team is something to build on for us."
Chicago (2-7-2, 8 points) continued its unlikely stretch of success in Utah. The Fire is the only MLS team with a winning record over RSL in the Beehive State, where Chicago improved to 3-2-3.
Though it blew an opportunity to snag three points at home, where it was 3-1-1, Salt Lake (6-5-3, 21 points) is on a two-game unbeaten streak, having beaten Chivas 4-1 on May 19.
"From somewhere we have to start," Chicago midfielder Joel Lindpere said. "Everybody hopes that maybe this is the start when we can go upwards, so we're just going to keep going."
Goalkeeper Sean Johnson had a strong performance in the net for the Fire. He made eight saves and remained in solid position for much of the match against Salt Lake, which had 20 attempts on goal to the Fire's 12.
"You need that when you're on the road," Klopas said. "You need, obviously, to defend well as a team and you need your goaltender to step up big, which Sean did. And when you get your chances, put them away."
Both Saborio and Amarikwa were second-half substitutions and added an offensive punch that was missing in the first 77 minutes.
Saborio, who entered in the 61st minute for forward Robbie Findley, scored the first goal of the night with a short header off a deftly executed cross pass from Ned Grabovoy in the 78th minute.
Real Salt Lake's lead was short-lived.
Amarikwa flicked in a sweet goal with an off-balance kick after a nice header pass from defender Austin Berry, who got off the tying assist while being draped by two Real Salt Lake players in the box.
The goal was only the seventh for Chicago this season.
This is the only meeting of the season for Salt Lake and Chicago, who played to a 0-0 tie on May 9, 2012, at Toyota Park. The Fire handed RSL its worst home loss with a 3-0 victory at Rio Tinto Stadium in 2011.
Newly acquired defender Bakary Soumare made his Chicago debut. He was in the starting lineup after being picked up in a trade with Philadelphia on Thursday.
"Baky's an excellent player," Klopas said, "and I think he just needs time. ... I think the more games he gets under, the better he's going to get. He brings a lot of quality to us."
The Fire were without their other recent pickup, midfielder Mike Magee. The team announced it had acquired the MLS's second-leading scorer on Saturday from the Los Angeles Galaxy in exchange for the rights to forward Robbie Rogers.
Magee is expected to join the Fire on Monday.
NOTES: Players from Chicago and RSL wore yellow arm bands in honor of the late Ricardo Portillo, a 47-year-old amateur referee who died May 4 after suffering a fatal punch to the face from a teenage goaltender while officiating a soccer match in a Salt Lake City suburb on April 30. ... Chicago goaltender Sean Johnson and midfielder Victor Pineda have been called up to represent the United States in upcoming international action. Johnson was selected to participate with the national team in Wednesday's exhibition against Belgium at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland. He will miss the Fire's U.S. Open Cup match on Tuesday. Pineda will join the U.S. Under-20 men's national team in the 2013 Toulon (France) Tournament from May 28 to June 8. ... Six members of Real Salt Lake's organization played in Chicago or grew up in the area. Former Fire players include defender Kwame Watson-Siriboe, assistant coach C.J. Brown and head scout Andy Williams. Defender Chris Schuler, Grabavoy and general manager Garth Lagerwey all hail from Chicago suburbs. ... Saturday marked a record 209th time that RSL teammates Nat Borchers and midfielder Kyle Beckerman played together. That moved them ahead of New England Revolution teammates Matt Reis and Shalrie Joseph for most games played as a duo. Borcheres and Beckerman were together in Colorado from 2003 to 2005 and have been on the same squad in Utah since 2008.
